Taylor Holden is the CEO of One for Democracy, a funding network that invests in election excellence, voter empowerment, and civil society. As a longtime organizer and strategist, Holden has spent most of her career working behind the scenes to radically resource community leaders and candidates who provide aid, inspire civic engagement, and shift policy to meaningfully improve people’s lives.
Holden has served as Senior Advisor to a number of prominent families and funders, advising their civic and political giving. In this capacity, she shepherded significant funds to invest in election modernization, rights restoration for formerly incarcerated people, nonprofit journalism and community-owned media in areas devastated by the decimation of local newsrooms, efforts to foster civic culture and social cohesion in every state, and much more. During this time, she also served on the steering committees of numerous ballot initiatives to raise wages, protect access to reproductive care, and increase transparency for local law enforcement.
Before moving into strategic advising, Holden worked on President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign in 2012, conducted voter protection activities in Texas in 2013, and served as a three-time trainer at the New Politics Forum at the University of Texas at Austin. While at the Shorenstein Center, she will research and report on the current state of American democracy philanthropy and how to shift it to adequately address intersecting challenges facing communities, elected officials, and institutions.
