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
  • Participatory Budgeting Project Inc.
  • $350,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2014

Provide project support to the Participatory Budgeting Project to foster increased use of participatory budgeting in the US.

Project:

Advancing the Understanding of the Practice of Participatory Budgeting

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Budgeting, Civic Participation/Public Participation

Grant Length:

May 2014 to May 2016

Strategy:

Previous Strategy
  • Participatory Budgeting Project Inc.
  • $100,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • President's Office
  • 2022

The Participatory Budgeting Project (PBP) works with communities across the US and Canada to decide together how to best spend public money. They create and support participatory budgeting (PB) processes that deepen democracy, build stronger communities, and make public budgets more equitable and effective.

Project:

Participatory Budgeting General Operating Renewal 2022

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership

Grant Length:

Dec 2022 to Nov 2023

Strategy:

General
  • Participatory Budgeting Project Inc.
  • $850,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Public Square
  • 2018

This general operating grant will provide support Participatory Budgeting Project to grow and strengthen their ability to engage local communities at a moment when interest in democratic engagement is increasing. The grant will help spread the participatory budgeting processes across the United States.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Budgeting, Civic Participation/Public Participation

Grant Length:

Jun 2018 to Aug 2022

Strategy:

Engaged Journalism
  • Participatory Budgeting Project Inc.
  • $17,500.00
  • Network Grant
  • General and Field Building
  • 2015

Grantee plans to increase turnout in participatory budgeting (PB) processes by using TurboVote to provide consistent, streamlined election reminders for the City of Boston’s participatory budgeting program for youth, Youth Lead the Change (YLC).

Project:

Youth Lead the Change Boston

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Public Participation

Grant Length:

Dec 2015 to Jul 2017

Strategy:

Previous Strategy
  • Participatory Budgeting Project Inc.
  • $600,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Public Square
  • 2016

The purpose of this grant is to further build out participatory budgeting as a practice in communities around the United States.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation

Grant Length:

May 2016 to Apr 2018

Strategy:

Engaged Journalism
  • Partnership for Large Election Jurisdictions Inc.
  • $300,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2023

The Partnership for Large Election Jurisdictions (PLEJ) is an organization dedicated to providing peer-to-peer best practices, convening spaces, and information-sharing opportunities between local election officials.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration

Grant Length:

Dec 2023 to Nov 2025

Strategy:

Resilient Elections
  • Partnership for Public Service Inc.
  • $1,450,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Governance
  • 2018

General operating support to the Partnership for Public Service. 

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Legislative Branch Performance, Government/Executive Branch Performance

Grant Length:

Nov 2018 to May 2021

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • Partnership for Public Service Inc.
  • $250,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Governance
  • 2016

The Partnership for Public Service builds trust and better relationships between the branches of the federal government, enhances accountability for Congressional stewardship for the Executive Branch, and increases general understanding of the challenges facing the government.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Legislative Branch Performance, Government/Executive Branch Performance

Grant Length:

Apr 2016 to Mar 2018

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • Partnership for Public Service Inc.
  • $125,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2017

This grant supports the Partnership for Public Service’s efforts to support constructive, bipartisan congressional oversight. It has two components: case studies on effective congressional oversight, and an analysis of how to more effectively engage career executive branch officials around oversight.

Project:

Promoting Constructive Congressional Oversight

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Legislative Branch Performance, Government/Executive Branch Performance

Grant Length:

Dec 2017 to Nov 2018

Strategy:

Oversight and Accountability
  • Partnership for Public Service Inc.
  • $525,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Governance
  • 2024

The Partnership for Public Service serves as a bridge across the political aisle to build a government that meets its fundamental responsibilities to the public, no matter the political makeup of any presidential administration or Congress. They offer key solutions and performance measures that transform the way government works.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Executive Branch Performance, Government

Grant Length:

Nov 2024 to Oct 2025

Strategy:

Preventing Authoritarian Abuse of Power
  • Partnership for Public Service Inc.
  • $1,150,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Governance
  • 2021

The Partnership for Public Service builds trust and better relationships between the branches of the federal government, enhances accountability for Congressional stewardship for the Executive Branch, and increases general understanding of the challenges facing the government.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

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

Grant Length:

Nov 2021 to Oct 2023

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • Partnership for Public Service Inc.
  • $450,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Governance
  • 2023

The Partnership for Public Service, believes that the future and democracy depend on our ability to solve big problems—and that an effective federal government is needed to do so. They serve as a bridge between administrations, across the political aisle, and from the public to the private sector to develop forward-thinking solutions that improve the way the government works.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

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

Grant Length:

Nov 2023 to Oct 2024

Strategy:

Preventing Authoritarian Abuse of Power
  • Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans
  • $200,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2021

The Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans (PANA) works to ensure that Black and African, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian (BAMEMSA) immigrant communities are centered in legislative and administrative policies. They also work to reimagine refugee resettlement narratives and policies that have created barriers to the full inclusion of refugees in the fabric of our democracy.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

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

Grant Length:

Nov 2021 to Apr 2023

Strategy:

General
  • PEN American Center, Inc.
  • $215,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2022

PEN American combats online harassment of journalists through trainings for newsrooms and journalism membership associations on how to prepare and react to online attacks, as well as through their publicly available Online Manual Field Guide, which crowdsources resources and tools in the field to counter online abuse.

Project:

Combatting Online Harassment

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Aug 2022 to Jan 2024

Strategy:

Journalism & Power Building
  • PEN American Center, Inc.
  • $140,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2022

PEN America defends press freedom and fosters local journalism. Their work includes events, organizing, and outreach with local communities, organizers and journalists to expand grassroots support for the role of the press in American democracy and the rights of all people under the First Amendment.

Project:

Press Freedom Incentive Fund

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Media Access and Policy

Grant Length:

Nov 2022 to Oct 2023

Strategy:

Press Freedom
  • PEN American Center, Inc.
  • $400,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2024

PEN American’s Online Abuse Defense Program trains journalists and newsrooms to prepare for, and react to, online attacks via trainings, tools, and resources. They also partner with a broad variety of field actors to build better, safer online spaces.

Project:

Online Abuse Defense Program

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism, Media/Journalism Education and Training, Media

Grant Length:

Mar 2024 to Feb 2026

Strategy:

Journalism & Power Building
  • PEN American Center, Inc.
  • $75,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2017

The purpose of this project grant is to empower PEN America to leverage their robust cohort of writers to galvanize their local communities around issues of press freedom. The PEN America leadership will establish a fund that allows deeply engaged members to execute activities and hold events that educate their local communities about the importance of press freedom with the support of the greater PEN team.

Project:

Protecting Press Freedom

Foundation Center Topic:

Other

Grant Length:

Aug 2017 to Jul 2018

Strategy:

Press Freedom
  • PEN American Center, Inc.
  • $250,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2018

To support the continued activity and expansion of the PEN America Press Freedom Incentive Fund, a sub-granting mechanism designed to support PEN America Members, writers, and allies to mobilize their local communities around press freedom.

Project:

Press Freedom Incentive Fund

Foundation Center Topic:

Grant Length:

Sep 2018 to Aug 2020

Strategy:

Press Freedom
  • PEN American Center, Inc.
  • $350,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2019

To support PEN American’s programming to combat online harassment of journalists, which will include providing trainings for newsrooms and journalism membership associations to better equip both journalists and management on how to prepare and react to online attacks, as well as continued efforts to develop their publicly available Online Manual Field Guide, a crowdsource of resources and tools in the field to counter online abuse. 

Project:

Combatting Online Harassment

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism Education and Training

Grant Length:

Oct 2019 to Jun 2022

Strategy:

Press Freedom
  • PEN American Center, Inc.
  • $250,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2020

PEN America defends press freedom and fosters local journalism. Their work includes events, organizing, and outreach with local communities, organizers and journalists to expand grassroots support for the role of the press in American democracy and the rights of all people under the First Amendment.

Project:

Press Freedom Incentive Fund

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Media Access and Policy

Grant Length:

Nov 2020 to Oct 2022

Strategy:

Press Freedom
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