Protect Democracy’s Ian Bassin on scaling a nonprofit across political divides | Masters of Scale
About Ian
- Co-founded and leads Protect Democracy, a major pro-democracy nonprofit since 2017.
- Served as Associate White House Counsel advising President Obama on constitutional law.
- Helped design White House ethics and compliance practices, upholding democratic norms.
- Launched VoteShield, software to secure and audit US election data integrity.
- Scaled Protect Democracy to 100+ multi-partisan staff, pioneering remote work pre-2020.
| 27:22
Just like private companies, many not-for-profit organizations begin when a founder sees a gap in the market and makes something new to fill it. Ian Bassin is a lawyer, former White House counsel, and not-for-profit leader who saw a need to better protect and preserve the building blocks of America’s democratic systems and steer things away from authoritarianism. His organization, Protect Democracy, brings together stakeholders across political divides to develop products, systems and services related to good governance. And Ian’s workforce has been entirely distributed – with employees now in more than 20 states – from the very beginning.
Host Jeff Berman draws out Ian’s story of crafting Protect’s Democracy’s mission alongside its culture. Hear how Ian gained the confidence, political and financial capital to start his work, and how he aligns an all-remote team. This episode is packed with insights for business leaders who navigate difference, and who aim to drive positive change.
