About Us
Who We Are
At more than 25 million strong, AAPIs* are the fastest-growing racial group in America.
We are younger than the overall population and had the highest increase in voter turnout of any race in 2020. We are prochoice, proclimate, progun control, and proimmigration.
The AAPI Democracy Fund is a 501(c)(4) organization. We exist to activate an AAPI voting bloc that can influence policy change and electoral outcomes. We resource and provide technical assistance to AAPI 501(c)(4) organizations, commission research, and develop progressive AAPI women leaders.
*Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) include people from East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Philippines, and the Pacific Islands.
SEIZING OPPORTUNITIES
AAPIs represent 5.4% of the US population and are the fastest-growing and youngest racial group in America. By 2055, Asian American immigrants will surpass Hispanic immigrants in number. AAPIs are emerging as a powerful electoral constituency.
Philanthropic dollars do not come close to meeting the needs of AAPI communities. Foundation funding designated for AAPI communities accounted for just 0.2% of all US grantmaking over the past three decades, 2,700% below AAPI’s share of the population. This ratio may well be even worse in calculating how political dollars are spent.
Our Impact
With our support, the Georgia-based Asian American Advocacy Fund (AAAF) in 2016 strengthened and expanded Georgia’s electorate and produced a dramatic increase in turnout that ultimately brought Democrats control of the US Senate.
In the 2020 US presidential and senatorial elections, AAAF led the effort to call 92% of the estimated 238,000 eligible AAPI voters in Georgia. By Election Day, 50% of the state’s registered AAPI voters had already voted—a 141% increase over the early vote.
In 2022, One APIA Nevada led a voter turnout push in the AAPI community ahead of the mid-term elections, using a strategy that combined research, door knocking, mailers, public service announcements in movie theaters, and more, which contributed to incumbent Susie Lee’s victory in NV-03 Congressional District.
Our Theory of Change
We fund 501(c)(4) organizations that seek to improve policies and impact elections through substantive and multiyear investments into local and state-based AAPI organizations and leaders.
What We Do
Identify, seed, and strategically resource AAPI organizations with sustained, sizable funding and tailored technical assistance year after year.
Provide leadership development and training opportunities to strengthen the pipeline of AAPI women leaders, electeds, and candidates.
Commission public opinion research and develop innovative tools to foster a dynamic understanding of and engagement with the AAPI electorate.
Shape prodemocracy messaging and counter disinformation and misinformation within AAPI communities.
Grants
Since 2020, we have deployed resources and provided localized technical assistance to AAPI-focused 501(c)(4) organizations, as well as seeded new 501(c)(4) formation around the country.
TESTIMONIAL
“Working with the Power Fund TA team has created seismic changes in the way we are approaching and planning our work. They share their wealth of insight, experience, and sharp analysis in an accessible, reassuring way, use relevant and poignant examples, and are thorough in helping us think through our unique set of circumstances and current landscape.”
Regina Tsang
Co-Executive Director
Rising Voices