Grants Database

Democracy Fund collaborates with our grantees, donors, and other partners to strengthen and expand the movement for an inclusive, multiracial democracy. We are proud to have supported more than 400 organizations doing this work.

Program Areas
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Elections and Voting
General and Field Building
Governance
Just and Inclusive Society
President's Office
Public Square
Strategies
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Civil & Human Rights Online
Constructive Politics
Digital Democracy
Ecosystem News
Empowering Congress
Engaged Journalism
Equitable Civic Infrastructure
General
Investigative Journalism
Journalism & Power Building
News & Information Ecosystems
Oversight and Accountability
Power Building in Marginalized Communities
Press Freedom
Preventing Authoritarian Abuse of Power
Previous Strategy
Pro-Voter Reform
Representative Institutions
Representative Leadership
Resilient Elections
Rights and Dignity
Roadmap for American Democracy
State and Local Accountability
Trust in Elections
Voter-Centric Election Administration
Voting Power
Organization Name (A-Z) Grant Amount Type Program Area Year
  • Internews Network
  • $260,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2020

The Listening Post Collective, a project of Internews, uses strategy and capacity building for local and community news primarily led by and serving Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, to build engaged and trusted journalism. Their programs focus on news deserts and place-based community media systems.

Project:

Listening Post Collective

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Dec 2020 to Jun 2022

Strategy:

Engaged Journalism
  • Islamic Society of North America
  • $100,000.00
  • Project
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2020

To support the Shoulder to Shoulder campaign, inside of Islamic Society of North America, in their initiative on interfaith and islamophobia trainings and workshops.  These training are called Faith over Fear, and this grant will support Shoulder to Shoulder’s Ramadan work, as well.  

Project:

Shoulder to Shoulder Islamophobia trainings

Foundation Center Topic:

Other

Grant Length:

May 2020 to Apr 2021

Strategy:

General
  • Islamic Society of North America
  • $115,000.00
  • Project
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2018

To support the work of the Islamic Society of North America’s Shoulder to Shoulder initiative in interfaith, islamophobia trainings – entitled Faith Over Fear trainings – in up to ten geographic regions of the United States. This Grant will also support Shoulder to Shoulder’s Ramadan Road Trip 2019 network-building scoping work for the trainings, as well as a monitoring and evaluation consultant.

Project:

Shoulder to Shoulder Islamophobia Trainings

Foundation Center Topic:

Other

Grant Length:

Oct 2018 to Jan 2020

Strategy:

General
  • ISRC Education Fund
  • $400,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2023

The Independent Strategic Research Collaborative Education Fund (ISRC), a fiscally sponsored project of the New Venture Fund, provides research, messaging development, and research and communications alignment to the pro-democracy movement. Their work includes facilitating convening spaces for leaders to share intel, strategy, messaging guidance, and calls to action.

Project:

ISRC Education Fund

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration, Other

Grant Length:

Dec 2023 to Jan 2026

Strategy:

Resilient Elections
  • ISRC Education Fund
  • $700,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2021

The Independent Strategic Research Collaborative Education Fund (ISRC), a fiscally sponsored project of the New Venture Fund, provides research, messaging development, and research and communications alignment to the pro-democracy movement. Their work includes facilitating convening spaces for leaders to share intel, strategy, messaging guidance, and calls to action.

Project:

ISRC Education Fund Project

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting

Grant Length:

Nov 2021 to Dec 2023

Strategy:

Trust in Elections
  • Issue One
  • $100,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2024

The Elections Communications Hub, a communications hub led by Issue One, The Democracy Communications Collaborative, and the Future US will support 20+ nonpartisan organizations focused on election protection and trust-building by building on existing coordination efforts with dedicated staff and state-of-the-art tools.

Project:

Elections Communications Hub

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting, Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration

Grant Length:

Aug 2024 to Jul 2025

Strategy:

Resilient Elections
  • Issue One
  • $25,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2014

To provide a restricted grant for Issue One to hire a consultant to strengthen the organization’s internal grant making processes and procedures.For more on Issue One’s background and program areas, please refer to R-201410-01360.

Project:

Restricted grant for consultation

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Campaign Finance

Grant Length:

Dec 2014 to May 2016

Strategy:

Previous Strategy
  • Issue One
  • $400,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2017

To provide general support to Issue One as they continue to broaden the coalition of leaders, supporters and ideas in an effort to find meaningful opportunities to educate the public on problems and solutions to the influence of money on politics. 

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Campaign Finance

Grant Length:

Apr 2017 to Mar 2019

Strategy:

Previous Strategy
  • Issue One
  • $400,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2014

To provide general support to Issue One (formerly Fund for the Republic).

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Campaign Finance

Grant Length:

Dec 2014 to Dec 2016

Strategy:

Previous Strategy
  • Issue One
  • $1,480,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Governance
  • 2019

General operating support to Issue One. 

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Campaign Finance, Government/Legislative Branch Performance, Government/Open Government and Transparency

Grant Length:

Jun 2019 to Dec 2023

Strategy:

Oversight and Accountability
  • Issue One
  • $250,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2020

The Rebuild Congress Initiative (RCI), a project of Issue One, seeks to better understand congressional dysfunction and aims to build bipartisan coalitions in support of congressional reform measures⁠ — especially efforts to increase congressional capacity⁠.

Project:

The Rebuild Congress Initiative

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Legislative Branch Performance

Grant Length:

Jul 2020 to Jul 2023

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • Issue One
  • $75,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2013

The Fund for the Republic will conduct research on conservative attitudes towards campaign finance reform.

Project:

Conservative Lighthouse Research

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Campaign Finance

Grant Length:

Jul 2013 to Jul 2014

Strategy:

Previous Strategy
  • Issue One
  • $350,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2017

Issue One’s Ethics and Accountability Project conducts research and investigations of ethics and accountability issues, watchdog efforts to hold public officials accountable, and the development of white papers, narratives, and other deliverables for use in congressional hearings and media reports.

Project:

Issue One Ethics and Accountability Project

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Open Government and Transparency, Government/Civil Liberties and Rule of Law

Grant Length:

Apr 2017 to Apr 2019

Strategy:

Oversight and Accountability
  • John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Inc.
  • $250,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2015

This grant will provide additional award money for the Knight Foundation’s News Challenge. The Knight News Challenge accelerates media innovation by funding breakthrough ideas in news and information. Winners receive a share of $3 million in funding – and support from Knight’s network of influential peers and advisors to help advance their ideas. Innovators from all industries and countries are invited to participate.

Project:

Knight News Challenge

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Media Access and Policy, Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration

Grant Length:

Jun 2015 to Sep 2017

Strategy:

Engaged Journalism
  • Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies Inc.
  • $300,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2017

Democracy Fund will support The Joint Center’s efforts to identify, screen, and counsel African-American candidates for jobs in the U.S. Congress.  

Project:

The Joint Center Black Talent Initiative

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Legislative Branch Performance, Government/Executive Branch Performance

Grant Length:

Jul 2017 to Jun 2019

Strategy:

Constructive Politics
  • Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies Inc.
  • $1,175,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Governance
  • 2019

This grant will provide General Operating Support to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. 

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership, Government/Legislative Branch Performance

Grant Length:

Nov 2019 to Sep 2024

Strategy:

Constructive Politics
  • Journalism & Women Symposium
  • $150,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Public Square
  • 2022

The Journalism and Women Symposium (JAWS) is expanding their regional programming and diversifying their membership to support their mission to empower and grow the number of women in journalism.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism, Media/Journalism Education and Training

Grant Length:

Jul 2022 to Dec 2023

Strategy:

Journalism & Power Building
  • Journalism & Women Symposium
  • $120,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Public Square
  • 2018

The first $80,000 installment is to support Grantee’s general charitable, educational, and/or scientific purposes as described in Grantee’s charter documents.
The second $40,000 installment is to empower the Grantee to increase and improve its organizational diversity, equity, and inclusion practices through various activities, including but not limited to collecting demographical and attitudinal data, a series of DEI-centered talks throughout Grantee’s regional chapters, and continued partnership with outside experts on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism Education and Training, Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Oct 2018 to Sep 2020

Strategy:

Engaged Journalism
  • Journalism & Women Symposium
  • $100,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Public Square
  • 2020

The Journalism and Women Symposium (JAWS) is expanding their regional programming and diversifying their membership to support their mission to empower and grow the number of women in journalism.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism, Media/Journalism Education and Training

Grant Length:

Jul 2020 to Jun 2022

Strategy:

Engaged Journalism
  • JustFund.Us
  • $1,824,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2023

JustFund is a revolutionary nonprofit grantmaking solution that provides philanthropy with a new way to give through a B2B SaaS (business-to-business software-as-a-service) platform with growing B2C (business-to-consumer) offerings. JustFund eliminates bottlenecks and barriers to giving and centers equity in a traditionally inequitable process.

Project:

Building Power Cohort

Foundation Center Topic:

Other

Grant Length:

Dec 2023 to Nov 2025

Strategy:

Voting Power
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