The Fairness Project
The Fairness Project was launched in 2014 to incubate, fund, and advise ballot initiative campaigns to help working people. In less than a decade, the organization has built a reputation for achieving major improvements in people’s lives on a shoestring budget, racking up an impressive record of victories across the country. As we explain below, FP is a crucial engine for progressive change at the state level and a great option for donors.
Why This Work is Important
Political action is happening, but it’s mostly on the state level. Almost all ambitious progressive ideas are currently on hold at the federal level. But as Washington remains gridlocked on even mundane issues, states are moving the ball forward on issues including abortion, workers’ rights and healthcare. For progressives looking to notch some wins, taking on state and local policy is a far more direct path than continuing to grind away at the federal level.
Ballot initiatives are a workaround for entrenched Republican rule. While many Democratic ideas are popular, they are often blocked by gerrymandered legislatures. Ballot measures offer a direct way to let the voters decide. Moreover, their nonpartisan nature allows progressives to connect more easily with independent and even Republican voters, focusing on the issue at hand rather than party loyalty.
Why Donors Should Consider the Fairness Project
It has an impressive record of impact, even in red states. When The Fairness Project decides to support a ballot measure — which it does only after extensive due diligence on the ground — it then acts as a funder, adviser and convener for the communities and interest groups working on the campaign. This approach keeps local level leaders in charge, while filling whatever needs may arise during the campaign. Since its founding in 2014, The Fairness Project has won 32 of the 33 ballot measures in which it has been involved. This includes victories to expand Medicaid in deep red states like Idaho, South Dakota and Oklahoma, and wins raising the minimum wage in states like Arkansas, California and Missouri.
Its victories have had a huge impact on people’s lives. Successful ballot initiatives lead to fast and straightforward changes. The Fairness Project estimates that the measures it has helped pass have improved the lives of 18 million people, including by delivering $22 billion in higher wages to workers and extending health coverage to 900,000 people.
Its work can be a force multiplier. The straight line between voting for a ballot measure and seeing it enacted in a short period can also have knock-on effects for politics in a state as a whole. Seeing their votes result in actual change can restore people’s faith in the political system, which empowers them to continue voting and even engaging in other ways politically.
Conclusion
Few political organizations of any kind can credibly claim the clear-cut record of impact of The Fairness Project. Likewise, few national groups are engaged in work that both directly benefits people in the short term and builds a base for broader progressive change. It has shown a knack for shepherding major policy changes from inception to implementation.