Our Mission

To build a strategic, diverse, powerful and permanent progressive movement in California supported by a network of committed donors.

 

Our Vision

California is a healthy, just place to live with shared economic success and security and a democracy that works for all its people.

California Donor Table: A Government of the People, by the People, and for the People

Our State

California is a land of prosperity and poverty; we are the sixth largest economy in the world, as well as the state with the highest poverty rate in the nation, factoring in the high cost-of-living.  At first glance, our state looks ultra liberal — we have a new majority population, we vote overwhelmingly Democratic in elections, and we have a Democratic supermajority in our state legislature — but the gap between prosperity and poverty shows that we still face challenges in making our state truly progressive.  

Our Challenge

In many parts of California — particularly in low-income communities of color — the voice of conservative big business overpowers that of the people.  Out-of-control corporate and conservative lobbying and political spending influence elected officials to make policy decisions that go against the values and needs of their communities.  Community-based groups need more funding to keep people engaged and active as voters and advocates to achieve a government and policies that reflect them.

Our Solution

California Donor Table is a statewide community of donors who pool their funds to make investments in communities of color so they have the power and resources they need to (1) elect people who represent their values and needs and (2) help govern and hold decision-makers accountable.  We believe that California can and must lead the nation in becoming a healthy, just place to live with shared economic success and a democracy that works for all our people.  

Our Impact

To achieve this we invest together in organizations and leaders that reflect and represent the full diversity of our residents, not big business.  We do not need to match corporate funds; we need to keep funding community-based groups together so that community voices prevail. Progressive political donors face tough choices among competing candidates and party- and issue-based organizations, resulting in scattered funding that does not add up to big wins.  At California Donor Table we help progressive donors make informed, strategic funding decisions so that California legislators reflect and represent their constituents, and that California state policy is a beacon for other states and the federal government.  

Join us in building a powerful and permanent progressive movement in California.  Together we win.

Meet our staff!

Meet our board!

CDT is a project of Tides Advocacy, a 501(c)(4) non-profit
organization.