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
  • The Pivot Fund
  • $125,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2022

The Pivot Fund, a fiscally sponsored project of Online News Association, invests in the skills, capacity, and development of BIPOC-led and serving community media and lends their expertise to the broader work of building an equitable and robust Georgia local news ecosystem.

Project:

The Pivot Fund

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Sep 2022 to Aug 2023

Strategy:

General
  • The Pluribus Project
  • $100,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2018

This grant will support “The Citizens Circle” project to develop a collaborative, scalable model to elevate constructive voices in local forums. 

Project:

Support for The Pluribus Project

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation

Grant Length:

Apr 2018 to Mar 2019

Strategy:

Constructive Politics
  • The Project on Government Oversight, Inc.
  • $275,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2015

The purpose of this grant is to foster bipartisan expert collaboration among several organizations in the field on providing to congressional staff needed training on conducting oversight of the executive branch as part of the regular, civil function of government.

Project:

Collaboration on Congressional Oversight Training

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Legislative Branch Performance, Government

Grant Length:

Dec 2015 to Nov 2017

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • The Project on Government Oversight, Inc.
  • $300,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2017

This grant to The Constitution Project (TCP), a program within the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), will support POGO/TCP’s work to protect the courts. Through the “Defending Our Courts” campaign, POGO/TCP will develop messaging and build a coalition to restore and strengthen the public’s faith in the judiciary and build an infrastructure to resist any efforts to delegitimize or ignore a court’s decision.  

Project:

The "Defending Our Courts" Project

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Civil Liberties and Rule of Law

Grant Length:

Dec 2017 to May 2020

Strategy:

Oversight and Accountability
  • The Project on Government Oversight, Inc.
  • $1,750,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Governance
  • 2022

The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is a nonpartisan independent watchdog that investigates and exposes waste, corruption, abuse of power, failures by the government to serve the public, or efforts to silence those who report wrongdoing.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

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

Grant Length:

Jul 2022 to Jun 2024

Strategy:

Oversight and Accountability
  • The Project on Government Oversight, Inc.
  • $1,950,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Governance
  • 2024

The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is a nonpartisan independent watchdog that investigates and exposes waste, corruption, abuse of power, failures by the government to serve the public, or efforts to silence those who report wrongdoing.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

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

Grant Length:

Jul 2024 to Jun 2027

Strategy:

Preventing Authoritarian Abuse of Power
  • The Project on Government Oversight, Inc.
  • $2,000,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Governance
  • 2017

This rapid response grant provides POGO with critical increased capacity to respond to recent political developments. They will be able to conduct more in-depth investigations, provide more trainings for federal workers and congressional staff, and more effectively protect against the erosion of government safeguards and checks and balances.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Open Government and Transparency, Government/Legislative Branch Performance, Government/Civil Liberties and Rule of Law

Grant Length:

Jun 2017 to May 2019

Strategy:

Oversight and Accountability
  • The Project on Government Oversight, Inc.
  • $2,500,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Governance
  • 2019

General operating support for the Project On Government Oversight. 

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Government/Executive Branch Performance, Government/Open Government and Transparency

Grant Length:

Jun 2019 to May 2022

Strategy:

Oversight and Accountability
  • The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia
  • $45,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2018

To provide additional technical support for the University of Virginia Department of Media Studies team working on modernization of the 2018 ASNE Diversity Survey. 

Project:

Support for ASNE Diversity Survey

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Jun 2018 to Feb 2019

Strategy:

Engaged Journalism
  • The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia
  • $150,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2018

The University of Virginia’s Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is a nonpartisan organization that uses quantitative and qualitative analyses to promote legislative effectiveness among lawmakers across the United States.

Project:

Center for Effective Lawmaking

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Legislative Branch Performance

Grant Length:

May 2018 to Apr 2020

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia
  • $200,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2020

The University of Virginia’s Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is a nonpartisan organization that uses quantitative and qualitative analyses to promote legislative effectiveness among lawmakers across the United States.

Project:

Center for Effective Lawmaking

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Legislative Branch Performance

Grant Length:

Oct 2020 to Sep 2023

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia
  • $100,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2020

To provide support for the Deliberative Media Lab’s research on the intersection of people of color and social media platforms, situated within the new Democracy Initiative at the University of Virginia. 

Project:

Platforms & Civil Rights

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Media Access and Policy

Grant Length:

Apr 2020 to Dec 2021

Strategy:

Digital Democracy
  • The Reed Institute
  • $12,500.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2016

To provide funding for survey work of public opinions about election administration.

Project:

Survey of Public Opinions About Election Administration

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration

Grant Length:

Jul 2016 to Jun 2017

Strategy:

Voter-Centric Election Administration
  • The Reed Institute
  • $30,250.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2018

The purpose of this grant is to provide funding for the Reed 2018 CCES team module, which is a survey that captures the public’s opinions about election administration and voting.

Project:

2018 Cooperative Congressional Election Study

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration

Grant Length:

Aug 2018 to Oct 2019

Strategy:

Trust in Elections
  • The Regents of the University of California, Los Angeles
  • $100,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2022

The National Center on Race and Digital Justice works on informing legislation, building strong networks of coordinated work, collaborating with grassroots organizers, conducting academic and legal research, curating public lectures, and supporting new thinkers and leaders.

Project:

The National Center on Race and Digital Justice

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Media Access and Policy

Grant Length:

Oct 2022 to Mar 2024

Strategy:

Equitable Civic Infrastructure
  • The Revival Lab Project
  • $300,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2024

The Revival Lab Project, a fiscally sponsored project of Aspiration, is documenting how the loss of BIPOC local media and community infrastructure, paired with increasingly inextricable relationship between tech companies, governments, and third-party entities, is fueling a social, economic and public health crisis

Project:

The Revival Lab

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Media Access and Policy

Grant Length:

Oct 2024 to Sep 2026

Strategy:

Civil & Human Rights Online
  • The Roosevelt Institute
  • $50,000.00
  • Project
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2022

The Roosevelt Institute’s Fellowship is conducting research on climate migration and migrant integration issues. Climate migration is an emergent megatrend that is reshaping our culture, economy, and politics in profound ways. This research contributes to the ongoing discussion and to more just outcomes for migrants, refugees, and all marginalized people.

Project:

Roosevelt Fellowship

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership, Civic Participation/Issue-based Participation, Other

Grant Length:

Oct 2022 to Jun 2023

Strategy:

Power Building in Marginalized Communities
  • The Trust Project
  • $700,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2018

To support The Trust Project, fiscally sponsored by the New Venture Fund, in their efforts to research, develop, and deploy tools and technologies that make it easy for both the public and news distribution platforms to identify quality news out of the chaos online. 

Project:

The Trust Project

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Dec 2018 to May 2022

Strategy:

Engaged Journalism
  • The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York
  • $200,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2016

This is a renewal grant to CJR’s United States Project to support experimentation in building local journalism capacity in the areas of collaboration, innovation, impact, and funding in target states. 

Project:

US States Project Renewal

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Sep 2016 to Dec 2017

Strategy:

Previous Strategy
  • The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York
  • $400,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2014

To improve local journalism by continuing the United States Project at CJR which has become an important reference point for reporting on the state of local journalism across the country.

Project:

Columbia Journalism Review's United States Project

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism Education and Training

Grant Length:

Mar 2014 to Feb 2016

Strategy:

Previous Strategy
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