Democracy Collaborative

Democracy Collaborative
Name	Democracy Collaborative
Formation	2000
Founder	Gar Alperovitz
Type	Think tank; Nonprofit organization
Headquarters	Cleveland, Ohio
Region	United States
Leader title	President
Leader name	Ted Howard

Democracy Collaborative is a U.S.-based research and advocacy organization focused on community wealth building, local ownership models, and institutional strategies for equitable economic development. Founded by scholars and practitioners, the organization has worked with municipal governments, philanthropic institutions, labor unions, and community groups to advance cooperative enterprises, community land trusts, and public-purpose enterprises. It operates at the intersection of policy research, technical assistance, and organizing, engaging with actors across the nonprofit, labor, philanthropic, and municipal sectors.

History

The organization emerged in the late 1990s and early 2000s amid debates that involved figures and milestones such as Gar Alperovitz, the Oakland Community Land Trust movement, and post-industrial revitalization efforts in cities like Cleveland, Ohio and Detroit. Early work drew on comparative studies of models evident in places like Mondragon Corporation in Spain and cooperative networks in Italy and France, and connected to advocacy strands associated with organizations such as The Ford Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, and The Surdna Foundation. Throughout the 2000s the group collaborated with municipal leaders in cities including Cleveland and Cincinnati and intersected with policy debates around initiatives like the New Markets Tax Credit and municipal ownership experiments in Barcelona and Berlin. In the 2010s, the Collaborative expanded research on community wealth building that resonated with campaigns led by actors such as Sandy Nurse, municipal frameworks like the Elliott State Forest debates, and international dialogues at venues akin to the World Economic Forum.

Mission and Philosophy

The group's stated mission emphasizes building locally rooted, broadly shared ownership with an underlying philosophy informed by thinkers and movements linked to Gar Alperovitz, cooperative theory from scholars connected to Elinor Ostrom debates, and historical precedents like the Rochdale Pioneers. It advocates public-purpose approaches reminiscent of John Maynard Keynes-era interventions and municipalist practices associated with officials in Barcelona and Porto Alegre. The philosophy integrates community finance tools related to initiatives such as community development financial institutions and programmatic elements echoing the work of Amory Lovins on resilient systems, while also engaging with labor strategies comparable to campaigns organized by Service Employees International Union and AFL–CIO affiliates.

Programs and Initiatives

Programs have included technical assistance for municipal stakeholder coalitions, pilot projects to transfer vacant property into cooperative ownership, and capacity building for networks like the National League of Cities and the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Initiatives have addressed institutional procurement reforms inspired by practices in Cleveland hospitals and universities, community land trusts modeled on examples from Burlington, Vermont and London, and worker cooperative conversions similar to cases in the Basque Country and worker buyouts supported by John Lewis Partnership-style precedents. The organization has helped design finance mechanisms analogous to community development block grants strategies, worked with philanthropy platforms such as The Kresge Foundation, and advised on municipal strategies adopted in jurisdictions resembling Pittsburgh and Jacksonville.

Research and Publications

The Collaborative publishes policy briefs, reports, and toolkits that reference case studies from cities such as Cleveland, Richmond, California, and Madrid. Research outputs have included frameworks for measuring local economic multipliers tied to procurement reforms, analyses of cooperative sector growth similar to studies produced by ILO scholars, and comparative reviews that draw on literature from Harvard University, University of Oxford, and University of Cambridge-affiliated research. Publications have been cited in debates involving legislative proposals at the level of statehouses in Ohio and New York, municipal ordinances in places like Detroit and Seattle, and philanthropy strategy memos within foundations such as The Rockefeller Foundation and MacArthur Foundation.

Impact and Criticism

Supporters point to measurable outcomes in pilot cities where procurement reform, community land trust formation, and cooperative development produced job creation, asset retention, and local reinvestment comparable to impacts reported in evaluations by institutions like Brookings Institution and Urban Institute. The Collaborative’s models have influenced municipal policy agendas and inspired campaigns led by community groups similar to Right to the City and labor coalitions. Critics, including market-oriented scholars associated with Cato Institute and commentators from Wall Street Journal-affiliated opinion writers, argue that proposed institutional shifts risk inefficiency, politicization of enterprise, or insufficient scalability beyond niche contexts. Scholars from universities such as Yale University and Stanford University have debated assumptions about sectoral transition and the role of public institutions in directing capital.

Funding and Organizational Structure

Funding sources have included a mix of philanthropic grants from foundations like The Rockefeller Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, and regional family foundations, project contracts with municipal governments and philanthropic intermediaries, and revenue from consulting and publications. The Collaborative has worked in partnership with organizations including The Democracy at Work Institute, Cooperative Development Institute, and national networks such as Prosperity Now. Governance has typically combined a small leadership team, advisory board members drawn from academic institutions like University of Maryland and Case Western Reserve University, and a roster of fellows and practitioners who collaborate on project teams.

Category:Think tanks based in the United States