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.
- Wayne State University
- $100,000.00
- Project
- Public Square
- 2017
The purpose of this grant is to explore how WDET, and in turn other local non-profit media organizations, can integrate revenue driving activities into engaged journalism projects. Our intention is to identify and realize the sustainability of “engagement” as a practice, and share our learnings for the wider industry to review.
Project:
WDET Engagement & Contribution PipelineFoundation Center Topic:
Media/Journalism, Media/Journalism Education and TrainingGrant Length:
Dec 2017 to May 2019Strategy:
Ecosystem News- Wayne State University
- $150,000.00
- Project
- Governance
- 2017
This project grant will provide support for the Levin Center at Wayne Law to continue its efforts to strengthen congressional oversight. This work will include academic research and collaboration on congressional oversight issues. By facilitating the development of an academic field focused on oversight and research into effective oversight methods, the Levin Center’s work is part of a longer term strategy to rebuild civil society’s work on oversight and accountability issues.
Project:
Levin Center at Wayne LawFoundation Center Topic:
Government/Open Government and Transparency, Government/Legislative Branch PerformanceGrant Length:
Nov 2017 to Oct 2019Strategy:
Oversight and Accountability- Wayne State University
- $337,500.00
- Project
- Governance
- 2019
To support the activities of the Levin Center at Wayne Law to promote bipartisan, fact-based oversight. The Levin Center will conduct oversight trainings for congressional staff, promote scholarly research on oversight, host conferences and symposia on oversight topics, and strengthen the public narrative around the importance of meaningful oversight.
Project:
Levin Center at Wayne LawFoundation Center Topic:
Government/Legislative Branch Performance, Government/Open Government and TransparencyGrant Length:
Nov 2019 to Oct 2023Strategy:
Oversight and Accountability- We the Veterans Foundation
- $350,000.00
- General Operating Support
- Just and Inclusive Society
- 2024
We the Veterans Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization created by veterans and military family members. They empower the veteran and military family community to strengthen American democracy.
Project:
General Operating SupportFoundation Center Topic:
Civic Participation/Civic Education and LeadershipGrant Length:
Oct 2024 to Sep 2026Strategy:
General- We the Veterans Foundation
- $100,000.00
- General Operating Support
- Just and Inclusive Society
- 2023
We the Veterans Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization created by veterans and military family members. They empower the veteran and military family community to strengthen American democracy.
Project:
We The VeteransFoundation Center Topic:
Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership, Civic Participation, Civic Participation/Public ParticipationGrant Length:
Oct 2023 to Sep 2024Strategy:
General- We the Veterans Foundation
- $100,000.00
- General Operating Support
- Just and Inclusive Society
- 2022
We the Veterans Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization created by veterans and military family members. They empower the veteran and military family community to strengthen American democracy.
Project:
General Operating SupportFoundation Center Topic:
Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership, Civic Participation, Government/Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, OtherGrant Length:
Oct 2022 to Sep 2023Strategy:
General- Welcoming America Inc.
- $200,000.00
- General Operating Support
- Just and Inclusive Society
- 2023
Welcoming America is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that leads a movement of inclusive communities becoming more prosperous by ensuring everyone belongs. Through the Welcoming Network, they help communities develop the roadmap they need to create welcoming policies and share new approaches to creating an environment where everyone can truly thrive.
Project:
General Operating SupportFoundation Center Topic:
Civic Participation/Naturalization and Immigrant Civic IntegrationGrant Length:
Nov 2023 to Oct 2024Strategy:
Power Building in Marginalized Communities- Welcoming America Inc.
- $1,000,000.00
- General Operating Support
- Governance
- 2019
Democracy Fund will provide general operating support to Welcoming America to support their work to promote more welcoming communities in the United States.
Project:
General Operating SupportFoundation Center Topic:
Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership, Civic Participation/Naturalization and Immigrant Civic IntegrationGrant Length:
Aug 2019 to May 2023Strategy:
Constructive Politics- Wesleyan University
- $50,000.00
- Project
- Public Square
- 2020
To support the Wesleyan Media Project, a project of Wesleyan University, in their work to organize data to hold platforms accountable to the American public and advance America’s democratic promise. This grant will fund research and scholarship into how best to collect and publish data regarding political advertising on platforms, with particular interest on ads that involve race and gender.
Project:
Platforms & Political AdsFoundation Center Topic:
Media/Media Access and PolicyGrant Length:
Apr 2020 to Mar 2021Strategy:
Digital Democracy- Wesleyan University
- $25,000.00
- Project
- Public Square
- 2019
To support the Wesleyan Media Project in their work to organize data to hold platforms accountable to the American public and to advance America’s democratic promise. This grant will fund research and scholarship into how best to collect and publish data regarding political advertising on platforms, with a focus on ads that involve race and gender.
Project:
Platforms & Political AdsFoundation Center Topic:
Media/Media Access and PolicyGrant Length:
Aug 2019 to Feb 2020Strategy:
Digital Democracy- West Virginia University Foundation, Inc.
- $150,000.00
- Project
- Public Square
- 2017
This grant supports work to demonstrate how universities can lead collaborative reporting projects that challenge local newsrooms to shift their practices to better create journalism that is meaningful to communities and responsive to their needs through a focus on reporting from a rural Appalachian perspective.
Project:
WVU Media InnovationFoundation Center Topic:
Media/Journalism Education and TrainingGrant Length:
Aug 2017 to Jun 2019Strategy:
Engaged Journalism- West Virginia University Foundation, Inc.
- $200,000.00
- Project
- Public Square
- 2019
To support critical data collection and analysis by West Virginia University’s Reed College of Media to document and analyze the networks and strategies being used to expose, recruit, and radicalize white youth in the Appalachian region in order to determine opportunities for intervention.
Project:
Researching Radicalization of White Youth in AppalachiaFoundation Center Topic:
Media/Journalism Education and TrainingGrant Length:
Nov 2019 to Aug 2022Strategy:
Engaged Journalism- Western States Center Inc.
- $375,000.00
- General Operating Support
- Just and Inclusive Society
- 2022
Western States Center works to build a future where all people can live, love, worship, and work free from bigotry and fear. They foster leaders, organizations, collaborations, and initiatives that reduce disparities and advance equity; lift up the leaders of marginalized communities; and deliver accessible tools for community organizing and civic engagement.
Project:
General Operating SupportFoundation Center Topic:
Government/Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, OtherGrant Length:
Jun 2022 to Apr 2024Strategy:
General- William J. Brennan, Jr. Center for Justice, Inc.
- $700,000.00
- Project
- Governance
- 2019
The Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty and National Security Program’s Emergency Powers Project seeks to bolster checks on the use of emergency powers through legal research, developing reforms that limit emergency powers, preparing for potential invocations of emergency powers in the context of the 2020 election, and educating the public about these issues.
Project:
Liberty & National Security Program -Emergency Powers ProjectFoundation Center Topic:
Government/Civil Liberties and Rule of LawGrant Length:
Nov 2019 to Oct 2023Strategy:
Oversight and Accountability- William J. Brennan, Jr. Center for Justice, Inc.
- $350,000.00
- Project
- Governance
- 2017
The William J. Brennan Center for Justice is preparing for the possible invocation of emergency authorities and the threat they would pose to democracy and to the constitutional order. This grant will support the Liberty and National Security Program’s Emergency Powers Project. The project involves legal and empirical research, a bipartisan working group of academic experts and former government officials to identify scenarios and interventions, and implementation of intervention strategies.
Project:
Liberty & National Security Program - Emergency Powers ProjectFoundation Center Topic:
Government/Civil Liberties and Rule of LawGrant Length:
Oct 2017 to Sep 2019Strategy:
Oversight and Accountability- William J. Brennan, Jr. Center for Justice, Inc.
- $350,000.00
- Project
- Governance
- 2023
The Brennan Center’s Emergency Powers Project works to fix the legal framework for emergency powers by bolstering checks on the use of emergency powers through legal research, developing reforms that limit emergency powers, and educating the public about specific emergency powers, such as the Insurrection Act, which delegates a dangerous amount of discretion to the president.
Project:
Emergency Powers ProjectFoundation Center Topic:
Government/Executive Branch Performance, Government/Open Government and TransparencyGrant Length:
Nov 2023 to Oct 2025Strategy:
Preventing Authoritarian Abuse of Power- William J. Brennan, Jr. Center for Justice, Inc.
- $200,000.00
- Project
- Governance
- 2023
The Governance and Judiciary project is part of the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program. This project focuses on the erosion of confidence in democratic institutions; specifically, long-established guardrails that have protected the rule of law and the integrity of federal and state policy making, and the increasing hostility of federal courts to protecting civil and democratic rights.
Project:
Governance and Judiciary projectFoundation Center Topic:
Government/Executive Branch Performance, Government, Government/Judicial Selection and PerformanceGrant Length:
Nov 2023 to Oct 2024Strategy:
State and Local Accountability- William J. Brennan, Jr. Center for Justice, Inc.
- $200,000.00
- Project
- Governance
- 2022
The Governance and Judiciary project is part of the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program. This project focuses on the erosion of confidence in democratic institutions; specifically, long-established guardrails that have protected the rule of law and the integrity of federal and state policy making, and the increasing hostility of federal courts to protecting civil and democratic rights.
Project:
Governance and Judiciary projectFoundation Center Topic:
Government/Executive Branch Performance, Government, Government/Judicial Selection and PerformanceGrant Length:
Nov 2022 to Oct 2023Strategy:
Preventing Authoritarian Abuse of Power- Win | Win Network
- $25,000.00
- Project
- Elections and Voting
- 2019
To support the Win/Win coalition’s efforts around automatic voter registration implementation in Washington state.
Project:
Implementing Automatic Voter Registration & Voting Rights in WashingtonFoundation Center Topic:
Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration, Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Voting AccessGrant Length:
Jun 2019 to Nov 2019Strategy:
Pro-Voter Reform- Women of Color Advancing Peace and Security (WCAPS)
- $600,000.00
- General Operating Support
- Governance
- 2020
Women of Color Advancing Peace, Security, and Conflict Transformation (WCAPS) is a platform to provide mentorship and partnerships with the goal of advancing the leadership and professional development of women of color in the fields of international peace and security, foreign policy, and national security.