On January 12 – 14, 2024, Sunnylands partnered with More Perfect to host a retreat entitled, It’s Our Democracy: A Campaign for a More Perfect Union.

This retreat was a follow-up to one Sunnylands hosted in October 2022. While the aim of the 2022 convening was to stress-test and launch the campaign’s five democracy goals, this second convening brought together multiple sector and philanthropic leaders from across the political spectrum to identify how to engage and mobilize institutions and Americans en masse within various sectors (military and veterans, higher education, business, and the arts) to make progress on the goals around universal civic learning, bridging divides, national service and volunteering, trusted elections and responsive governance, and access to trusted news and information.   

Notable participants included the presidents of the MacArthur and Rockefeller foundations, the president of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the heads of four presidential centers (from both Republican and Democratic parties). U.S. General (ret.) Stanley McChrystal, former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (virtually), and two former directors of the White House Domestic Policy Council, John Bridgeland and Melody Barnes, were also in attendance, along with activist, writer, and comedian, Baratunde Thurston, host of the podcast, How to Citizen with Baratunde.

Leaders already engaged in the campaign and those new to it came away energized and bolstered in their commitment to action in advancing the goals toward a more perfect union.