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
  • Free Press
  • $175,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Public Square
  • 2020

General operating support for Free Press. 

Project:

Free Press

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Media Access and Policy

Grant Length:

Jul 2020 to Jun 2022

Strategy:

Digital Democracy
  • Free Press
  • $215,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Public Square
  • 2022

Free Press is a watchdog for media and technology policy. They conduct research and policy analysis, educate policymakers, the press and the public, pressure corporations, organize campaigns with grasstops and grassroots constituencies to hold decision-makers accountable, and lead winning coalitions.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation, Media/Journalism Education and Training, Media/Media Access and Policy

Grant Length:

Sep 2022 to Jun 2023

Strategy:

Journalism & Power Building
  • Freedom Network USA
  • $20,000.00
  • Project
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2019

The purpose of this grant is to support wellness and healing for frontline staff at Freedom Network USA, and to learn about strategies, resources, and needs in the field.  

Project:

RAD Healing and Wellness for Freedom Network USA

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership, Civic Participation/Naturalization and Immigrant Civic Integration, Civic Participation/Public Participation, Other

Grant Length:

Nov 2019 to Apr 2020

Strategy:

General
  • FRIDA - The Young Feminist Fund
  • $530,000.00
  • Project
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2022

FRIDA Young Feminist Fund, a fiscally sponsored project of the Tides Foundation, works to provide young feminist organizers with the resources they need to amplify their voices and bring attention to the social justice issues they care about. This grant is made by Democracy Fund in collaboration with the Rights and Dignity Working Group, a cross-Omidyar Group initiative.

Project:

FRIDA Young Feminist Fund

Foundation Center Topic:

Other

Grant Length:

Dec 2022 to Nov 2023

Strategy:

Rights and Dignity
  • Funders' Collaborative on Youth Organizing
  • $300,000.00
  • Project
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2023

The Funders’ Collaborative on Youth Organizing (FCYO) , a fiscally sponsored project of Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice, is a dynamic collective of social justice funders and youth organizing practitioners dedicated to advancing youth organizing as a strategy for youth development and social change.

Project:

Funders' Collaborative on Youth Organizing

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting, Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership, Civic Participation, Civic Participation/Issue-based Participation, Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Voter Education, Registration, and Turnout, Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Voting Access

Grant Length:

Nov 2023 to Oct 2024

Strategy:

General
  • Future Currents
  • $733,000.00
  • Project
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2023

The Social and Economic Justice Leaders Planning Group, a fiscally sponsored project of the New Venture Fund, provides research, scenario-planning methodologies, and strategy-design processes to grassroots organizations and movement leaders to help them achieve their goals for a vibrant, reparative democracy.

Project:

Social and Economic Justice Leaders

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation, Civic Participation/Public Participation

Grant Length:

Nov 2023 to Oct 2024

Strategy:

General
  • Future Currents
  • $75,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2020

The Social and Economic Justice Leaders Project, a fiscally sponsored project of the New Venture Fund, is working to establish new models of co-governance between civil society actors and those working within the institutions of our democracy.

Project:

Social & Economic Justice Leaders Project - Co-Governance Project

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation

Grant Length:

Dec 2020 to Sep 2021

Strategy:

Oversight and Accountability
  • Future Currents
  • $400,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2021

The Social and Economic Justice Leaders Planning Group, a fiscally sponsored project of the New Venture Fund, provides research, scenario-planning methodologies, and strategy-design processes to grassroots organizations and movement leaders to help them achieve their goals for a vibrant, reparative democracy.

Project:

Social and Economic Justice Leaders

Foundation Center Topic:

Government

Grant Length:

Oct 2021 to Sep 2022

Strategy:

General
  • Future Currents
  • $500,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2022

The Social and Economic Justice Leaders Planning Group, a fiscally sponsored project of the New Venture Fund, provides research, scenario-planning methodologies, and strategy-design processes to grassroots organizations and movement leaders to help them achieve their goals for a vibrant, reparative democracy.

Project:

Social and Economic Justice Leaders

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation, Civic Participation/Public Participation

Grant Length:

Nov 2022 to Oct 2023

Strategy:

General
  • Future of California Elections
  • $150,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2018

This grant will support the Future of California Elections (FoCE), a fiscally sponsored project of Community Partners, in conducting network-building work around California Motor Voter and Voters Choice Act implementation. 

Project:

Grant for FoCE network-building

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration

Grant Length:

Dec 2018 to Dec 2020

Strategy:

Pro-Voter Reform
  • Generation Justice
  • $200,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2023

Generation Justice, a fiscally sponsored project of New Mexico Community Foundation, is a multiracial, multicultural project that trains youth to harness the power of community and raise critical consciousness through leadership development, civic engagement, media production and narrative shift.

Project:

Generation Justice

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Media Access and Policy

Grant Length:

Oct 2023 to Sep 2025

Strategy:

Civil & Human Rights Online
  • George Washington University
  • $300,000.00
  • Project
  • President's Office
  • 2016

Support The Monkey Cage’s efforts to make the political conversation more informed by timely, accessible and sound research from a publicly oriented political science discipline and less dominated by evidence-free  arguments. This is achieved by increasing the public engagement of political scientists and other academics and connecting academics with key audiences among journalists, policy analysts, and lay readers.

Project:

Monkey Cage Renewal

Foundation Center Topic:

Media

Grant Length:

Dec 2016 to Nov 2018

Strategy:

General
  • George Washington University
  • $300,000.00
  • Project
  • General and Field Building
  • 2014

Transform the Monkey Cage from a stand-alone entity into a key component of a broader infrastructure that supports better communication between political science researchers, elected officials, the media and by virtue of that better informed public discussion on democracy reform. This will require building infrastructure to support that engagement, which in turn will help increase the audience for useful research and incentives for researchers to reach, and listen to, that audience.

Project:

The Monkey Cage

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism, Government/Legislative Branch Performance

Grant Length:

Dec 2014 to Dec 2016

Strategy:

General
  • George Washington University
  • $15,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2019

This grant will support the launch of The George Washington University’s Project on Political Communications Ethics. The grantee will conduct lunch meetings with key stakeholders to discuss ethics in political communications and will conduct initial research and planning for the future of this program. 

Project:

Project on Political Communication Ethics

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership

Grant Length:

Apr 2019 to Aug 2021

Strategy:

Constructive Politics
  • George Washington University
  • $800,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2023

The Multiracial Democracy Project, an initiative of The GWU Institute for Racial, Ethnic and Socioeconomic Equity, supports a racially diverse community of researchers in law, policy, and social science in developing their research, and connects them to civil rights organizations, democracy reform organizations, and policymakers to better inform policy debates.

Project:

The Multiracial Democracy Project

Foundation Center Topic:

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

Grant Length:

Dec 2023 to Nov 2026

Strategy:

General
  • Georgetown University
  • $120,000.00
  • Project
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2023

The Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life supports the efforts of U.S. Catholic leadership to advance the common good in our multiracial, pluralist democracy. The Initiative also strengthens the U.S. Catholic community’s resistance to the misuse and distortion of Catholic principles for anti-democratic ideological ideas and goals.

Project:

The Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership, Civic Participation, Government/Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Civic Participation/Issue-based Participation, Media, Other

Grant Length:

Dec 2023 to Nov 2024

Strategy:

General
  • Georgetown University
  • $100,000.00
  • Project
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2022

The Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life supports the efforts of U.S. Catholic leadership to advance the common good in our multiracial, pluralist democracy. The Initiative also strengthens the U.S. Catholic community’s resistance to the misuse and distortion of Catholic principles for anti-democratic ideological ideas and goals.

Project:

The Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership, Civic Participation, Civic Participation/Public Participation, Government/Civil Liberties and Rule of Law

Grant Length:

Aug 2022 to Nov 2023

Strategy:

General
  • Georgetown University
  • $1,435,000.00
  • Project
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2019

To support the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection’s (ICAP) litigation measures in support of targeted communities.

Project:

JIS support for ICAP

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership, Government/Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Government/Open Government and Transparency, Media/Media Access and Policy, Other

Grant Length:

Nov 2019 to Apr 2024

Strategy:

General
  • Georgetown University
  • $95,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2019

To support Georgetown University’s Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life. The grantee will conduct programming on the role of faith in our political system and will create partnerships across Catholic institutions and with leaders across different faith traditions to strengthen religious pluralism and overcome polarization.

Project:

Engaging Young Leaders in Building Civility in Furtherance of Democracy and the Common Good

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Issue-based Participation, Civic Participation/Public Participation

Grant Length:

Aug 2019 to May 2022

Strategy:

Constructive Politics
  • Georgetown University
  • $290,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2017

To support the Georgetown University’s Beeck Center in conducting its first field research project of the Resilient Democracy Coalition (RDC), as well as to support RDC’s experimental effort to design an app to connect newly elected Members of Congress to current and former Members.

Project:

Crowdsourcing Expert Capacity in Congress

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Legislative Branch Performance

Grant Length:

Dec 2017 to Dec 2018

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
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