Network’s COVID-19 Economic Response Advocacy Fund Aims to Help Working Families Now, Create a Stronger, More Inclusive Economic System Moving Forward

**We were inspired by the large response to this effort and are no longer accepting new applications.

As the coronavirus pandemic upends our country’s economy, it is critical that our government respond with action to support the stability and well-being of American families, particularly those already struggling economically and most vulnerable to the consequences of an economic recession. In these uncertain times, one thing is clear: our economic system is broken. For decades, this country’s economic policies have deprioritized workers, incentivized fragility, and too often exacerbated inequality by putting corporate and shareholder interests over those of the public and delegitimizing the critical role government plays in our lives. Now, in the midst of this tragedy, we have an urgent need to hit reset and revisit our economic assumptions and policies to create a more balanced, inclusive, and equitable economy. It is time for a renewed national conversation about the kind of economy we want to have. And it is time for policymakers to listen and take action.

To inform this conversation, the Omidyar Network COVID-19 Economic Response Advocacy Fund will infuse 501c4 funding into national, state, and local advocacy and organizing efforts aimed at passing economic stimulus to address the immediate toll of the COVID-19 pandemic on working people while reshaping our economic structure to ensure they are less vulnerable in the future. Between now and the end of this year, Omidyar Network plans to award $1.5 million to groups working to realign this nation’s economic policies and systems so that they work better for everyone.

“The coronavirus pandemic has created an economic freefall that is unprecedented in its speed. Advocacy organizations throughout the country stand ready with proven strategies and programs for lessening the impact of an economic downturn on working people, but they are not properly geared up to drive those ideas to the center of the current policy debate,” said Mike Kubzansky, CEO of Omidyar Network. “The Omidyar Network COVID-19 Economic Response Advocacy Fund will enable organizations to step up immediate short-term advocacy efforts while establishing the new contours of the structural economic changes needed for all Americans to prosper.”

The Fund is not intended to support entirely new efforts. Funds will go to campaigns that are already in motion and can leverage 501c4 dollars to capture the attention of policymakers and propel their ideas forward. Omidyar Network will review all applications received by June 5th and award 501c4 funding with a focus on:

  • Direct advocacy efforts to achieve policy or regulatory solutions at the national, state, or local level that protect and assist working people and small businesses now and establish new precedents that improve worker power and well-being in the future;
  • Digital organizing that reconfigures campaigns that can no longer be carried out in person due to the virus;
  • Strategic communications, coordination, and narrative development efforts that bring like-minded organizations together to create a louder, more unified voice calling for policy and regulatory changes at the national, state, or local level that result in a stronger economy.

By making an open call for proposals, Omidyar Network hopes to reach grassroots groups that are under-resourced and hit the hardest by fundraising constraints stemming from the current tragedy.

Omidyar Network is now accepting applications to the Omidyar Network COVID-19 Economic Response Advocacy Fund. Organizations seeking 501c4 funding can access the application here. Accessing the application requires the passcode “advocacy”. Additional information about the Fund can be found here.

Omidyar Network (ON) seeks to create a more equitable economy, promote responsible technology that improves lives, and discover the emergent issues that will shape our future​. Established in 2004 by philanthropists Pam and Pierre Omidyar, the founder of eBay, ON has committed more than $1 billion to innovative for-profit companies and nonprofit organizations to catalyze economic and social change. In addition to the Fund, Omidyar Network launched the Omidyar Network Communications Fellows Program to provide added communications support to campaigns working to change the country’s economic system. Read more about how Omidyar Network is responding to COVID-19 pandemic here.