Non-partisan groups active in New Hampshire. Click a group to find more about them.
Grass Roots
Educate voters about Ranked Choice Voting and run a campaign to pass legislation that would allow Ranked Choice Voting in State and Local elections. RCV is as easy as ranking your favorite candidates, and it ensures better representation for NH voters. A 501(c)(4), this group's mission is to enable Ranked Choice Voting. There are statewide networking meetings once a month.
What is needed: Volunteers for the different sub-committees. Good national resources include Fairvote and the Ranked Choice Resource Center.
NH Grass Roots
Open Democracy works on NH campaign finance reform, redistricting, voting moderation, lobbying, and other top reform efforts. The Democracy in Action arm focuses on educating and equipping residents to be better organizers and leaders of grassroots efforts. The organization was founded by Granny D; walks are still supported to push reform.
What is needed: Join a Regional Democracy Team to help end the influence of money in politics and protect the freedom to vote at the State House and in local communities.
National, with a NH chapter
Braver Angels is a volunteer, non-profit organization committed to bridging the political divide in our country and promoting "Courageous Citizenship." Braver Angels brings liberals, conservatives, and others together at the grassroots level - not to find centrist compromise, but to find one another as citizens - through workshops, debates, campus engagement, and more. It is a 501(c)(3) non-profit. The New Hampshire Alliance of Braver Angels is helping depolarize New Hampshire by encouraging open and respectful dialogue.
What is needed: More people who want to better understand one another's positions and work together. The NH Alliance hosts a discussion forum on Zoom the third Thursday of most months, and a planning meeting the first Thursday of each month.
We are Republicans, Democrats, and Independents who believe that all Granite Staters should have a say and a stake in New Hampshire's future. The New Hampshire Forum creates a constructive space for all of us to come together, find common ground, and turn our shared priorities into bipartisan legislative action.
What is needed: Share your voice to get what you think added to the table of discussion. You can also support the work by making a donation and helping spread the word.
DC based, with a NH chapter
Getting the US Congress to work together. US House Problem Solvers are an even number of Republican and Democratic Representatives who meet and work together as representatives of the people, not their party.
What is needed: Individuals who want to help educate NH voters and support problem-solving in Congress. The NH chapter also promotes national No Labels engagement and issue-specific policy items.
The League of Women Voters New Hampshire is a non-partisan organization, part of the national League of Women Voters, whose mission is empowering voters and defending democracy. The League helps local groups organize candidate forums, distributes information about voting, and advocates for their non-partisan positions in the legislature.
National Campaign Finance
American Promise's mission is to unite and empower Americans to build a healthy democracy through a Constitutional amendment to stop the corrupting influence of money in our political system. Since 2016, they have launched forty chapters across the nation and played a key role in five state ballot initiatives and six legislative campaigns.
Other groups working on campaign finance reform include Fix It America, Take Back Our Republic, People For the American Way, and Public Citizen.
Helps people learn and practice civic character. Designs curricula, convenes workshops, and creates media to promote civic character education. Partners are welcome for creative collaborations on programming.
Helping NH residents be educated
Provides the people of New Hampshire with the tools and information they need to make a difference. Researches and profiles every candidate for state or federal office in the Granite State, and makes it easy to learn what's happening with key issues - from gun rights and drug policy to health care and renewable energy.
Helping NH residents understand how our government works
Civics 101 is the podcast refresher course on the basics of how the U.S. government works, hosted by Hannah McCarthy and Nick Capodice. Offers graphic organizers and other educational resources for teachers looking to use Civics 101 in the classroom.
Helping NH residents be informed, engaged and civil
NH Civics is the only organization in the Granite State that teaches civics for free to people of all ages, political views and zip codes. Programs help people understand how democracy works, how to find the facts, and how to be good and active citizens.
Youth programs: Civics 603, The William W. Treat Lecture Series, NH's Kid Governor, and the Mikva Challenge.
Founded on the premise that an educated citizenry is vital for a healthy democracy. Since opening in 2001, the Institute has provided a nonpartisan forum for discussion and debate on all aspects of the American political process, aiming to educate, engage, and empower citizens to participate in civic and political life.
Independent non-profit NH news
An independent, nonprofit news organization dedicated to keeping the people of the Granite State informed about the issues that matter most. Launched in April 2021, an affiliate of States Newsroom, a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Retains full editorial independence.
Educates and informs residents
The original Rye Civic League started in 1968 and ran for 24 years. In 2009 Alex Herlihy restarted the Rye Civic League and it has been growing ever since. The RCL would like to see more NH communities provide the same services in their communities.
The Monthly Rye Civic News has over 1400 people on distribution. Between 70% and 80% of people open the Civic News, and between 30% and 45% of those click on at least one link - really good numbers for an email.
It is more what Todd Selig does. This Rock Star Town Administrator started off with an informative e-mail newsletter, but evolved it into a must-read Friday web page for residents.
Brings people together for engaged conversations
Working statewide and based at the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire, NH Listens helps communities move forward on divisive and difficult decisions. In the same way that we need the physical infrastructure of roads, bridges, and buildings, we need to build, strengthen, and sustain infrastructure in our communities to support and sustain democracy. Their mission is to help New Hampshire residents talk and work together to create communities that work for everyone. They design for virtual and in-person gatherings.
Local Lunch Box: a 45-minute informative and interactive session sharing bite-sized tips and resources for community engagement and facilitation.
Visioning for Sustainable Communities
Design of the built environment has a significant impact on the fabric of a community. Plan NH raises awareness of ideas and trends in community planning and design of buildings, town centers and more that could contribute to a healthy and vibrant town or neighborhood.
Communities need to apply and be accepted. A Charette brings in planning, architect, design and other experts to engage with the community, and over two days delivers a set of recommendations. A full report is provided several weeks later. There is a $6,000 fee.
Focused on Economic Development
Helps communities in four areas make changes: 1) Economic Development Planning (Growing Communities); 2) Building Community Leaders and Planning; 3) How to engage with local businesses; 4) Integrating and supporting tourism and recreation activity.
Having more younger people live and work in NH
Works to get more college students to stay in NH and to attract additional younger workers to settle in NH. Current goal is to raise retention from 50% to 55%.
Podcasts for Independent-Minded Americans
Produces informative and educational podcasts about non-partisan activities and information, free of party narratives. Listen on Stitcher, Pandora, Apple, Google, or Spotify.
Educating our youth and others
Runs many educational programs, including We the People: The James Madison Project, and Project Citizen.
Tracking Federal Campaigns
Nonpartisan, independent and nonprofit, the Center for Responsive Politics (OpenSecrets) is the nation's premier research group tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy. Their vision is for Americans to be empowered by access to clear and unbiased information about money's role in politics and policy, and to use that knowledge to strengthen our democracy.
Fact-based discussions, county up to federal
USAFacts is a not-for-profit, nonpartisan civic initiative providing the most comprehensive and understandable government data. They provide accessible analysis on US spending and outcomes to ground public debates in facts, using exclusively publicly available government data sources - no judgments or policy prescriptions, just information provided as a free public service.
News from Left, Center & Right
AllSides strengthens our democratic society with balanced news, diverse perspectives, and real conversation. They expose people to information and ideas from all sides of the political spectrum so they can better understand the world - and each other. Their balanced news coverage, media bias ratings, civil dialogue opportunities, and technology platform are available for everyone and can be integrated by schools, nonprofits, media companies, and more.
Fact-based conservative news
This is not non-partisan, but something desperately needed by conservatives - and it also allows others to get the conservative view. A digital media company providing engaged citizens with fact-based reporting and commentary on politics, policy and culture, informed by conservative principles, delivered through newsletters, articles, and podcasts.
Video-based communication with elected officials
A Starting Point is a video-based civic engagement platform. Their mission is to create a bipartisan channel of communication and connectivity between Americans and their elected officials, with the goal of creating a more informed electorate.
National Group (no NH chapter)
Democrats, Republicans and independents working to bridge the growing partisan divide and foster a more representative and functional government. Focused on scaling and accelerating the movement to put voters first, and ensure the right leaders have the right incentives to solve our country's greatest problems - including Independent Redistricting, Ranked Choice Voting, Open Primaries, Vote by Mail, and Unity Candidates.
National Group (NH is one of their starting states)
A coalition of civic-minded business leaders and purpose-driven companies ready to take action and promote government that works for all Americans - setting a positive example for business engagement in the political sector. Working on Corporate Civic Responsibility, Operation Vote Safe, Time to Vote, secure and inclusive elections, and programs to help businesses find common ground and overcome political polarization.
National Group - Mass. Based
The system is rigged to favor the powerful and well-connected. It ignores the voices of ordinary citizens. Our representative democracy has become so corrupted by this fundamental inequality that the only voices our government listens to are the special interests who fund their campaigns, and the most partisan groups and individuals.
Litigation: Equal Votes, End Super PACs, Electors Freedom. Campaigns: RCV for POTUS. Founded by Lawrence Lessig and Jason Harrow.
National Group
Focused on getting anti-corruption laws in place, with a large focus on the local and state level where individuals can have a greater impact. To solve America's corruption crisis, we need to work together to win campaigns across the country. Whether you have 5 minutes or 5 hours, you can join their action team, the Action Brigade, and be part of the next wave of victories.
National Group
Works to allow voters to participate in any primary. In NH, you must be undeclared to choose the day of the primary - voters pay for the primaries, but the parties control the process. Many states have "closed" primaries where only party members can participate.
What is needed: Help in NH to change election laws. UnRIG IT is a petition to the Federal Election Commission to get all Americans allowed to vote in the presidential primary.
National - Washington DC based
Issue One is the leading cross-partisan political reform group in Washington. They unite Republicans, Democrats, and independents in the movement to fix our broken political system, including efforts like Don't Mess with Us (keeping foreign interference out of elections), the Rebuild Congress Initiative, and FIX THE SYSTEM. Publishes The Fulcrum, a digital news source.
National
An audacious mission: re-establish political cooperation across parties and defeat the polarization and gridlock holding back our government and country. MAP is committed to activating our nation's youngest generation of leaders and lawmakers.
Global Organization
Using their digital platform, DoSomething members join volunteer, social change, and civic action campaigns to make real-world impact on causes they care about. Scholarships are also available.
National
BridgeUSA is developing the next generation of engaged, informed, and constructive citizens. Their movement catalyzes the passion of the next generation to invest in the future of democracy.
National - Boston based
Empowers young people to become engaged and effective citizens. Works to ensure that every student in the United States receives an effective action civics education, providing them with the knowledge and skills necessary to participate in our democracy as active citizens.
National
Govern for America bridges the gap between state and local governments and emerging leaders to build a pipeline of diverse and dynamic talent into government. They recruit, train and place exceptional graduates into full-time jobs and support them as they develop into effective public sector leaders throughout a two-year fellowship.
National - Youth Based
Civics Unplugged (CU) is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) social enterprise and digitally-powered community that provides leaders of Generation Z training, funds, and support to build the future of American communities and democracy. The Civics Unplugged Fellowship is a six-month, digital-first leadership program bringing together exceptional high school-aged leaders to learn systems thinking, personal development, democratic theory, and community building - culminating in Civics 2030, CU's 10-year national campaign.
