Democracy Reform Movement

The democracy reform sector works on how elections are designed and administered: voting access, districting, campaign finance, and alternative voting methods. It is an advocacy sector rather than a movement in the sense most of this collection uses — its work is research, litigation and legislative advocacy, conducted by staffed organizations.

Scale and age

The filings correct two things the previous version of this page asserted.

Organization	Tax-exempt ruling	FY2022 revenue	FY2023 revenue
Brennan Center for Justice	September 1995	$45.1M	$110.5M
Common Cause	April 1968	$10.1M	$8.4M
FairVote	December 1992	$4.8M	$7.7M

First, the sector predates the internet: Common Cause’s tax-exempt ruling dates to 1968, FairVote’s to 1992, the Brennan Center’s to 1995. The previous version gave a founded year of 2016 and said the movement “gained momentum following the 2016 election cycle”. That may describe a change in attention; it does not describe when these organizations began, and the field has been removed.

Second, the sector is dominated by one organization. The Brennan Center’s FY2023 revenue was more than eight times the other two combined — and roughly two and a half times its own prior year, which is a step change worth noting rather than smoothing over.

What was removed

The previous version described the sector as organized “primarily through digital platforms”, listed hashtag campaigns and viral content among its principal tactics, and asserted influence on state and federal policy debates. The filings describe research and litigation organizations. The digital framing has been removed as inaccurate rather than merely uncited, and the policy influence claims removed as unsourced.