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.

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Elections and Voting
General and Field Building
Governance
Just and Inclusive Society
President's Office
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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
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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
  • Leadership Conference Education Fund, Inc.
  • $75,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Public Square
  • 2023

The Leadership Conference Education Fund builds public will for laws and policies that promote and protect the civil and human rights of every person in the United States. They work on issues including voting rights, educational equity, and justice reform.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Media Access and Policy

Grant Length:

Sep 2023 to Sep 2026

Strategy:

Equitable Civic Infrastructure
  • Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics, Inc.
  • $125,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2021

This grant supports Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics, Inc.’s development of a training program for diverse professionals in the public service sector.

Project:

Support for Leadership Development Trainings

Foundation Center Topic:

Government, Government/Legislative Branch Performance, Other

Grant Length:

Aug 2021 to Jul 2022

Strategy:

Constructive Politics
  • League of Women Voters Education Fund
  • $885,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2018

The purpose of this grant is to help the League of Women Voters Education Fund (LWVEF) implement the Transformation Roadmap, with a focus on increasing LWVEF capacity at the state and national levels to help build a more engaged, diverse, and sophisticated network of 501(c)(3) members, volunteers, and activists. 
A portion of this grant will also support LWVEF’s consultations with legal counsel to ensure that its legal structure positions it well for its next phase of operations.

Project:

Increasing State Capacity

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Voter Education, Registration, and Turnout, Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration

Grant Length:

Nov 2018 to Apr 2022

Strategy:

Pro-Voter Reform
  • League of Women Voters Education Fund
  • $250,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2016

To support the League of Women Voters Education Fund with funding to conduct a one-year assessment of the organization’s structure, processes, people and engagement, and alignment and culture. This would be the first of at least a three-year organizational change process, focused on assessing the LWVEF’s strengths and assets as well as our weaknesses and liabilities in advancing our goal of becoming an even more relevant and high-impact organization.

Project:

Organizational Assessment

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Voter Education, Registration, and Turnout, Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration

Grant Length:

Dec 2016 to Nov 2017

Strategy:

Voter-Centric Election Administration
  • League of Women Voters Education Fund
  • $500,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2022

The League of Women Voters Education Fund addresses mis- and dis-information and builds states’ capacity for voter protection.

Project:

State Capacity Building

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership, Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Voter Education, Registration, and Turnout

Grant Length:

Jun 2022 to Dec 2024

Strategy:

Pro-Voter Reform
  • Library of Congress
  • $300,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2017

This grant will renew support for training programs developed by the Library of Congress. Specifically, this grant will extend Democracy Fund support for the Congressional Research Service – a division of the Library of Congress – to conduct orientation seminars for newly-elected members of the 116th Congress and for the John W. Kluge Center at the Library to conduct a congressional masterclass series on governance-related topics of wide interest by leading academics. 
The grant will also support two historical exhibits that will showcase important Library resources and collections for congressional audiences and the broader public. One exhibit will focus on the history of Baseball and the exhibit will focus on the women’s’ movement. The goal of the exhibits is to educate members of Congress and others who might not seek education on the role of race in sports or the history of gender (in)equity in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.

Project:

Support for New Member Seminars and Public-Facing Programming

Foundation Center Topic:

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

Grant Length:

Dec 2017 to Mar 2023

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • Library of Congress
  • $200,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2019

The Congressional Research Service, a division of the Library of Congress, will conduct their signature New Member Seminar (NMS) in January 2021 for newly elected members of the 117th Congress.

Project:

Support for Congressional Programming

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Legislative Branch Performance

Grant Length:

Nov 2019 to Mar 2025

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • Library of Congress
  • $100,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2015

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is an agency within the Library of Congress that works exclusively for the United States Congress, providing policy and legal analysis to committees and members of both the House and Senate.

Project:

115th Congress Freshmen Member Seminars & Briefings

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Legislative Branch Performance, Government

Grant Length:

Dec 2015 to Oct 2017

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • Lincoln Network Inc.
  • $200,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2017

This grant will support the development of an App Market that reviews tech products for use by congressional staff, focusing on key features like whether those tools can handle the required volume and whether they meet security requirements. 

Project:

Congressional Tips and App Market

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Legislative Branch Performance

Grant Length:

Dec 2017 to Nov 2019

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • Lincoln Network Inc.
  • $100,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2017

Reboot Congress brings together leaders from the technology industry and political institutions in Washington, D.C. to bridge the gap between tech and our government in Washington.

Project:

Support the Reboot Congress Conference

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Legislative Branch Performance

Grant Length:

Apr 2017 to Mar 2018

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • Local Independent Online News Publishers Inc.
  • $250,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2017

The purpose of this grant is to support the sustainability of news publishers with training and education from the Local Independent Online News Publishers (LION). For this project, LION will create a pilot program to help educate independent publishers on sustainability to support a healthy local news ecosystem.

Project:

LION Sustainability Pilot Program

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Nov 2017 to Apr 2019

Strategy:

Ecosystem News
  • Local Independent Online News Publishers Inc.
  • $25,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2018

The purpose of this grant is to provide capacity building support to LION (Local Independent Online News Publishers), a fiscally sponsored project of Poynter Institute for Media Studies, Inc., for strategic planning and board training.

Project:

Capacity Building Grant

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism Education and Training

Grant Length:

Oct 2018 to Apr 2019

Strategy:

Ecosystem News
  • Local Independent Online News Publishers Inc.
  • $150,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Public Square
  • 2022

LION Publishers strengthens the local news industry by helping independent news publishers build more sustainable businesses. They provide teaching, resources, and community to independent news entrepreneurs.

Project:

General Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism Education and Training

Grant Length:

Nov 2022 to Oct 2023

Strategy:

News & Information Ecosystems
  • Local Independent Online News Publishers Inc.
  • $600,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Public Square
  • 2023

LION Publishers strengthens the local news industry by helping independent news publishers build more sustainable businesses. They provide teaching, resources, and community to independent news entrepreneurs.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism Education and Training

Grant Length:

Nov 2023 to Oct 2026

Strategy:

News & Information Ecosystems
  • Local Independent Online News Publishers Inc.
  • $500,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Public Square
  • 2019

General operating support

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism Education and Training

Grant Length:

Nov 2019 to Oct 2022

Strategy:

Ecosystem News
  • Local Media Foundation
  • $25,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2020

The Oklahoma Media Center (OMC) project, led by the Local Media Foundation, will strengthen Oklahoma’s local news ecosystem. This grant will support the early activities of the OMC as it builds out local staff and partnerships and sets itself up to serve the informational needs of Oklahomans.

Project:

Oklahoma Media Center

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism Education and Training

Grant Length:

Oct 2020 to Aug 2022

Strategy:

Ecosystem News
  • Local Solutions Support Center
  • $200,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2023

Local Solutions Support Center (LSSC), a project of the New Venture Fund, is a national hub that connects, coordinates, and creates efforts to both counter the increasing misuse of preemption, and to strengthen local democracy. Preemption is when higher levels of government restricts the authority of a lower level of government to act on a particular issue.

Project:

Local Solutions Support Center

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Civil Liberties and Rule of Law

Grant Length:

Oct 2023 to Sep 2024

Strategy:

State and Local Accountability
  • Louisiana State University and A&M College
  • $16,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2020

To support research on radical polarization and the behaviors to lead to increased political violence in the United States and dissemination of the research through white papers and a book.

Project:

Radical American Partisanship research project

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership

Grant Length:

Jan 2020 to Jun 2021

Strategy:

Constructive Politics
  • Louisiana State University and A&M College
  • $74,966.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2020

To conduct an academic study that advances knowledge on gender equity in journalistic practice. This research will target both the mechanisms of gender bias in use of expert sources in reporting and potential interventions, and report on the outcomes.

Project:

Increasing Women Sources in News

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Jan 2020 to Oct 2021

Strategy:

Engaged Journalism
  • Marshall-Wythe School of Law Foundation
  • $575,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2018

To support the Election Law Program (ELP), a joint project of William & Mary Law School and the National Center on State Courts, which exists to support judges as they and their staff navigate election law questions and decisions. 

Project:

Election Law State Courts Research

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration, Government/Judicial Selection and Performance

Grant Length:

Dec 2018 to Jul 2023

Strategy:

Voter-Centric Election Administration
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