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
  • The Niskanen Center Inc.
  • $200,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Governance
  • 2017

General operating support provided by this grant will help to expand the Niskanen Center’s operations. Ultimately, the center seeks to drive and shape a public conversation on the importance of democracy and the best way to defend it through a series of published works by leading thinkers. With the support provided by this grant, the center will be expanding existing initiatives and creating new ones.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Open Government and Transparency, Government/Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Government

Grant Length:

Jul 2017 to Jun 2019

Strategy:

Oversight and Accountability
  • Proteus Fund Inc.
  • $400,000.00
  • Project
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2017

The purpose of this grant is to provide support for the Security and Rights Collaborative within the Proteus Fund. The Security Rights Collaborative functions primarily as a convener and funder of grassroots and local organizations focused on the American Muslim, Arab, and South Asian communities. This grant will support SRC such that they have broadened capacity to distribute funding and provide support to their grantees.

Project:

Security and Rights Collaborative

Foundation Center Topic:

Other

Grant Length:

Jun 2017 to May 2018

Strategy:

General
  • Center for New Democratic Processes
  • $250,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2017

The Your Voice Ohio Project will test, evaluate, and refine sustainable methods for engaging and serving communities through better, more participatory journalism. The Jefferson Center for a New Democratic Process will explore the complementary roles of public deliberation, community organizing, digital engagement, media collaboration, and new approaches in helping communities, and journalism, thrive.

Project:

Your Voice Ohio / Ohio Media Project

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism Education and Training

Grant Length:

Aug 2017 to Jul 2019

Strategy:

Engaged Journalism
  • The Project on Government Oversight, Inc.
  • $2,000,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Governance
  • 2017

This rapid response grant provides POGO with critical increased capacity to respond to recent political developments. They will be able to conduct more in-depth investigations, provide more trainings for federal workers and congressional staff, and more effectively protect against the erosion of government safeguards and checks and balances.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Open Government and Transparency, Government/Legislative Branch Performance, Government/Civil Liberties and Rule of Law

Grant Length:

Jun 2017 to May 2019

Strategy:

Oversight and Accountability
  • U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, Inc.
  • $200,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2017

In response to an alarming rise of divisive rhetoric aimed at Muslims in the United States, this grant supports outreach efforts by Congressional leaders to their Muslim constituents. To build greater understanding between Muslim-Americans and non-Muslim neighbors, an earned media campaign will be used to amplify the outreach activities.

Project:

Outreach to Muslim-American Communities

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Public Participation, Civic Participation/Naturalization and Immigrant Civic Integration, Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership, Media/Media Access and Policy, Media, Government/Legislative Branch Performance

Grant Length:

Jun 2017 to May 2018

Strategy:

Constructive Politics
  • Pro Publica Inc.
  • $3,000,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Public Square
  • 2017

This grant is to support investigative reporting. It is part of a larger package of grants around investigative journalism that is meant to expand the critical capacity of nonprofit investigative journalism as a robust fourth estate. The grant will empower those newsrooms to pursue rigorous journalism that keeps the government accountable to the American people.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Apr 2017 to Mar 2019

Strategy:

Investigative Journalism
  • American University
  • $500,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2017

This grant is to support investigative reporting. It is part of a larger package of grants around investigative journalism that is meant to expand the critical capacity of nonprofit investigative journalism as a robust fourth estate. The grant will empower those newsrooms to pursue rigorous journalism that keeps the government accountable to the American people.

Project:

Investigative Reporting Workshop

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Apr 2017 to Mar 2019

Strategy:

Investigative Journalism
  • Research Foundation of the City University of New York
  • $45,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2017

Professor Thomas Main of The City University of New York is writing a book about the roots and reach of the Alt-Right. This grant will support Professor Main’s ability to access social media data, to provide transcription support for his research, and to provide his salary during the time in which he conducts this research. 

Project:

Support for Thomas Main's Research on the Alt-Right

Foundation Center Topic:

Other

Grant Length:

Apr 2017 to Mar 2018

Strategy:

Constructive Politics
  • President-Board of Trustees Santa Clara College
  • $85,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2017

The Trust Project is developing tools and technologies to make quality news easy for the public to identify and technology platforms to surface.

Project:

Planning Grant for The Trust Project

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism Education and Training

Grant Length:

Jul 2017 to Mar 2019

Strategy:

Press Freedom
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College
  • $100,000.00
  • Project
  • President's Office
  • 2017

This grant would contribute initial funding towards the creation of the position of Senior Practice Fellow in American Democracy at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Project:

Harvard Kennedy School Ash Center Crossroads 21 Project

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership

Grant Length:

Mar 2017 to Feb 2018

Strategy:

General
  • Mozilla Foundation
  • $225,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2017

The purpose of this grant is to support the Coral Project in the development and implementation of tools and platforms that encourage a culture of engagement in newsrooms. The grant will largely focus on expanding adoption of their tools in newsrooms, which will consist of training, outreach and work around shifting culture inside newsrooms to be more open to engagement. 

Project:

Expanding Community Engagement Through the Coral Project

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism Education and Training

Grant Length:

Aug 2017 to Jul 2018

Strategy:

Engaged Journalism
  • American Society of News Editors Foundation, Inc.
  • $300,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2017

The purpose of this grant is to provide support for ASNE to work with Google and a university research team to create a more comprehensive and data driven survey that catalogues the diversity numbers for print and online publications in the United States.

Project:

ASNE Diversity Survey

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism Education and Training

Grant Length:

Aug 2017 to Dec 2018

Strategy:

Engaged Journalism
  • Center for Public Integrity
  • $3,000,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Public Square
  • 2017

This grant is to support investigative reporting. It is part of a larger package of grants around investigative journalism that is meant to expand the critical capacity of nonprofit investigative journalism as a robust fourth estate. The grant will empower those newsrooms to pursue rigorous journalism that keeps the government accountable to the American people.

Project:

Investigative Grants

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Apr 2017 to Mar 2019

Strategy:

Investigative Journalism
  • The Center for Investigative Reporting, Inc.
  • $3,000,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Public Square
  • 2017

This grant is to support investigative reporting. It is part of a larger package of grants around investigative journalism that is meant to expand the critical capacity of nonprofit investigative journalism as a robust fourth estate. The grant will empower those newsrooms to pursue rigorous journalism that keeps the government accountable to the American people.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Apr 2017 to Mar 2019

Strategy:

Investigative Journalism
  • Cultivate the Karass
  • $100,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Governance
  • 2017

Democracy Fund will provide general support for the work that Cultivate the Karass engages in to provide tools for emerging leaders to overcome polarization, seek understanding, and build trust.  

Project:

Support for Cultivate the Karass

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership

Grant Length:

Dec 2017 to Nov 2018

Strategy:

Constructive Politics
  • Social Science Research Council
  • $75,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2017

This grant will support the Social Science Research Council’s research on media and democracy, cutting across two areas of their existing work- Anxieties of Democracy and Digital culture. The grant will support cross-sector convenings and research about the role of media in democracy and the development of communications tools to provide resources to help media better serve democratic ends.

Project:

SSRC Media and Democracy Research Project

Foundation Center Topic:

Grant Length:

Dec 2017 to Nov 2018

Strategy:

Digital Democracy
  • Bipartisan Policy Center, Inc.
  • $1,300,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2017

This grant supports the governance-related initiatives of the Bipartisan Policy Center, including: taskforces on Government Oversight, Health of the Political Parties, and Election Demographics; the Healthy Congress Index; congressional reforms recommended by the Commission on Political Reform; and increasing the communications capacity of the Bipartisan Policy Center. 

Project:

Support for the Democracy Project

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Legislative Branch Performance, Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership, Other, Government/Open Government and Transparency

Grant Length:

Jul 2017 to Jun 2019

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • Center for Election Innovation & Research
  • $280,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2017

The purpose of this grant is to provide support for the Center for Election Innovation & Research, a new organization created by David Becker and Amy Cohen formerly with the Pew Charitable Trusts. CEIR will work to continue improving election administration by studying new trends in elections, working with election officials to ensure confidence in elections, help improve communication with voters, and streamline the administration of elections with technological advances. 

Project:

Support for Center for Election Innovation & Research

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration

Grant Length:

Apr 2017 to Mar 2018

Strategy:

Pro-Voter Reform
  • Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
  • $800,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Public Square
  • 2017

The purpose of this grant is to support the existing activity of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press as it fits within the emerging strategy for the Press Freedom arm of the emerging Fourth Estate Initiative.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Other, Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Apr 2017 to Mar 2019

Strategy:

Press Freedom
  • TPF Special Assets Fund, DBA The Lenfest Institute for Journalism
  • $200,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2017

This grant will help establish The Community Listening and Engagement Fund at the The Lenfest Institute. The Fund will subsidize the costs of adopting new community engagement tools for newsrooms who want to deepen their connections to their audience. By making engagement tools more accessible to a broader array of newsrooms the Fund will help accelerate the adoption of journalism practices and models that make newsrooms more responsive to their communities.  

Project:

The Community Listening and Engagement Fund

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Dec 2017 to Jun 2019

Strategy:

Engaged Journalism
Democracy Fund
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