Case Study

Fairfield County’s Community Foundation

Fairfield County’s Community Foundation works closely with community organizations, nonprofits, businesses, and philanthropists to create a county where every person has an equitable opportunity to thrive.

Type of foundation :
  • Community Foundation
Type of approach :
  • Advocacy
  • Ballot Measures
  • Communications Campaign
  • Grantmaking

Foundation Background and Mission

Fairfield County’s Community Foundation works closely with community organizations, nonprofits, businesses, and philanthropists to create a county where every person has an equitable opportunity to thrive. Part of the foundation’s orientation to equity is ensuring that the community has access to information – including information about policy, advocacy, and voting – in Fairfield County, CT. 

The Approach

Fairfield County’s Community Foundation’s strategic plan has a specific focus to lift community voice and the foundation has launched a few approaches to inform the community about voting and how to be more informed about their local institutions.

  • Fairfield County’s Community Foundation successfully advocated for the passage of new early voting. The new law, which will be implemented in 2024, requires 14 days of early voting for general elections, seven days of early voting for most primaries, and four days of early voting for special elections and presidential preference primaries, providing more eligible voters with an opportunity to participate in elections. To support its advocacy efforts, the Foundation has prioritized building and strengthening relationships with state and local lawmakers and executives to help them better understand the region’s challenges and offer ideas about how they can advance community equity in their roles. The foundation has hosted a coffee session with nine members of the Fairfield County state legislative delegation and engaged a lobbying firm to monitor legislation and provide guidance during the 2023 CT Legislative Session.
  • Fairfield County’s Community Foundation’s Get Out The Vote (GOTV) campaign has been a mainstay of the foundation’s efforts to encourage voters to head to the polls. The foundation’s efforts are also a response to the barriers to voting access within the state. The state does not have early voting options, has ID requirements, and limitations to absentee ballots. The GOTV campaign, which is nonpartisan and offered in English and Spanish, includes a media effort via print, streaming, social media, and digital ads to inform voters across the county about the upcoming election. In addition to the ads, the foundation hosts a comprehensive page on its website that provides the community with information on how to vote, how to register, key dates, how to find their polling place, and the forms of identification and materials needed to vote. As part of the Get Out The Vote, the foundation also provides $265,000 in grants to community organizations to help reach communities that have been underrepresented in the political process. 
  • The Foundation is partnering with another local family foundation foundation that developed knowyourreps.org, a non-partisan, non-profit voter guide for town elections in Connecticut. The tool provides information about the candidates running for local office, how the local government works, and information about polling places. The foundation’s goal is to build out Know Your Reps pages for each of the 23 towns within the county. To help meet that goal, the foundation is offering grants to organizations it already supports to leverage their local knowledge base and build out the information about local government in the towns and regions they work in. 
  • The Foundation is partnering with the Secretary of State which is issuing a CEO Pledge to highlight civically engaged organizations. The pledge encourages organizations in the state to take actions to support civic engagement like giving employees time off to vote and sharing polling place information with employees.