New York City has long struggled with low voter turnout, but Veatch grantee GoVoteNYC—a donor collaborative founded in 2021—is helping change that narrative. Since its founding, GoVoteNYC has awarded in $2.5 million in grants and over $13 million in aligned funding to about a dozen community-based organizations working mostly in low-income and communities of color around the city. Each organization received training on “relational” voter outreach—which involves peer-to-peer engagement with friends, family, and other community members on the importance of voting. Long Island-based grantee, New York Civic Engagement Table, is an anchor organization in GoVoteNYC and Joan Minieri, Veatch Executive Director serves on the executive committee for the collaborative.
The effectiveness of GoVoteNYC’s approach and impact was featured recently in a case study in the Philanthropy for Voter Engagement. The write-up cited a 2023 independent evaluation that found Black, Indigenous and people of color voters targeted by GoVote NYC’s grantees turned out to vote at significantly higher rates. During the June 2021 primaries, for instance, 37% of voters canvassed by GoVoteNYC’s partner groups turned out to vote—compared to just 20% of similar voters in areas not included in the outreach. One of GoVoteNYC’s partners, Veatch grantee, the MinKwon Center, helped increase voter turnout by Asian Americans in the eight communities they targeted by 60%.
The report also found that participating community-based groups ended up building long lasting connections with other organizations—helping lay the groundwork for future collaborative work.
As the case study notes at the end, GoVoteNYC’s current strategic plan and grantmaking is focused on the 2025 elections in New York City for mayor, other citywide offices, and city council. Read the full case study here.