The great social movements of the 20th century—the Civil Rights movement and the industrial labor movement—were self-funded and based on direct action, often at great personal cost. They were able to blend direct organizing with electoral politics without the constraints of an increasingly arcane tax code or the whims of billionaire funders.

Today’s progressive organizations are heavily dependent on foundation support, which is often inconsistent, prioritizes short-term thinking over long-term organizing, and is especially wary of financing challenges to the corporate status quo. Nonprofits engaged in electoral work typically fall under one of two tax-exempt categories—501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) groups—which limit their partisan efforts.

The specifics of how nonprofits can engage in political activity have never been clarified, and they can change. If Donald Trump wins this election, a Trumpified IRS could take advantage of this uncertainty and change the rules, cracking down on progressive nonprofits for political activity.

All of these factors severely restrict how much progressive organizations can realistically achieve, and our crises are too big to risk losing. For our August print issue, Robert Kuttner proposes a return to the progressive movement’s roots: mass membership organizations funded by dues-paying members. If our grandparents, far less affluent than we are, could self-finance a radical labor movement and a militant civil rights movement, why can’t we do as much?

You can read Kuttner’s piece for our August print issue here.

For our August 2024 print issue, we’re looking towards the future. Many of America’s biggest institutions are now in a state of uncertain transition, and we’ve dedicated this issue to track where they might go from here. Over the next two weeks, we’ll be rolling out the issue on our website, reporting on everything from the future of the music industry to how cities build stadiums to the crisis approaching higher education. You can read the August 2024 issue here as it is published.

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