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.
- Center for Technology and Civic Life
- $500,000.00
- General Operating Support
- Elections and Voting
- 2017
Provide two years of general operating support to The Center for Technology and Civic Life (CTCL). CTCL will continue to focus on three areas: training local governments to utilize technology to enhance civic livelihood in their communities, develop low to no cost tools for governmental use, help develop infrastructure allowing the capture of data and information during interactions […]
Project:
General Operating SupportFoundation Center Topic:
Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election AdministrationGrant Length:
August 2017 to July 2019Strategy:
Voter-Centric Election Administration- Center for Technology and Civic Life
- $700,000.00
- General Operating Support
- Elections and Voting
- 2019
To provide general operating support to the Center for Technology and Civic Life.
Project:
General Operating SupportFoundation Center Topic:
Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election AdministrationGrant Length:
June 2019 to June 2021Strategy:
Voter-Centric Election Administration- Center for Technology and Civic Life
- $400,000.00
- General Operating Support
- Elections and Voting
- 2015
The Center for Technology and Civic Life (CTCL) focuses on three areas: training local governments on technology to enhance engagement with their communities, developing low to no cost tools for governmental use, and helping develop infrastructure to evaluate interactions between citizens and government.
Project:
General Operating SupportFoundation Center Topic:
Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election AdministrationGrant Length:
July 2015 to June 2017Strategy:
Voter-Centric Election Administration- Center for Technology and Civic Life
- $400,000.00
- General Operating Support
- Elections and Voting
- 2023
The Center for Technology and Civic Life (CTCL) focuses on three areas: training local governments on technology to enhance engagement with their communities, developing low-to-no-cost tools for governmental use, and helping develop infrastructure to evaluate interactions between citizens and government.
Project:
General Operating SupportFoundation Center Topic:
Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election AdministrationGrant Length:
December 2023 to November 2025Strategy:
Resilient Elections- Center for Technology and Civic Life
- $550,000.00
- General Operating Support
- Elections and Voting
- 2021
The Center for Technology and Civic Life (CTCL) focuses on three areas: training local governments on technology to enhance engagement with their communities, developing low-to-no-cost tools for governmental use, and helping develop infrastructure to evaluate interactions between citizens and government.
Project:
General Operating SupportFoundation Center Topic:
Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election AdministrationGrant Length:
September 2021 to August 2023Strategy:
Voter-Centric Election Administration- Chalkbeat Inc.
- $250,000.00
- General Operating Support
- Public Square
- 2020
This general operating grant will support Chalkbeat’s efforts to create a scalable and sustainable model for local journalism that serves communities while sharing costs across geographic bureaus in order to make the work maximally sustainable.
Project:
ChalkbeatFoundation Center Topic:
Media/JournalismGrant Length:
July 2020 to June 2021Strategy:
Ecosystem News- Chalkbeat Inc.
- $250,000.00
- General Operating Support
- Public Square
- 2018
The purpose of this grant is to support Chalkbeat’s community driven local news bureau model across the United States. This general operating grant will support Chalkbeat’s efforts to create a scalable and sustainable model for local journalism that serves communities while sharing costs across geographic bureaus in order to make the work maximally sustainable.
Project:
General Operating SupportFoundation Center Topic:
Media/JournalismGrant Length:
October 2018 to March 2020Strategy:
Ecosystem News- Chalkbeat Inc.
- $100,000.00
- Project
- Public Square
- 2022
This project grant supports the Sunnylands Local News Initiative as run by Chalkbeat, will work to reimagine, revitalize, and resource local news in service of our democracy through a series of research, gatherings, and coordinated convenings.
Project:
Sunnylands Local News RoadmapFoundation Center Topic:
Media/JournalismGrant Length:
August 2022 to August 2023Strategy:
General- Chalkbeat Inc.
- $150,000.00
- Project
- Elections and Voting
- 2022
Votebeat is a nonpartisan news organization covering local election administration and voting access year-round.
Project:
VotebeatFoundation Center Topic:
Media/JournalismGrant Length:
September 2022 to February 2023Strategy:
General- Charlottesville Tomorrow
- $150,000.00
- General Operating Support
- Public Square
- 2023
Charlottesville Tomorrow is a community-driven, socially conscious news organization. They serve their neighbors by connecting them to each other and to the issues that affect them most.
Project:
General Operating SupportFoundation Center Topic:
Media/JournalismGrant Length:
October 2023 to September 2024Strategy:
News & Information Ecosystems- Check My Ads Institute
- $800,000.00
- General Operating Support
- Public Square
- 2023
Check My Ads Institute is an independent watchdog reshaping the digital adtech industry from within its ranks — and building a new sustainable standard in digital advertising.
Project:
General Operating SupportFoundation Center Topic:
Media/Media Access and PolicyGrant Length:
September 2023 to September 2026Strategy:
Civil & Human Rights Online- Check My Ads Institute
- $515,000.00
- General Operating Support
- Public Square
- 2022
Check My Ads Institute is an independent watchdog reshaping the digital adtech industry from within its ranks — and building a new sustainable standard in digital advertising.
Project:
General Operating SupportFoundation Center Topic:
Media/Media Access and PolicyGrant Length:
March 2022 to June 2023Strategy:
Digital Democracy- Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
- $100,000.00
- Project
- Elections and Voting
- 2018
To support Chicago Lawyers’ Committee’s work on the evaluation of the Automatic Voter Registration implementation process in Illinois and allow the Lawyers’ Committee to expand state and local stakeholder awareness of the best practices and challenges associated with the implementation.
Project:
Illinois AVR Implementation EvaluationFoundation Center Topic:
Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election AdministrationGrant Length:
December 2018 to May 2020Strategy:
Pro-Voter Reform- Chicago Reader
- $30,000.00
- Project
- Public Square
- 2019
The purpose of this grant is to support the planning for the creation of a collaborative for independent media organizations in Chicago. The Chicago Reader, fiscally sponsored by Public Narrative, will lead this effort and use this support to provide the administration needed to get this effort off the ground.
Project:
Chicago Independent Media AllianceFoundation Center Topic:
Media, Media/Journalism Education and TrainingGrant Length:
November 2019 to October 2020Strategy:
Ecosystem News- Chicago Reader
- $50,000.00
- Project
- Public Square
- 2020
The Chicago Independent Media Alliance project at the Chicago Reader, a fiscally sponsored project of the Oak Park-River Forest Community Foundation, brings together 60 community media in Chicago to provide training, shared resources, and a coalition of support during a devastating time for media that serves communities.
Project:
Chicago Independent Media AllianceFoundation Center Topic:
Media/JournalismGrant Length:
November 2020 to October 2021Strategy:
Ecosystem News- Church World Service, Inc.
- $300,000.00
- Project
- Just and Inclusive Society
- 2023
Church World Service’s Refugee Organizing project includes grassroots organizing, power-building, and leadership development in refugee communities.
Project:
Refugee OrganizingFoundation Center Topic:
Civic Participation, Civic Participation/Issue-based Participation, Civic Participation/Naturalization and Immigrant Civic IntegrationGrant Length:
November 2023 to October 2026Strategy:
Power Building in Marginalized Communities- Church World Service, Inc.
- $100,000.00
- Project
- Just and Inclusive Society
- 2022
Church World Service’s Refugee Organizing project includes grassroots organizing, power-building, and leadership development in refugee communities.
Project:
Refugee OrganizingFoundation Center Topic:
Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership, Civic Participation/Naturalization and Immigrant Civic IntegrationGrant Length:
November 2022 to October 2023Strategy:
Power Building in Marginalized Communities- Ci-X News
- $60,000.00
- Project
- Public Square
- 2020
Ci-X News, a fiscally sponsored project of MuckRock Foundation Inc, is creating a set of services to help support newsroom sustainability through operational capacity building.
Project:
Newsroom Operations SupportFoundation Center Topic:
Media/Journalism Education and TrainingGrant Length:
November 2020 to October 2021Strategy:
Press Freedom- Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Inc.
- $400,000.00
- General Operating Support
- Governance
- 2023
Using bold legal actions and in-depth investigations, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) targets government officials who sacrifice the common good to special interests and personal gain.
Project:
General Operating SupportFoundation Center Topic:
Government/Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Government/Open Government and TransparencyGrant Length:
July 2023 to December 2024Strategy:
Preventing Authoritarian Abuse of Power- City Bureau
- $50,000.00
- Project
- Public Square
- 2017
This grant will support the development and expansion of the City Bureau Documenters Project which strengthens local media coverage and builds trust in journalism by creating opportunities for anyone to participate in the production of local journalism.