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We believe the most direct path to achieve our vision is a healthy progressive ecosystem that is working together to advance an economy and democracy that works for everyone. A high functioning political movement is coordinated, actively anti-racist, anchored in a unified credible narrative, developing, supporting, and retaining talented leaders, and utilizing highly effective, modern campaign practices that match how our community receives information. To achieve this ambitious goal, we steward vibrant political infrastructure – the network of people, organizations, and capabilities that enable a movement to achieve lasting change. For more about what it means to invest in political systems change, see our Investments page.

Progress Alliance of Washington operates two independent, affiliated non-profit corporations. Washington Progress Fund, a 501(c)3 charitable organization, is able to receive donations from foundations and other tax-deductible contributions for non-partisan civic engagement and leadership development. Washington Progress Alliance, a 501(c)4 organization, is able to invest in policy development, issue advocacy, and political engagement. Operating both allows us to give flexible funding in response to the current needs of our movement. We ask our members to split their donation: 60% to our 501(c)3, which is tax-deductible, and 40% to our 501(c)4, which is not tax-deductible.

In addition, Washington Progress Alliance is affiliated with a political action committee, or PAC, called Voter Action. Voter Action invests directly in electoral strategies to ensure our communities are represented by the leadership elected to office. Many Progress Alliance members make an additional investment in Voter Action to support this strategy. For additional information, please see the Voter Action website or email voteraction@washingtonprogress.org.

Progress Alliance is the only organization in Washington state focused on the health of the state's progressive movement across all issue areas and over time. Our unique role is to build a healthy ecosystem in which social change organizations—those working for racial, gender, and economic justice, the environment, and democracy reform—have all the tools they need to thrive. We specifically assess how organizations are working together, identify gaps in our movement's infrastructure and work to fill them, and identify the opportunities and threats that stand in our way of success. It is no one else’s job to tend to this underlying foundation.

Progress Alliance is built to be nimble and respond to shifts in the landscape, and our ability to aggregate individual donations allows us to make larger impact grants that address urgent needs that aren’t in the mission of any of our grantee organizations. Donors come to Progress Alliance to pool their funds around a shared strategy of building a strong progressive movement that lasts beyond a single election cycle, winning lasting systemic political change, and developing an engaged and effective member learning community.

Our funding is almost exclusively for general operating, with our typical grant size landing between $25,000 to $75,000 annually. For our core grantees, we operate on two-year granting cycles so our network has stable funding to plan around. We aim to keep barriers low with simple application processes and minimal reporting requirements, and are open to continuous feedback about our processes to ensure we are meeting our accessibility and equity goals.

In addition to general operating funds, we have an annual budget set aside for technical assistance and training, and opportunity funds that grantees can request at any point by contacting PA program staff. Factors considered in review include when the grantee last received funds of this type, urgency and impact of the project, other requests received, and funding available.

There is no minimum donation requirement. We welcome all those who would like to support our work with their skills, networks, and energy to join at a level that is personally significant for them, and ask that all members put Progress Alliance among their top annual charitable and political contributions. Members make contributions that are personally meaningful for them, with families giving anywhere between $100 to $100,000 annually and most members giving in the $5,000-$10,000 range.

The Progress Alliance model is built on an engaged community of members, operating with a lean staff who work on the ground with each of our programs and grantees. The infrastructure we have created together is intended to be permanent and sustainable. For this reason, our organization depends on our members giving consistently over a number of years toward the future we envision 10 and 20 years down the road. We ask our new members to test drive the organization for one year and then consider making a multi-year commitment.

Yes. Most of our members are busy and passionate people who balance competing priorities. For some, writing their Progress Alliance check is their primary political action each year, and they look to the staff and board of directors to do the organization’s work. Our members are some of our best creative thinkers, but there is no expectation to give time unless you want to.

To get involved or learn more about membership, please contact our Membership Director, Precious Arney at precious@washingtonprogress.org. You can find our donation instructions on our Donate page. We engage with each of our members directly, so will reach out to learn more about you, your desired engagement, and the issues you care most about.