The Census 2020 Michigan Nonprofits Count Campaign (NPCC), supported by 20 CMF members, has been unveiled to the public.

The Michigan Nonprofit Association (MNA) announced the official launch last week in Detroit. As CMF has reported, the campaign is a statewide initiative led by MNA with CMF coordinating the fundraising efforts to support the $4.7 million campaign.

With seed funding from W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), more than $4 million has been committed from CMF members and the state of Michigan, to mobilize statewide, regional and community-based participation in support of the census to ensure everyone in Michigan is counted, especially the hard-to-count communities.

“An accurate count for census 2020 will be absolutely pivotal for equitable communities in Michigan,” Faye Nelson, director of Michigan programs, WKKF said.

Michigan stands to lose $1,800 in federal funding per year for 10 years for every person who isn’t counted, funding that supports critical services in our state.

“An inaccurate census count means hard to count populations will rely more heavily on nonprofit services and organizations,” Hassan Jaber, executive director and CEO, ACCESS and co-chair of NPCC said. “We cannot continue to stretch our resources to respond to the needs, so that’s why the leadership of MNA is so critical. We, together as a state need to come together and make sure that we have a complete count.”

Several CMF member community foundations are engaging in this work, serving as regional census hubs.

As census hubs they are the connector between the statewide campaign and the community-based nonprofit organizations doing direct outreach on the ground.

Census hubs:

• Educate nonprofits in the region about what’s at stake for the 2020 census and possible roles for nonprofits to help ensure a complete count.

• Involve representatives of hard-to-count populations in developing and implementing a plan for awarding, managing and tracking mini-grants to local nonprofits.

• Partner with local complete count committees to coordinate efforts.

• Serve as a campaign key messenger with local media and state/federal policymakers in support of funding and outreach for the census.

The Community Foundation for the Upper Peninsula (CFUP), Community Foundation of Marquette County and Community Foundation for Delta County (CFDC) are all serving as co-regional hubs and engaging with nonprofits and community foundations in the UP.

“Because of the mostly rural nature of the Upper Peninsula, it is of paramount importance that all residents be counted, and our nine affiliates are very well positioned to see that as many as is humanly possible are counted,” Gary LaPlant, president and CEO, CFUP and CFDC said.

Other community foundations involved in this work as census hubs and/or supporters of the campaign are collaborating regionally and some are partnering with their local United Way.

This campaign, which currently has the largest pool of funds for a state nonprofit census campaign in the U.S., is creating infrastructure that will be sustained after the census and will be ongoing to support civic engagement in Michigan.

“Together all of us have the chance to do something extraordinary – let’s do it,” Nelson said.

In addition to the official launch of the campaign in Michigan, last week there was a national convening, primarily of funders, co-led by The Ford Foundation and WKKF in Washington, D.C. highlighting how urgent it is that the philanthropic sector support the nonprofit sector to ensure there’s a complete census count throughout the U.S.

It was shared at the meeting that there is an intentional disinformation strategy underway aimed at discouraging populations from participating in the census. This strategy was uncovered through analysis by private sector companies that are working with national census funders and the leadership council.

This highlights the urgent situation facing our communities, an effort to diminish the voices of those who are considered hardest to count. Census funders are asking that if you suspect disinformation around census participation to report it immediately to the platform.

If such a disinformation campaign is effective and people don’t participate in the census in Michigan we stand to lose:

• An estimated $1,800 of federal funds per year for every person who isn’t counted, for the next 10 years. Consider that Michigan’s state budget is comprised of approximately 40 percent federal funding, which means Michigan relies more on federal funding than any state in the country other than Mississippi. 

• In 2020 Michigan could lose a congressional seat, resulting in a decrease in the number of seats Michigan has in the Electoral College.

Want more?

Connect with the campaign.

Learn about CMF’s census 2020 work.