A private invitation from Nonprofit Quarterly
The histories they're erasing
needs witnesses.
This "America 250" celebration year, we want to build a permanent public record of what nonprofits have meant to American democracy. To do so, we are asking partners to help us commit public thinkers, scholars, and artists outside the sector to share these stories with the general public.
Nonprofits built this country.
Not enough people know that history—much less know to celebrate it.
Over the last 250 years, nonprofit workers, leaders, funders, and movements have have organized labor, protected voting rights, ran food banks, built libraries, sued for civil rights, staffed community health clinics, and taught children. Today, in the same year the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary, the nonprofit sector is under pressure unlike anything it has faced in generations.
And it does not yet have enough defenders. Not just funders. Defenders. People who will stand up publicly, by name, and say: this is what nonprofits actually built in American democracy, and it is worth protecting.
"This is precisely the time when artists go to work—not when everything is fine, but in times of dread.’
— Toni MorrisonDemocracy 250: A Call for Nonprofit Sector Reflections
#WeTheCivic: America 250 is a national narrative movement to center the multiracial nonprofit and civil society workers, organizations, and communities daily advancing and defending democracy's promises at the center of how the United States tells its #America250 year stories.
A core component for this campaign is the Democracy 250 Series: writing and video from thought leaders, public intellectuals, organizers, artists, and historians. Our goal is to engage the general public and policy makers with historically-grounded pieces and analyses that center the hidden stories and critical impact of nonprofit workers, leaders, activists, funders and/or organizations that have fought for a thriving multiracial democracy across these last 250 years.
the record
per state
grantee per state
We are not asking you for a grant.
We are asking you to co-own this.
You are seeing this page before it is public. That is intentional. We are building this record with a small number of founding partners whose names and networks will shape what it becomes — and the invitations we can extend.
Your name on the record
Named founding partner on the Democracy 250 Public Record and the #WeTheCivic: America 250 initiative. Your institution's identity alongside ours at launch.
Your voices in the record
You identify the Fellows, grantees, or book club authors from your network whose testimony belongs here. We handle all editorial work.
Contributors receive a $500 honorarium.
We are also raising funds to bring in non-sector public voices — historians, journalists, public intellectuals — who can speak to the sector's democratic impact from outside it.
Your platform on July 4th
We co-launch the record on America's 250th birthday. Your channels, our channels, a national moment — together.
Something that outlasts the day
The 250th is the hook. The record is permanent. These testimonies live on NPQ and become part of the public historical account of what democracy looked like in 2026.
This is a partnership ask, not a funding ask.
We need co-owners who believe this story matters. What we're asking for right now is your name, your network, and your willingness to say publicly: this is what democracy looks like. The conversation about resources can follow.
25 years. 2 million readers.
The sector's paper of record.
Nonprofit Quarterly has been the leading independent news and analysis outlet for the nonprofit sector for 25 years. We reach practitioners, funders, policymakers, and the public across editorial, events, and membership platforms. #WeTheCivic: America 250 is our largest initiative to date — timed to the most consequential civic moment in a generation.
Confirmed national partners: INN · The 19th · National Council of Nonprofits
We are building the table. We want you at it.
If this is a yes, all we need is your word and a warm hand-off.
Tell us who on your team should receive the contributor brief. We'll take it from there.
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