A new and privately-funded Be the People campaign challenges the idea that the United States is hopelessly divided or that individuals lack the power to address issues like poverty, addiction, violence and stalled economic mobility.
The campaign emerged from the Stand Together Trust, a philanthropic community established in 2014 by the chairman and co-CEO of Koch Industries, Charles Koch, to advance funding initiatives in education, community, business and government in support of social entrepreneurs. It builds on 2024 Pew Research Center survey findings indicating that most Americans do not believe that the United States could solve its most important problems.
Backed by founding members including GivingTuesday, Goodwill Industries, Habitat for Humanity, More Perfect, Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment, the National Basketball Association and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Be the People coalition is committed to realizing a cultural transformation towards shared humanity over the next 10 years and is targeting more than $200 million for its first year’s budget.
Earlier this week, Martin Luther King III—whose grandfather said “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?”—and his wife Arndrea Waters linked their Realize the Dream service program to Be the People at an Atlanta Hawks game.