At GAIN Power, we've been incubating a project called Democracy University — new programs for training, leadership development, and professional support for the people who run candidate campaigns, advocacy groups, unions, voter education, legal action, and consulting. It is now housed in our sister C3, Global GAIN.
Democracy University is brand new, but we're not starting from scratch. Our experience and content library have been built over decades. We have a clear vision, but need a much bigger group to shape it with us before we launch our formal content and programs.
What we're asking of you
We need validators, trainers, content creators, connectors, and always fundraisers. Take on as much or as little as you want, from a public endorsement to rolling up your sleeves.
When we shared this idea as a teaser in August — and talked about updating training manuals we were overwhelmed by the response. But with everyone focused on the elections, we didn't want to formally launch until we passed midterm election day. While some ballots are still being counted, the results are clear and we didn't want to wait longer.
Why this cannot wait
The right has out-invested us for decades. This is a draft report that we'll finalize soon and share more widely. It is an update of research we've been doing for years at GAIN Power on conservative leadership pipeline work. They literally start their early education training for nursery school kids and go through high school. With PragerU, through college at the Leadership Institute and Turning Point. In the Capitol and across the country via the Conservative Partnership Institute, and into retirement.
We have some strong organizations on our side, but nothing at the scope or scale that this moment demands. Our very conservative (no pun intended) estimate is that they are outspending us by more than 10-to-1, but I think it is closer to 100-to-1. That is why we want your help, and for you to be part of this now. We spend billions now on our elections — and hundreds of millions more go into communications, advocacy, research, and organizing. We have lots of funding networks and tables, and yet none are dedicated to leadership as a vertical.
This invitation is just for you
But if there are others you think would be interested and bring value, we trust you to share this with a select few.
If you already know you want to be a co-founder, use the button below. You can also find time on my calendar if you want to talk.
Bring your ideas, your hard questions, and, I hope, your commitment.