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
Select...
Elections and Voting
General and Field Building
Governance
Just and Inclusive Society
President's Office
Public Square
Strategies
Select...
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
  • Marshall-Wythe School of Law Foundation
  • $300,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2023

The eBenchbook and Alliance of Students at the Polls (ASAP) projects of the Election Law Program, a joint project of William & Mary Marshall-Wythe School of Law and and the National Center on State Courts. eBenchbook builds state-specific resources to assist judges in resolving election disputes. ASAP works to deploy law students to improve public trust in elections.

Project:

Election Law State Courts Research and Law Student Pipeline

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration

Grant Length:

Sep 2023 to Aug 2025

Strategy:

Resilient Elections
  • Marshall-Wythe School of Law Foundation
  • $250,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2016

The Election Law Program (ELP), a joint project of William & Mary (W&M) Law School and the National Center on State Courts, supports judges with information as they navigate election law questions and decisions.

Project:

Election Law State Courts Research

Foundation Center Topic:

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

Grant Length:

Dec 2016 to Nov 2018

Strategy:

Voter-Centric Election Administration
  • Marshall-Wythe School of Law Foundation
  • $150,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2014

The Election Law Program (ELP), a joint project of William & Mary (W&M) Law School and the National Center on State Courts, provides reliable, updatable State Election Law Wikis for state and federal court judges to help them make election law decisions promptly and fairly.

Project:

Election Law State Courts Research

Foundation Center Topic:

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

Grant Length:

Dec 2014 to Dec 2016

Strategy:

Voter-Centric Election Administration
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • $450,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2014

The Polling Place of the Future Project at MIT brings election officials, political scientists and tech experts together to refine and build free-access tech tools to allow election officials to run elections better.

Project:

Polling Place of the Future

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration

Grant Length:

Jul 2014 to Sep 2017

Strategy:

Voter-Centric Election Administration
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • $122,650.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2013

Researchers from MIT and other peer academic institutions will conduct research on best practices in the administration of election in order to inform the deliberations of the Presidential Commission on Election Administration.

Project:

Support Presidential Commission on Election Admin

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration

Grant Length:

Jul 2013 to Jul 2015

Strategy:

Voter-Centric Election Administration
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • $600,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2017

The MIT Election Data and Science Lab (MEDSL) facilitates election data collection and sharing through web-based tools and datasets. The lab will create systems for sharing findings, allowing for the development of a network of scholars in the Election Science field.

Project:

MIT Election Data and Science Lab Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration

Grant Length:

Dec 2017 to Nov 2020

Strategy:

Voter-Centric Election Administration
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • $700,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2020

The MIT Election Data and Science Lab (MEDSL) facilitates election data collection and sharing through web-based tools and datasets. Their system to share data with the public and the academic field supports the development of a network of scholars and members of the Election Science field.

Project:

MIT Election Data and Science Lab

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration

Grant Length:

Dec 2020 to Dec 2024

Strategy:

Voter-Centric Election Administration
  • Massachusetts Media Fund Inc d/b/a Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism
  • $50,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Public Square
  • 2020

The Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism (BINJ) was launched in 2015 to support the development and production of independent news in Massachusetts. From the outset, BINJ has fulfilled that mission by syndicating bold independent reporting to community publications, running collaborations, and training promising media makers.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Nov 2020 to Oct 2021

Strategy:

Ecosystem News
  • Media Democracy Fund
  • $100,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2020

The Unicorn Fund at Media Democracy Fund, a fiscally sponsored project of New Venture Fund, is an award program that supports under-resourced grassroots leaders, including independent journalists, who face attacks for expressing their ideas, telling the truth, and taking a stand on the front lines of narrative change.

Project:

Unicorn Fund

Foundation Center Topic:

Media

Grant Length:

Dec 2020 to May 2022

Strategy:

Engaged Journalism
  • Media Democracy Fund
  • $300,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2018

To provide support to Media Democracy Fund, a fiscally sponsored project of the New Venture Fund, to further the NetGain Partnership and to support engagement of organizations led by and serving communities of color in debates around platforms, power, and the public interest.

Project:

Netgain Partnership & Platform Accountability

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Media Access and Policy

Grant Length:

Dec 2018 to Nov 2019

Strategy:

Digital Democracy
  • Media Democracy Fund
  • $100,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2019

The Unicorn Fund at Media Democracy Fund, a fiscally sponsored project of New Venture Fund, is a one-year experimental award program that supports under-resourced grassroots leaders, including independent journalists, who face attacks for expressing their ideas, telling the truth, and taking a stand on the front lines of narrative change.

Project:

Unicorn Fund

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Public Participation, Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Nov 2019 to Oct 2020

Strategy:

Engaged Journalism
  • Media Democracy Fund
  • $650,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2023

The Digital Equity and Opportunity Initiative at Media Democracy Fund, a fiscally sponsored project of New Venture Fund, is a major opportunity for national, state, and place-based funders to engage with one of the most significant digital equity opportunities in history: the implementation of the broadband portions of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).

Project:

Digital Equity and Opportunity Initiative

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Media Access and Policy

Grant Length:

Oct 2023 to Sep 2025

Strategy:

Equitable Civic Infrastructure
  • Media Democracy Fund
  • $418,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2020

To provide support to Media Democracy Fund, a fiscally sponsored project of the New Venture Fund, to further the NetGain Partnership which supports philanthropic collaboration and leadership regarding issues of technology and society, and to support engagement of organizations led by and serving communities of color in debates around platforms, power, and the public interest.

Project:

Platforms & Civil Rights

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Media Access and Policy

Grant Length:

Apr 2020 to Apr 2023

Strategy:

Digital Democracy
  • Media Democracy Fund
  • $100,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2022

The Unicorn Fund at Media Democracy Fund, a fiscally sponsored project of New Venture Fund, is an award program that supports under-resourced grassroots leaders, including independent journalists, who face attacks for expressing their ideas, telling the truth, and taking a stand on the front lines of narrative change.

Project:

Unicorn Fund

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Dec 2022 to Nov 2023

Strategy:

Journalism & Power Building
  • Media Democracy Fund
  • $75,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2023

The Disinformation Defense League at Media Democracy Fund, a fiscally sponsored project of New Venture Fund (NVF), is a distributed national network of organizers, researchers, and disinformation experts disrupting online racialized disinformation infrastructure and campaigns that target communities of color.

Project:

MDF Disinformation Defense League

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Media Access and Policy

Grant Length:

Oct 2023 to Sep 2026

Strategy:

Civil & Human Rights Online
  • Media Democracy Fund
  • $302,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2023

NetGain at Media Democracy Fund, a fiscally sponsored project of New Venture Fund, supports philanthropic collaboration and leadership on issues of technology and society, and supports engagement of organizations led by and serving communities of color in debates around platforms, power, and the public interest.

Project:

MDF NetGain

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Media Access and Policy

Grant Length:

Oct 2023 to Sep 2026

Strategy:

Civil & Human Rights Online
  • Menlo College
  • $80,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2019

To support the Women Also Know Stuff initiative by providing capacity for workshops and a road show.

Project:

Support to Women Also Know Stuff

Foundation Center Topic:

Other

Grant Length:

Jul 2019 to Jun 2021

Strategy:

Pro-Voter Reform
  • Meridian Institute
  • $290,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2012

The Meridian Institute will assess the feasibility of finding common ground solutions to address problems related to the regulation of money in our political system.

Project:

Finding Common Ground on Campaign Finance

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Campaign Finance

Grant Length:

Aug 2012 to Feb 2014

Strategy:

Previous Strategy
  • Mi Familia Vota Education Fund
  • $300,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2023

Mi Familia Vota Education Fund’s develops and implements non-partisan field programs and strategies for the diverse Latino population to promote citizenship, increase voter registration, and increase voter participation. Their Election Administration Outreach program increases the communities’ understanding to foster trust in the electoral process among Latino voters.

Project:

Election Administration Outreach

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership, Civic Participation, Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration

Grant Length:

Dec 2023 to Nov 2025

Strategy:

Resilient Elections
  • Military Veterans in Journalism Inc
  • $25,000.00
  • Project
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2024

Military Veterans in Journalism’s Information Integrity Project is a nonpartisan initiative combating the spread of deceptive narratives and violent extremism in veteran and military communities. A team of journalists, including several military veterans, report on violent extremist groups and narratives and engage with the community online to counter recruitment efforts.

Project:

Information Integrity Program

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Jul 2024 to Jun 2025

Strategy:

General
Democracy Fund
1200 17th Street NW Suite 300,
Washington, DC 20036