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
  • Generation Justice
  • $200,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2023

Generation Justice, a fiscally sponsored project of New Mexico Community Foundation, is a multiracial, multicultural project that trains youth to harness the power of community and raise critical consciousness through leadership development, civic engagement, media production and narrative shift.

Project:

Generation Justice

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Media Access and Policy

Grant Length:

Oct 2023 to Sep 2025

Strategy:

Civil & Human Rights Online
  • George Washington University
  • $300,000.00
  • Project
  • President's Office
  • 2016

Support The Monkey Cage’s efforts to make the political conversation more informed by timely, accessible and sound research from a publicly oriented political science discipline and less dominated by evidence-free  arguments. This is achieved by increasing the public engagement of political scientists and other academics and connecting academics with key audiences among journalists, policy analysts, and lay readers.

Project:

Monkey Cage Renewal

Foundation Center Topic:

Media

Grant Length:

Dec 2016 to Nov 2018

Strategy:

General
  • George Washington University
  • $300,000.00
  • Project
  • General and Field Building
  • 2014

Transform the Monkey Cage from a stand-alone entity into a key component of a broader infrastructure that supports better communication between political science researchers, elected officials, the media and by virtue of that better informed public discussion on democracy reform. This will require building infrastructure to support that engagement, which in turn will help increase the audience for useful research and incentives for researchers to reach, and listen to, that audience.

Project:

The Monkey Cage

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism, Government/Legislative Branch Performance

Grant Length:

Dec 2014 to Dec 2016

Strategy:

General
  • George Washington University
  • $800,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2023

The Multiracial Democracy Project, an initiative of The GWU Institute for Racial, Ethnic and Socioeconomic Equity, supports a racially diverse community of researchers in law, policy, and social science in developing their research, and connects them to civil rights organizations, democracy reform organizations, and policymakers to better inform policy debates.

Project:

The Multiracial Democracy Project

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting, Media/Journalism, Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration, Media/Media Access and Policy, Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Redistricting, Media, Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Voting Access

Grant Length:

Dec 2023 to Nov 2026

Strategy:

General
  • George Washington University
  • $15,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2019

This grant will support the launch of The George Washington University’s Project on Political Communications Ethics. The grantee will conduct lunch meetings with key stakeholders to discuss ethics in political communications and will conduct initial research and planning for the future of this program. 

Project:

Project on Political Communication Ethics

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership

Grant Length:

Apr 2019 to Aug 2021

Strategy:

Constructive Politics
  • Georgetown University
  • $290,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2017

To support the Georgetown University’s Beeck Center in conducting its first field research project of the Resilient Democracy Coalition (RDC), as well as to support RDC’s experimental effort to design an app to connect newly elected Members of Congress to current and former Members.

Project:

Crowdsourcing Expert Capacity in Congress

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Legislative Branch Performance

Grant Length:

Dec 2017 to Dec 2018

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • Georgetown University
  • $100,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2016

This grant will explore innovation in policy making related to the federal government generally, and more specifically related to civic engagement, and participatory budgeting.

Project:

Policy Innovation: A People's Democracy in the Next Administration Project

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Public Participation

Grant Length:

Sep 2016 to Aug 2017

Strategy:

Engaged Journalism
  • Georgetown University
  • $25,000.00
  • Project
  • General and Field Building
  • 2018

To support the Georgetown University Institute of Politics in hosting an inaugural series of six dinners with existing leaders among public service professionals to take place in the winter and spring of 2019. Dinners may be held in private rooms at restaurants or in the homes of participants. The size of each group will vary, but will typically be 6-8 people to keep the gatherings intimate. 

Project:

Dialogue and Dine

Foundation Center Topic:

Other

Grant Length:

Dec 2018 to Jun 2021

Strategy:

General
  • Georgetown University
  • $200,000.00
  • Project
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2018

To support the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection’s (ICAP) litigation, public education, and efforts in support of vulnerable communities. 

Project:

Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown University Law Center

Foundation Center Topic:

Other

Grant Length:

Nov 2018 to Oct 2019

Strategy:

General
  • Georgetown University
  • $550,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2019

The Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation will provide Congress with actionable steps to modernize its data collection and evidence-based policy making practices.

Project:

Mapping Civic Voice Pathways in the Modernization of Congress

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Legislative Branch Performance

Grant Length:

Aug 2019 to Jun 2022

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • Georgetown University
  • $110,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2022

The Georgetown Democracy, Education + Service (GeoDES) project at the McCourt School of Public Policy works on congressional modernization efforts. Their goal is a Congress that can effectively legislate on behalf of a diverse and multi-racial America and fulfill its First Branch constitutional duty to check and balance the Executive Branch.

Project:

GeoDES Project

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Legislative Branch Performance, Government/Open Government and Transparency

Grant Length:

Nov 2022 to Dec 2023

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • Georgetown University
  • $1,435,000.00
  • Project
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2019

To support the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection’s (ICAP) litigation measures in support of targeted communities.

Project:

JIS support for ICAP

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership, Government/Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Government/Open Government and Transparency, Media/Media Access and Policy, Other

Grant Length:

Nov 2019 to Apr 2024

Strategy:

General
  • Georgetown University
  • $95,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2019

To support Georgetown University’s Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life. The grantee will conduct programming on the role of faith in our political system and will create partnerships across Catholic institutions and with leaders across different faith traditions to strengthen religious pluralism and overcome polarization.

Project:

Engaging Young Leaders in Building Civility in Furtherance of Democracy and the Common Good

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Issue-based Participation, Civic Participation/Public Participation

Grant Length:

Aug 2019 to May 2022

Strategy:

Constructive Politics
  • Georgetown University
  • $400,000.00
  • Project
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2017

The purpose of this grant is to provide a portion of the initial funding for the forthcoming Institute for Constitutional Accountability and Protection at Georgetown University’s law school. The Institute will draw on expert litigators, savvy litigation strategy, and the constitutional scholarship of Georgetown to vindicate individuals’ rights and protect America’s constitutional way of life.

Project:

Institute for Constitutional Accountability and Protection at Georgetown University Law Center

Foundation Center Topic:

Other

Grant Length:

Oct 2017 to Sep 2018

Strategy:

General
  • Georgetown University
  • $100,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2017

The purpose of this grant is to support the “Constructive Voices for the Common Good” dialogue series – promoting bipartisanship and civility in public life – hosted by the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life (“the Initiative”) based at Georgetown University. The Initiative will lead one major event in Washington, D.C. and multiple smaller events focused on Latino leaders and young professionals during the grant period.

Project:

Constructive Voices for the Common Good Dialogue Series

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Legislative Branch Performance, Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership

Grant Length:

Sep 2017 to Dec 2018

Strategy:

Constructive Politics
  • Georgetown University
  • $25,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2018

To support Georgetown University’s Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life in hosting a gathering of Catholic leaders from around the country to discuss the problem of polarization within the Catholic Church in the United States, and the ways in which Catholics can contribute to our national political culture in a way that decreases hyper partisanship and polarization.  

Project:

Support for Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life's Conference on Polarization

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Public Participation, Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership

Grant Length:

Jun 2018 to Nov 2018

Strategy:

Constructive Politics
  • Georgetown University
  • $120,000.00
  • Project
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2023

The Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life supports the efforts of U.S. Catholic leadership to advance the common good in our multiracial, pluralist democracy. The Initiative also strengthens the U.S. Catholic community’s resistance to the misuse and distortion of Catholic principles for anti-democratic ideological ideas and goals.

Project:

The Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership, Civic Participation, Government/Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Civic Participation/Issue-based Participation, Media, Other

Grant Length:

Dec 2023 to Nov 2024

Strategy:

General
  • Georgetown University
  • $100,000.00
  • Project
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2022

The Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life supports the efforts of U.S. Catholic leadership to advance the common good in our multiracial, pluralist democracy. The Initiative also strengthens the U.S. Catholic community’s resistance to the misuse and distortion of Catholic principles for anti-democratic ideological ideas and goals.

Project:

The Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership, Civic Participation, Civic Participation/Public Participation, Government/Civil Liberties and Rule of Law

Grant Length:

Aug 2022 to Nov 2023

Strategy:

General
  • Georgia News Lab
  • $122,503.27
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2020

Georgia News Lab, a fiscally sponsored project of the Institute for Nonprofit News, sustains and diversifies investigative newsrooms by training a new generation of diverse journalists across Georgia through high-impact partnerships with local newsrooms.

Project:

Georgia News Lab

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Jul 2020 to Jun 2022

Strategy:

Engaged Journalism
  • Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Incorporated
  • $200,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2015

The purpose of this grant is to support the Local News Lab in New Jersey. Dodge has been a co-funder (using Knight Funds) of our work with Rutgers and Free Press. They are also involved in a number of other initiatives well aligned with our priorities.

Project:

Local News Lab Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Dec 2015 to Dec 2016

Strategy:

Ecosystem News
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