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
  • Free Election Fund
  • $750,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2024

Free Election Fund is a 501(c)(3) fiscally sponsored project of Hopewell Fund that uses litigation to protect the right of all citizens to participate fully in our democratic process and safeguard our free and fair elections.

Project:

Free Election Fund

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting, Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Voting Access

Grant Length:

Apr 2024 to Mar 2025

Strategy:

Roadmap for American Democracy
  • Free Press
  • $1,000,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2023

Free Press’ Media 2070 project calls for the policies needed to make media reparations a reality, falling within the historical lineage of calls for repair of anti-Black harm. Media 2070’s vision is to achieve a future where Black people have the capital and power necessary to own and control their own stories, from ideation to production, through to distribution.

Project:

Media 2070

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism, Media

Grant Length:

Nov 2023 to Dec 2026

Strategy:

Journalism & Power Building
  • Free Press
  • $500,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2020

The Free Press News Voices develops and implements community engagement strategies for journalism that build and sustain information equity and local reporting. These strategies help to create news sources that reflect and represent the communities they serve, in particular people of color who have been neglected and harmed by systemic racism.

Project:

News Voices Program

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism, Civic Participation

Grant Length:

Dec 2020 to Nov 2022

Strategy:

Engaged Journalism
  • Free Press
  • $2,100,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Public Square
  • 2023

Free Press is a watchdog for media and technology policy. They conduct research and policy analysis, educate policymakers, the press and the public, pressure corporations, organize campaigns with grasstops and grassroots constituencies to hold decision-makers accountable, and lead winning coalitions.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Media Access and Policy

Grant Length:

Oct 2023 to Sep 2026

Strategy:

Equitable Civic Infrastructure
  • Free Press
  • $100,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2019

To support Free Press in their work to create a new deal for the digital age with a focus on racial and gender equity. This grant will advance the work of Change the Terms, a coalition co-founded and co-led by Free Press, in organizing stakeholders from civil society, government, and technology to hold platforms accountable through a public-facing campaign aimed at pressuring companies to make changes on a range of issues, including content moderation and advertising policies.  

Project:

Change the Terms

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Media Access and Policy

Grant Length:

Jul 2019 to Jun 2020

Strategy:

Digital Democracy
  • Free Press
  • $620,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2016

To support the core journalism program at Free Press, which is building an advocacy approach that combines credible, rigorous analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of local media ecosystems with a public engagement approach.

Project:

Journalism Program and NJ News Replication

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism, Media/Journalism Education and Training

Grant Length:

Sep 2016 to Aug 2018

Strategy:

Ecosystem News
  • Free Press
  • $175,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Public Square
  • 2020

General operating support for Free Press. 

Project:

Free Press

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Media Access and Policy

Grant Length:

Jul 2020 to Jun 2022

Strategy:

Digital Democracy
  • Free Press
  • $215,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Public Square
  • 2022

Free Press is a watchdog for media and technology policy. They conduct research and policy analysis, educate policymakers, the press and the public, pressure corporations, organize campaigns with grasstops and grassroots constituencies to hold decision-makers accountable, and lead winning coalitions.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation, Media/Journalism Education and Training, Media/Media Access and Policy

Grant Length:

Sep 2022 to Jun 2023

Strategy:

Journalism & Power Building
  • Free Press
  • $400,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2014

To support the core journalism program at Free Press, which is building an advocacy approach that combines credible, rigorous analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of local media ecosystems with a public engagement approach.

Project:

Building Community Around News

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Media Access and Policy, Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Nov 2014 to Mar 2016

Strategy:

Ecosystem News
  • Free Press
  • $500,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2018

To support the continued work and expansion of the NewsVoices project which organizes communities around local newsrooms to highlight underreported issues and build trust between journalists and the communities they serve. Ultimately, the project aims to improve journalistic practices, and coverage in the regions where they work, leaving behind a more active and engaged community which can continue to push for a healthier news ecosystem. 

Project:

Free Press News Voices Renewal

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism Education and Training

Grant Length:

Dec 2018 to Nov 2020

Strategy:

Ecosystem News
  • Freedom Network USA
  • $20,000.00
  • Project
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2019

The purpose of this grant is to support wellness and healing for frontline staff at Freedom Network USA, and to learn about strategies, resources, and needs in the field.  

Project:

RAD Healing and Wellness for Freedom Network USA

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership, Civic Participation/Naturalization and Immigrant Civic Integration, Civic Participation/Public Participation, Other

Grant Length:

Nov 2019 to Apr 2020

Strategy:

General
  • FRIDA - The Young Feminist Fund
  • $530,000.00
  • Project
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2022

FRIDA Young Feminist Fund, a fiscally sponsored project of the Tides Foundation, works to provide young feminist organizers with the resources they need to amplify their voices and bring attention to the social justice issues they care about. This grant is made by Democracy Fund in collaboration with the Rights and Dignity Working Group, a cross-Omidyar Group initiative.

Project:

FRIDA Young Feminist Fund

Foundation Center Topic:

Other

Grant Length:

Dec 2022 to Nov 2023

Strategy:

Rights and Dignity
  • Funders' Collaborative on Youth Organizing
  • $400,000.00
  • Project
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2024

The Funders’ Collaborative on Youth Organizing (FCYO) , a fiscally sponsored project of Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice, is a dynamic collective of social justice funders and youth organizing practitioners dedicated to advancing youth organizing as a strategy for youth development and social change.

Project:

Funders' Collaborative on Youth Organizing

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership, Civic Participation

Grant Length:

Nov 2024 to Oct 2026

Strategy:

General
  • Funders' Collaborative on Youth Organizing
  • $300,000.00
  • Project
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2023

The Funders’ Collaborative on Youth Organizing (FCYO) , a fiscally sponsored project of Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice, is a dynamic collective of social justice funders and youth organizing practitioners dedicated to advancing youth organizing as a strategy for youth development and social change.

Project:

Funders' Collaborative on Youth Organizing

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting, Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership, Civic Participation, Civic Participation/Issue-based Participation, Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Voter Education, Registration, and Turnout, Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Voting Access

Grant Length:

Nov 2023 to Oct 2024

Strategy:

General
  • Future Currents
  • $1,000,000.00
  • Project
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2024

Future Currents creates the spaces for movement organizations to build resilient relationships, tackle pressing challenges, and prepare for possible conditions.

Project:

Future Currents

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation, Civic Participation/Public Participation

Grant Length:

Nov 2024 to Oct 2026

Strategy:

General
  • Future Currents
  • $733,000.00
  • Project
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2023

The Social and Economic Justice Leaders Planning Group, a fiscally sponsored project of the New Venture Fund, provides research, scenario-planning methodologies, and strategy-design processes to grassroots organizations and movement leaders to help them achieve their goals for a vibrant, reparative democracy.

Project:

Social and Economic Justice Leaders

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation, Civic Participation/Public Participation

Grant Length:

Nov 2023 to Oct 2024

Strategy:

General
  • Future Currents
  • $75,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2020

The Social and Economic Justice Leaders Project, a fiscally sponsored project of the New Venture Fund, is working to establish new models of co-governance between civil society actors and those working within the institutions of our democracy.

Project:

Social & Economic Justice Leaders Project - Co-Governance Project

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation

Grant Length:

Dec 2020 to Sep 2021

Strategy:

Oversight and Accountability
  • Future Currents
  • $400,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2021

The Social and Economic Justice Leaders Planning Group, a fiscally sponsored project of the New Venture Fund, provides research, scenario-planning methodologies, and strategy-design processes to grassroots organizations and movement leaders to help them achieve their goals for a vibrant, reparative democracy.

Project:

Social and Economic Justice Leaders

Foundation Center Topic:

Government

Grant Length:

Oct 2021 to Sep 2022

Strategy:

General
  • Future Currents
  • $500,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2022

The Social and Economic Justice Leaders Planning Group, a fiscally sponsored project of the New Venture Fund, provides research, scenario-planning methodologies, and strategy-design processes to grassroots organizations and movement leaders to help them achieve their goals for a vibrant, reparative democracy.

Project:

Social and Economic Justice Leaders

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation, Civic Participation/Public Participation

Grant Length:

Nov 2022 to Oct 2023

Strategy:

General
  • Future of California Elections
  • $150,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2018

This grant will support the Future of California Elections (FoCE), a fiscally sponsored project of Community Partners, in conducting network-building work around California Motor Voter and Voters Choice Act implementation. 

Project:

Grant for FoCE network-building

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration

Grant Length:

Dec 2018 to Dec 2020

Strategy:

Pro-Voter Reform
Democracy Fund
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