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
  • University of Maryland
  • $411,800.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2023

The University of Maryland Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement (CDCE) is creating an Election Talent Study Group to address the growing recruitment and retention crisis in election administration.

Project:

Election Talent Study Group

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration, Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Voting Access

Grant Length:

Oct 2023 to Jun 2025

Strategy:

Resilient Elections
  • University of Maryland
  • $34,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2020

To support research on radical polarization and the behaviors that 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:

Mar 2020 to Feb 2021

Strategy:

Constructive Politics
  • University of Maryland Foundation Inc.
  • $125,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2017

To provide project support to the Center for Public Policy and Private Enterprise at the University of Maryland, which will conduct extensive research into the current and future election cybersecurity issues faced in the State of Maryland. 

Project:

State Election Cybersecurity Assessment

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration

Grant Length:

Aug 2017 to Jul 2018

Strategy:

Trust in Elections
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • $75,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2017

This grant will support initial research into the surveillance, experimentation, and persuasion capabilities of platforms such as Facebook and Google and the ways we can prevent or mitigate the use of these capabilities by authoritarians. The initial funding will support the development of a plan for an academic center devoted to these issues as well as the hiring of research support staff for the primary investigator.

Project:

Research on Platform Surveillance and Authoritarianism

Foundation Center Topic:

Media

Grant Length:

Dec 2017 to May 2020

Strategy:

Digital Democracy
  • University of North Texas Foundation
  • $16,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2016

The primary goal of this study is to qualitatively evaluate the impact of diversity placement programs on the recruitment and retention of minority journalists in U.S. newspaper newsrooms between 2000 and 2015. This also allows us to engage a scholar interested in journalism institutions with a focus on inclusion, who we may continue to engage throughout our strategy implementation.

Project:

Diversity in Journalism Research

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Nov 2016 to Apr 2018

Strategy:

Engaged Journalism
  • University of Oregon Foundation
  • $150,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2020

Gather is a project that supports community-minded journalists and other engagement professionals through an online platform that’s a hub for critical tools, resources, and conversations for journalists.

Project:

Gather

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism Education and Training

Grant Length:

Dec 2020 to Mar 2025

Strategy:

Engaged Journalism
  • University of Oregon Foundation
  • $100,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2016

The purpose of this grant is to support the University of Oregon School of Journalism’s Agora Journalism Center to create workshops to strengthen the community of practice of Engaged Journalism. This grant builds on Knight’s larger grant that supports building a web-tool, with our emphasis on creating robust connections within the field.

Project:

Building out the Community of Practice

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism Education and Training

Grant Length:

Nov 2016 to Apr 2018

Strategy:

Engaged Journalism
  • University of Oregon Foundation
  • $150,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2018

Gather supports community-minded journalists and other engagement professionals through an online platform that acts as a hub for critical tools, resources, and conversations for journalists.

Project:

Gather - Year Two

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Sep 2018 to Nov 2020

Strategy:

Engaged Journalism
  • University of Southern California
  • $1,025,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2021

This grant provides support for the Center for Inclusive Democracy at the University of Southern California to maintain and expand the Vote Center and Ballot Drop Box Siting Tool.

Project:

USC Siting Tool Expansion

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration, Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Voting Access

Grant Length:

Aug 2021 to Jan 2024

Strategy:

Voter-Centric Election Administration
  • University of Southern California
  • $975,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2019

The California Civic Engagement Project (CCEP) at the University of Southern California will design, release, and host the Vote Center Siting Tool in three states: Colorado, Arizona, and Texas. The development of the tool in these three states will help election officials make informed decisions about where to locate polling places and how to better target other services to the voters and potential voters they serve.

Project:

Election Siting Tool

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration

Grant Length:

Sep 2019 to Nov 2021

Strategy:

Voter-Centric Election Administration
  • University of Wisconsin Foundation
  • $100,000.00
  • Project
  • President's Office
  • 2023

The State Democracy Research Initiative fosters research and dialogue on state-level democracy, government, and public law across the nation. They produce and promote original academic research and bring together academics, judges, policymakers, and advocates to exchange insights and perspectives on matters related to democracy and the rule of law in the states.

Project:

State Democracy Research Initiative Project

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Civil Liberties and Rule of Law

Grant Length:

Dec 2023 to Dec 2024

Strategy:

General
  • University System of New Hampshire
  • $40,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2018

The New Hampshire Listens program at the University of New Hampshire’s Carsey School of Public Policy will partner with the Beeck Center for Social Impact & Innovation at Georgetown University to design and execute a demonstration project of a digital version of a congressional committee hearing. 

Project:

Digital field hearing

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Legislative Branch Performance

Grant Length:

Jul 2018 to Aug 2019

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • Upturn, Inc.
  • $600,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Public Square
  • 2023

Upturn advances equity and justice in the design, governance, and use of technology. They combine research with advocacy, and their approach is informed by a broad range of perspectives and experiences, including computer science, social science, law, and policy. They partner with local and national advocates and others to ensure their work is collaborative and actionable.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Media Access and Policy

Grant Length:

Sep 2023 to Sep 2026

Strategy:

Civil & Human Rights Online
  • Upturn, Inc.
  • $350,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Public Square
  • 2019

From the October 01, 2019 up to May 01, 2020, the Grant funds are restricted for the following purpose: To support Upturn’s research, publication, and coordination on the topic of discriminatory targeting by social media platform companies.
Any remaining funds from this Grant as of May 01, 2020 are hereby released from the project restriction outlined above and can be used for General Operating Support. 

Project:

Discriminatory Targeting Policy

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Media Access and Policy

Grant Length:

Oct 2019 to Apr 2023

Strategy:

Digital Democracy
  • URI Foundation & Alumni Engagement
  • $898,095.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2019

To support Phase II of the RI VOTES project, building off Phase I of the project. Phase II will further develop a set of tools to assist elections officials during the three phases of an election cycle: election preparation, Election Day operations, and post-election analysis.

Project:

RI VOTES Project

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting

Grant Length:

Jun 2019 to Jun 2024

Strategy:

Voter-Centric Election Administration
  • URI Foundation & Alumni Engagement
  • $99,961.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2018

The purpose of this grant is to implement the election line allocation tools created by the Voting Technology Project, as recommended by the Rhode Island Board of Elections Task Force.

Project:

RI VOTES Project

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting

Grant Length:

Apr 2018 to May 2019

Strategy:

Voter-Centric Election Administration
  • URL Media Holdings Inc
  • $620,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2023

URL Media, a fiscally sponsored project of the Journalism Funding Partners, builds and supports a network of Black and Brown led newsrooms to harness their collective power and content for distribution, sustainability, and audience growth.

Project:

URL Media

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Aug 2023 to Jul 2026

Strategy:

Journalism & Power Building
  • URL Media Holdings Inc
  • $215,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2022

URL Media, a fiscally sponsored project of the Journalism Funding Partners, builds and supports a network of Black and Brown led newsrooms to harness their collective power and content for distribution, sustainability, and audience growth.

Project:

URL Media

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Aug 2022 to Jul 2023

Strategy:

Journalism & Power Building
  • URL Media Holdings Inc
  • $100,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2021

URL Media, a project of the International Women’s Media Foundation, is building and supporting a network of Black- and Brown-led newsrooms to harness their collective power and content for distribution, sustainability, and audience growth.

Project:

URL Media

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Jul 2021 to Jun 2022

Strategy:

Engaged Journalism
  • US Vote Foundation
  • $50,000.00
  • Network Grant
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2015

Increase the amount of information available through the U.S. Vote Civic Data Application Programming Interface (API), including state voter requirements, election dates and deadlines, and voting methods. This will increase Rock the Vote access to information for their users.

Project:

Civic Data API Extension & Voter Alerts Project Proposal

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration

Grant Length:

Dec 2015 to Dec 2016

Strategy:

Voter-Centric Election Administration
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