When and how did MVP begin?

Movement Voter Project was founded in 2015 by Billy Wimsatt, an author, activist, and leader with decades of national movement-building experience. Billy and a community of other organizers and donors were frustrated that the vast majority of political giving goes to candidates who spend that money primarily on TV ads and expensive consultants. In their experience, the most effective electoral organizing came from grassroots groups, but the groups doing the best work were often overlooked by funders. They envisioned a new organization that worked at the intersection of donor advising, political organizing, and movement innovation.

In early 2016, MVP (then known as Movement 2016) consulted with 50 movement leaders and experts in state organizing ecosystems to develop a list of several hundred local movement groups in key states and helped donors across the country support their organizing efforts. In advance of the 2018 midterms, Movement Voter Project grew its staff and reach, adopted its current name, and moved millions more to support local organizing.

Our work was only getting started. In 2019–2020, MVP worked with tens of thousands of donors to raise tens of millions of dollars to support local organizing groups, surpassing our initial goal three times over.

Learn more about what MVP has accomplished over the years on our About page.