For the Irish Campaign group Democracy Matters, see Democracy Matters (Ireland). Democracy Matters is an American non-profit, non-partisan grassroots student political organization that is dedicated to deepening democracy. The organization's mission is to strengthen democracy by: (1) training young people how to be effective grassroots organizers and advocates; and (2) supporting public financing of election campaigns (“fair elections”) and other pro-democracy and campaign finance related reforms. Democracy Matters believes that it is imperative to reduce the overwhelming influence of big private and corporate money in elections and necessary to empower ordinary people—regardless of race, gender, and/or socio-economic status—to be able to participate meaningfully in the electoral and political process. Democracy Matters is also a part of the Declaration for American Democracy coalition. Origins Wanting to give back after having been fortunate enough to play in the NBA, former 13-year veteran NBA player and Colgate alumnus Adonal Foyle, with the assistance of his adoptive parents Jay Mandle (professor of economics at Colgate) and Joan Mandle (associate professor of sociology, anthropology and women's studies at Colgate), created Democracy Matters in 2001. Colgate University served as the test for the first Democracy Matters chapter, and after a successful first year, multiple other chapters were established across the country. Among the oldest chapters are those at Vassar College, Brown University, Syracuse University, and St. Lawrence University. Structure of organization Democracy Matters focuses on a bottom-up approach to political change. The organization seeks to empower and activate college students to lead the fight for campaign finance reform. Towards this end, Democracy Matters offers an internship program. When a student is selected as an intern, Democracy Matters offers individually-crafted training in political organizing, theory, and communication. Once students have undergone preliminary training, they sets forth to create (or maintain if already existence) a Democracy Matters chapter at their university. In this function, they oversee groups of other student activists committed to getting big money out of politics. Throughout its existence, Democracy Matters has worked with more than 800 interns and brought thousands of other affiliated students into the campaign finance fight. Democracy Matters chapters are diverse in terms of race, gender, and political orientation. As such, there is no single programming curriculum for DM chapters. Students are encouraged to be creative and innovative with their campaigns and to develop their own style of political organizing. Among the many tactics used are: organizing movie screenings, bringing in