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 National Trust for Local News
  • $190,000.00
  • Project
  • President's Office
  • 2021

The National Trust for Local News, a project of the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, will create a network of sustainable, independent community news outlets in Georgia by purchasing at-risk community newspapers and developing ownership and governance structures that create sustainability efficiencies as well as ensure quality and editorial independence.

Project:

Local Community Paper Exploration

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership, Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Nov 2021 to Feb 2023

Strategy:

General
  • The New School
  • $150,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2019

To support the New School’s Journalism + Design program in their efforts to train local newsrooms on systems and design thinking through workshops, convenings, and a digital toolkit to help journalists develop new ways to understand and serve their local communities’ needs.

Project:

Systems Thinking Training

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism Education and Training

Grant Length:

Jan 2019 to Feb 2020

Strategy:

Ecosystem News
  • The New School
  • $400,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2020

The purpose of this renewal grant is to support the Journalism + Design program at The New School in their efforts to support local news through spreading the tools of systems thinking and community engagement. This grant will allow The New School to refine its approach to workshops, partnerships, and open-source material for further spreading the mission and mindset of systems thinking in journalism.

Project:

Journalism + Design Systems Thinking Training

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism Education and Training

Grant Length:

Apr 2020 to Mar 2022

Strategy:

Ecosystem News
  • The New School
  • $200,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2016

This grant will strengthen The New School’s ability to seize this moment of experimentation around the format and content of journalism, using their unique design thinking methodology. This grant will also provide funds to take this unique way of thinking around the country to regions we focus on through the Ecosystem News strategy. 

Project:

Design & Systems Thinking Workshops

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism Education and Training

Grant Length:

Dec 2016 to Dec 2018

Strategy:

Ecosystem News
  • The Niskanen Center Inc.
  • $200,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Governance
  • 2017

General operating support provided by this grant will help to expand the Niskanen Center’s operations. Ultimately, the center seeks to drive and shape a public conversation on the importance of democracy and the best way to defend it through a series of published works by leading thinkers. With the support provided by this grant, the center will be expanding existing initiatives and creating new ones.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

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

Grant Length:

Jul 2017 to Jun 2019

Strategy:

Oversight and Accountability
  • The Niskanen Center Inc.
  • $400,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Governance
  • 2019

General operating support to the Niskanen Center. 

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Civil Liberties and Rule of Law

Grant Length:

Oct 2019 to Oct 2022

Strategy:

Oversight and Accountability
  • The Obsidian Collection Archives
  • $500,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Public Square
  • 2019

This is a general operating, renewal grant to the Obsidian Collection for their work in helping black legacy press preserve and digitize their archives as a new revenue stream for most and a jumping off point to bring them into the digital age.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Dec 2019 to Dec 2022

Strategy:

Engaged Journalism
  • The Obsidian Collection Archives
  • $185,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Public Square
  • 2018

General support grant to Obsidian Collection.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Media Access and Policy

Grant Length:

Jun 2018 to Dec 2019

Strategy:

Engaged Journalism
  • The Ohio State University
  • $495,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2020

To support the Institute for Democratic Engagement and Accountability (IDEA) at The Ohio State University in deploying and promoting Connecting to Congress, its online deliberative town hall meeting module for use by congressional offices. This grant will help the project expand its pilots with congressional offices and inform potential broader adoption by Congress through analysis of data gathered during the pilots.

Project:

Connecting to Congress

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Public Participation, Government/Legislative Branch Performance

Grant Length:

Mar 2020 to Nov 2022

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • The OpenGov Foundation
  • $175,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2015

This grant is designed to help support planning by the OpenGov Foundation as they aim to create a Congressional Digital Service. The Congressional Digital Service would provide resources and infrastructure to help build out the digital needs of Congress.  A successful plan would likely include a fundraising plan, hiring of a director, and a strategic plan for the next 3-5 years.

Project:

Planning Grant to Help Establish a Congressional Digital Service

Foundation Center Topic:

Government, Government/Legislative Branch Performance

Grant Length:

Dec 2015 to Nov 2016

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • The OpenGov Foundation
  • $250,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Governance
  • 2017

This grant will provide OpenGov Foundation with additional resources to help Congress modernize its technological infrastructure. Such modernizations hold the promise to improve the legislative capacity of congressional staff and make communications between constituents and member offices more efficient, effective, and satisfying for all parties.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Legislative Branch Performance

Grant Length:

Dec 2017 to Nov 2019

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • The Pennsylvania State University
  • $75,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2014

Pennsylvania State University will complete research on and spread awareness of the CIR process among policymakers and foundation and think tank officers in the US (and potentially abroad) regarding CIR and related ideas for deliberative democratic reform.

Project:

PSU - CIR Research

Foundation Center Topic:

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

Grant Length:

Dec 2014 to Dec 2016

Strategy:

Previous Strategy
  • The Pew Charitable Trusts
  • $2,000,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2013

The Pew Charitable Trusts’ election initiatives team supports innovative research and partnerships to achieve the highest standards of accuracy, cost-effectiveness, convenience, and security in America’s system of election administration.

Project:

Pew's Election Initiatives

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration

Grant Length:

Oct 2013 to Apr 2018

Strategy:

Voter-Centric Election Administration
  • The Pew Charitable Trusts
  • $200,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2015

Programatic support for the Pew Safe Spaces Project to create a regular, bipartisan convening of House Chiefs of Staff to allow for diverse perspectives to be shared on effective management practices and encourage bipartisan lawmaking on the staff level.

Project:

Pew Safe Spaces Project

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Legislative Branch Performance

Grant Length:

Oct 2015 to Dec 2017

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • The Pew Charitable Trusts
  • $150,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2018

The purpose of the grant is to conduct pre- and post-election survey research about the public’s attitudes toward the American electoral process. The Grantee will do this using the American Trends Panel at the Pew Research Center and will publish a report about the survey results.

Project:

Trust in Elections Research Grant

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting

Grant Length:

Aug 2018 to Jul 2019

Strategy:

Trust in Elections
  • The Pew Charitable Trusts
  • $225,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2018

The Pew Charitable Trusts’s Bipartisan House Chiefs of Staff Initiative (“Safe Spaces Project”), run by Pew’s Government Relations Department, offers programming for chiefs of staff in the U.S. House of Representatives aimed at fostering relationships, sharing best practices, and strengthening the capacity of Congress.

Project:

Pew Safe Spaces Project

Foundation Center Topic:

Government

Grant Length:

May 2018 to Dec 2021

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • 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 Pivot Fund
  • $420,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2023

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 local news ecosystem.

Project:

The Pivot Fund

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Aug 2023 to Jun 2024

Strategy:

Journalism & Power Building
  • 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.
  • $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
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