"Many people across the country feel disconnected, worn out by conflict, and unsure how to make a difference. This effort is aimed at the broad majority of Americans who want practical ways to improve their communities — not more arguing, but real ways to work together. The Hewlett Foundation believes a healthy civic culture is the foundation for progress on almost every challenge we face, from education to economic opportunity."
The Hewlett Foundation announced $19 million in new grants to strengthen civic participation, reduce polarization, and help communities rebuild shared purpose. Three organizations received funding: Be The People ($10 million) to boost civic engagement through storytelling and local on-ramps; GivingTuesday ($4 million) to connect people through giving and volunteering; and Shared America ($5 million) to build community trust through communications. The grants focus on the broad majority of Americans seeking practical ways to improve their communities.
Skip to main navigation
Skip to footer
In conversations over the past year with civic leaders, local organizers, veterans, researchers, faith communities, and philanthropists, Hewlett Foundation staff have heard deep concern about rising distrust and growing fragmentation in American life, against the backdrop of a frightening rise in political violence and longstanding inequities that further divide us. We also heard a strong desire for practical ways to bring people back together, toward a broad and durable consensus about our shared civic future, through ground-level work in their communities — especially in ways that increase participation and strengthen a sense of belonging.
Those conversations reinforced something we have long believed. Much of the foundation’s work is premised on a functioning policy-making process achieved through democratic legitimacy and accountability. As our U.S. Democracy Program has understood for years, a healthy civic culture lies upstream from those needs and is a critical prerequisite for progress on nearly every major challenge facing the country — whether the issue is economic opportunity, education, climate resilience, or technological change.
This is where philanthropy and civil society have a unique and necessary role to play. Effective and inclusive governance can help rebuild civic trust, but by itself is insufficient. And economic arrangements viewed as fair by more people could contribute to a solution, but markets will not solve this problem alone. A reforged civic compact requires communities with trusted institutions at their center, local leadership, and opportunities for people to work together toward shared goals.
This understanding shaped a new set of Hewlett Foundation grants totaling $19 million to strengthen civic participation, reduce corrosive polarization, and help communities rebuild a sense of shared purpose.
Be The People (Bigger Picture US) — $10 million
Be The People is a multiyear national campaign focused on restoring contribution and participation in civic life as central parts of American identity. The initiative, supported by many of Hewlett’s philanthropic partners, including Stand Together and the MacArthur Foundation, combines large-scale cultural storytelling with local efforts to create practical on-ramps for people to engage in civic life.
The campaign is geared toward Americans who are tired of constant ideological conflict and want constructive ways to get involved locally. Its work includes storytelling about everyday contributors, cultural projects like the “American Anthem” initiative, and platforms connecting people with local opportunities to engage in their communities. The campaign focuses especially on the broad “exhausted majority” of Americans looking for practical ways to improve the places where they live, and will amplify the efforts of many organizations we support through our U.S. Democracy Program.
GivingTuesday — $4 million
GivingTuesday has spent more than a decade building one of the country’s broadest networks for generosity and civic participation. Through more than 400 local coalitions, it mobilizes people to give time, talent, and resources year-round. Since 2012, the organization has helped mobilize $22.5 billion in donations.
As a grantee of Hewlett’s Effective Philanthropy Program and a key partner to Be The People, GivingTuesday helps turn national inspiration into sustained local action through volunteer efforts, mutual aid, and community service projects. The organization will focus especially on communities that traditional philanthropy too often overlooks.
Shared America — $5 million
Shared America harnesses the power of communications to strengthen communities and bring our country together. Working with a wide variety of partners, Shared America tells the story of who we are, and can be, as Americans—helping develop connection, optimism, and trust. Through their work, we see what America can look like at its best—enabling our country to overcome division and polarization.
None of this work asks people to agree on everything. A healthy civic culture depends on disagreement, competing ideas, and vigorous debate. But it also depends on people believing they belong in civic life and still share something larger than the conflict itself — a community, a country, and a future they can shape together.
The fractures in American society are real. So is the determination of communities and leaders across the country working to repair them. We are proud to support their work.
- Visit the Hewlett Foundation article to learn more about the full vision behind these grants
- Search for a GivingTuesday local coalition near you to find volunteer and giving opportunities
- Explore Be The People to find community on-ramps in your area
- Share this story with a neighbor, friend, or local group leader who cares about community connection
- Look for local civic events, mutual aid projects, or storytelling initiatives tied to these organizations
