Third Way Announces Inaugural Grantee Cohort for the Moderate Power Venture Fund

Third Way announced today that it has selected the members of its inaugural grantee cohort for the Moderate Power Venture Fund (MPVF). Cohort members include groups who deliver practical leadership and management training to young elected leaders, produce a leading center-left political Substack, create content and infrastructure for center-left social media influencers, provide a home base for moderate college students, and aggregate data and research on political topics to offer concise, timely messaging advice to center-left leaders. Third Way established MPVF earlier this year to support outstanding promising projects working in innovative ways to increase social capital and political power on the center left as part of the larger Moderate Power Project (MPP). The organization is thrilled to support this creative, impactful work.

Thirty total projects applied for MPVF funding, surpassing Third Way’s expectations. “We knew there had to be good ideas to promote the center left taking place beyond our radar, but we had no idea to what extent.” said Jon Cowan, Third Way President. Cowan continued, “We were absolutely blown away by the breadth and depth of the applicant pool, and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to support and begin building relationships with this exceptional group of grantees.”

MPVF Inaugural Cohort member projects include:

Center-Left Message Huddle & Newsletter

by Common Sense Coalition

Leaders: Ed Warren* ([email protected]), Ben Ernst
Website: https://www.teamcommonsense.org/

Common Sense Coalition is a political strategy group dedicated to rebuilding trust and restoring sanity by focusing on the practical concerns of everyday Americans. Its Center-Left Message Huddle & Newsletter project will use MPVF funds to convene a strategy group “huddle” of messaging experts and thought leaders and publish a corresponding weekly newsletter to the broader center-left ecosystem with distilled insights. The messaging huddle will consist of 10-20 invited leaders who will share data and research relevant to significant political events in real time. Team Common Sense will then summarize the key takeaways from huddle discussions into a short, clear Substack newsletter that will provide its recipients with an actionable and consistent set of messaging guidance each week.

Civic Leadership Development Program

by The Next 50

Leaders: Zach Wahls, Andy Suchorski* ([email protected])
Of note: Mari Manoogian, TN50’s political director, is taking a leave of absence to join the Biden campaign as political and coalitions director for the Midwest
Website: https://thenext50.us/

The mission of The Next 50 is to provide support for the next generation of civic-minded philanthropists and public leaders by building community, providing strategic advice, and facilitating leadership development. TN50 will leverage MPVF funds to launch and build out its Civic Leadership Development Program, which will provide young, elected leaders with practical tools and skills development training to help them effectively manage the day-to-day demands of elected office, paying special attention to the unique challenges facing Millennial and Gen Z leaders. TN50 plans to continue to expand the program through 2024 and beyond by collecting insights from its alumni network, partner organizations, and experts to incorporate into the curriculum.

Flywheel Expansion

by The Welcome Party

Leaders: Liam Kerr, Lauren Harper Pope* ([email protected]), Naomi Wyatt
Website: https://www.thewelcomeparty.org/

The Welcome Party’s mission is to grow the Democratic Party by engaging less ideological, less partisan swing voters and conducting research demonstrating why a big-tent party is both a reality and a necessity. Its MPVF-enabled Flywheel Expansion project will address the cyclical problem of under-investment in connecting highly-engaged, moderate-leaning political hobbyists with information aligned to a reinforceable framework, action steps (e.g., donating to candidates) and a sense of community. By adapting best practices of the political extremes across interconnected online and offline tactics, the project will grow the audience of the WelcomeStack.org newsletter and leverage that expanded audience to direct significant small-dollar-donor contributions to aligned candidates and PACs. Ideally, Welcome will demonstrate a model of partisan, moderate community building that can scale.

Young People’s Alliance

Leaders: Sam Hiner* ([email protected]), Ava Smithing
Website: https://youngpeoplesalliance.org/

The Young People's Alliance is a youth-led nonprofit that empowers young people through student-led advocacy and organizing and builds an on-ramp into politics for those who fall outside of the political extremes. It has campus teams at 11 universities across North Carolina, with plans to expand soon. YPA will apply its MPVF grant toward creating a bipartisan youth platform to mobilize young people across party lines around shared interests, and a chapter program that will get young people across the country involved in innovative, bipartisan advocacy.

* Org Press Contact