A similar overcrowding afflicts the pro-democracy space today. Hundreds of proliferating nonprofits—focused on election integrity and democratic governance, and largely sharing the same mission and drawing from the same donors—are crowding an already bustling ecosystem of existing nonprofits, coalitions, and think tanks.
In our own preliminary count, we identified at least 387 organizations operating at the national level, with more than 1,200 additional groups operating at the state level. Some coalitions have become massive bureaucratic behemoths, with certain coalitions claiming over 700 member groups. At least a 100 of these organizations contain the same three words—Democracy, Vote, or Justice—in their titles. And over half of all these groups are less than a decade old.
No doubt, dozens of them are doing extraordinary work, with genuinely heroic impact and unimpeachable integrity and efficacy. Among the groups worthy of recognition for their heroic efforts are the Lincoln Project, the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Action Network, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the Anti-Defamation League, the Brennan Center, Protect Democracy, Keep Our Republic, Article III Project of Keep Our Republic, Alliance of Former State Chief Justices, CREW, SPLC, Democracy Defenders Fund (DDF), State Democracy Defenders Action, States United Democracy Center, Democracy Docket, Leadership Now, and the Bipartisan American Election Project.