Ideas
Grants Database
Democracy Fund champions the leaders and organizations who defend democracy and challenge it to be more open and just. We are proud to have supported more than 200 organizations doing this work.
- Issue One
- $1,480,000.00
- General Operating Support
- Governance
- 2019
General operating support to Issue One.
Project:
General Operating SupportFoundation Center Topic:
Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Campaign Finance, Government/Legislative Branch Performance, Government/Open Government and TransparencyGrant Length:
June 2019 to December 2023Strategy:
Oversight and Accountability- Issue One
- $400,000.00
- General Operating Support
- Elections and Voting
- 2014
To provide general support to Issue One (formerly Fund for the Republic).
Project:
General Operating SupportFoundation Center Topic:
Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Campaign FinanceGrant Length:
December 2014 to December 2016Strategy:
Previous Strategy- Issue One
- $250,000.00
- Project
- Governance
- 2020
The Rebuild Congress Initiative (RCI), a project of Issue One, seeks to better understand congressional dysfunction and aims to build bipartisan coalitions in support of congressional reform measures — especially efforts to increase congressional capacity.
Project:
The Rebuild Congress InitiativeFoundation Center Topic:
Government/Legislative Branch PerformanceGrant Length:
July 2020 to July 2023Strategy:
Empowering Congress- John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Inc.
- $250,000.00
- Project
- Public Square
- 2015
This grant will provide additional award money for the Knight Foundation’s News Challenge. The Knight News Challenge accelerates media innovation by funding breakthrough ideas in news and information. Winners receive a share of $3 million in funding – and support from Knight’s network of influential peers and advisors to help advance their ideas. Innovators from all industries […]
Project:
Knight News ChallengeFoundation Center Topic:
Media/Media Access and Policy, Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election AdministrationGrant Length:
June 2015 to September 2017Strategy:
Engaged Journalism- Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies Inc.
- $300,000.00
- Project
- Governance
- 2017
Democracy Fund will support The Joint Center’s efforts to identify, screen, and counsel African-American candidates for jobs in the U.S. Congress.
Project:
The Joint Center Black Talent InitiativeFoundation Center Topic:
Government/Legislative Branch Performance, Government/Executive Branch PerformanceGrant Length:
July 2017 to June 2019Strategy:
Constructive Politics- Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies Inc.
- $1,175,000.00
- General Operating Support
- Governance
- 2019
This grant will provide General Operating Support to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.
Project:
General operating SupportFoundation Center Topic:
Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership, Government/Legislative Branch PerformanceGrant Length:
November 2019 to September 2024Strategy:
Constructive Politics- Journalism & Women Symposium
- $120,000.00
- General Operating Support
- Public Square
- 2018
The first $80,000 installment is to support Grantee’s general charitable, educational, and/or scientific purposes as described in Grantee’s charter documents. The second $40,000 installment is to empower the Grantee to increase and improve its organizational diversity, equity, and inclusion practices through various activities, including but not limited to collecting demographical and attitudinal data, a series […]
Project:
General Operating SupportFoundation Center Topic:
Media/Journalism Education and Training, Media/JournalismGrant Length:
October 2018 to September 2020Strategy:
Engaged Journalism- Journalism & Women Symposium
- $100,000.00
- General Operating Support
- Public Square
- 2020
The Journalism and Women Symposium (JAWS) is expanding their regional programming and diversifying their membership to support their mission to empower and grow the number of women in journalism.
Project:
General Operating SupportFoundation Center Topic:
Media/Journalism, Media/Journalism Education and TrainingGrant Length:
July 2020 to June 2022Strategy:
Engaged Journalism- Journalism & Women Symposium
- $150,000.00
- General Operating Support
- Public Square
- 2022
The Journalism and Women Symposium (JAWS) is expanding their regional programming and diversifying their membership to support their mission to empower and grow the number of women in journalism.
Project:
General Operating SupportFoundation Center Topic:
Media/Journalism, Media/Journalism Education and TrainingGrant Length:
July 2022 to December 2023Strategy:
Journalism & Power Building- JustFund.Us
- $1,824,000.00
- Project
- Elections and Voting
- 2023
JustFund is a revolutionary nonprofit grantmaking solution that provides philanthropy with a new way to give through a B2B SaaS (business-to-business software-as-a-service) platform with growing B2C (business-to-consumer) offerings. JustFund eliminates bottlenecks and barriers to giving and centers equity in a traditionally inequitable process.
Project:
Building Power CohortFoundation Center Topic:
OtherGrant Length:
December 2023 to November 2025Strategy:
Voting Power- Justice Work
- $200,000.00
- Project
- Just and Inclusive Society
- 2021
22nd Century Initiative is a project of Justice Work, a fiscally sponsored project of the National Center for Civic Innovation. The Initiative addresses the expansion and mainstreaming of white nationalism and other far right movements in the U.S. by developing strategies, networks, research, and actions that protect the integrity of our democracy.
Project:
22nd Century InitiativeFoundation Center Topic:
OtherGrant Length:
October 2021 to September 2022Strategy:
General- Justice Work
- $10,000.00
- Project
- President's Office
- 2022
Justice Work is a think tank/action lab that incubates path-breaking and creative initiatives to advance social justice. They center marginalized voices to challenge conventional priorities and strategies. They develop long-term partnerships with front-line organizations and academic institutions to strengthen social justice movements and break down siloed spaces.
Project:
Investing in Staff WellbeingGrant Length:
October 2022 to September 2023Strategy:
General- Kairos Fellowship Inc.
- $1,050,000.00
- General Operating Support
- Public Square
- 2023
Kairos works toward an inclusive, multi-racial democracy by changing how pro-justice organizations see, use, and imagine the future of the internet. Kairos recognizes that understanding the internet as a place, and reshaping governance of the internet as a public square, are essential to strengthening democracy and building a healthier digital media ecosystem.
Project:
General Operating SupportFoundation Center Topic:
Media/Media Access and PolicyGrant Length:
November 2023 to September 2026Strategy:
Civil & Human Rights Online- Kairos Fellowship Inc.
- $215,000.00
- Project
- Public Square
- 2022
Kairos Fellowship, a fiscally sponsored project of Allied Media Projects Inc., trains fellows in digital-first campaigning who are placed at state and national power-building organizations.
Project:
Kairos FellowshipFoundation Center Topic:
Media/Media Access and PolicyGrant Length:
October 2022 to September 2023Strategy:
Equitable Civic Infrastructure- Kanu Hawaii
- $85,000.00
- Project
- Elections and Voting
- 2019
To provide Kanu, a Hawaii based volunteer organization, with capacity to engage volunteers to raise awareness about nonpartisan civic engagement and empowerment in the state. Kanu will work with other organizations and nonprofits to promote greater Hawaiian participation in voting and public engagement.
Project:
Volunteerism and Civic Engagement-HawaiiFoundation Center Topic:
Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Voter Education, Registration, and Turnout, Civic Participation/Civic Education and LeadershipGrant Length:
December 2019 to November 2020Strategy:
Pro-Voter Reform- Kartemquin Educational Films
- $20,000.00
- Project
- Governance
- 2018
To support production and outreach for the documentary Represent, which followed a bipartisan group of female candidates during their 2018 election bids to different positions across the country.
Project:
Support for Represent DocumentaryFoundation Center Topic:
Civic Participation/Public Participation, Civic Participation/Civic Education and LeadershipGrant Length:
December 2018 to November 2019Strategy:
Constructive Politics- Keep Our Republic Charitable Fund
- $300,000.00
- General Operating Support
- Elections and Voting
- 2023
Keep Our Republic is a non-partisan civic education organization dedicated to protecting a republic of laws and strengthening the checks and balances of our democratic electoral system. We aim to discover, highlight, and help prevent an array of extraordinary threats to American democracy, strengthen democratic guardrails, and educate the public before it is too late.
Project:
General Operating SupportFoundation Center Topic:
Civic Participation/Civic Education and LeadershipGrant Length:
October 2023 to March 2025Strategy:
Resilient Elections- Kennesaw State University Research and Service Foundation, Inc.
- $200,000.00
- Project
- Public Square
- 2017
This grant will support the Georgia News Lab. The News Lab’s mission is threefold: To make the vital work of investigative reporting affordable for news organizations, to increase diversity in newsrooms, and to help news outlets better serve their communities by increasing the flow of trustworthy public interest journalism.
Project:
Georgia News LabFoundation Center Topic:
Media/Journalism Education and TrainingGrant Length:
October 2017 to June 2020Strategy:
Engaged Journalism- Keseb
- $300,000.00
- Project
- General and Field Building
- 2023
Keseb, a fiscally sponsored project of the Fund for Constitutional Government, is a nonpartisan, pro-democracy nonprofit organization building transnational alliances between democracy activists and entrepreneurs to fight authoritarian ideology, demagogic political leaders, and xenophobic movements.
Project:
Support for KesebFoundation Center Topic:
Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership, OtherGrant Length:
November 2023 to October 2025Strategy:
General- Latino Community Fund Inc
- $195,000.00
- General Operating Support
- Elections and Voting
- 2023
Latino Community Fund Georgia (LCF Georgia) supports Latinx-serving and Latinx-led nonprofit organizations that are advancing democracy, protecting and building community, and facilitating economic opportunities for all.