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
  • Oficina Legal Del Pueblo Unido Inc., dba Texas Civil Rights Project
  • $175,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2017

This grant will provide support to Texas Civil Rights Project’s (TCRP) High School Voter Registration Project. This grant will provide TCRP with support to continue its work with the Secretary of State, high schools, voter registrars, and other relevant stakeholders to improve compliance in this area. TCRP will build important relationships between these entities while encouraging compliance with the law.

Project:

High School Voter Registration Project

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Voter Education, Registration, and Turnout, Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration

Grant Length:

Dec 2017 to Nov 2018

Strategy:

Pro-Voter Reform
  • Immigrant Legal Resource Center
  • $500,000.00
  • Project
  • President's Office
  • 2017

The purpose of this grant is to provide support for the New Americans Campaign (NAC), which will in turn support multilingual hotlines to advise and assist eligible legal permanent residents (LPR) in becoming U.S. citizens. The grant will also support the NAC’s Innovation Fund, including resources to help NAC partners to move more people along the path to becoming citizens.

Project:

New Americans Campaign Outreach, Innovation, and Services

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Naturalization and Immigrant Civic Integration, Civic Participation

Grant Length:

Dec 2017 to Nov 2018

Strategy:

General
  • NALEO Educational Fund
  • $200,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2017

Democracy Fund will support NALEO Educational Fund’s efforts to identify, recruit, and train Latino candidates for positions in the federal government, with a particular focus on staffing Congressional offices. Additionally, Democracy Fund will support NALEO’s efforts to provide increased training on civility and bipartisanship to their membership. 

Project:

Promoting Civility and Ensuring Diversity in Congressional Staff

Foundation Center Topic:

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

Grant Length:

Jul 2017 to Jun 2019

Strategy:

Constructive Politics
  • The Lugar Center
  • $150,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Governance
  • 2017

This grant will support the work of The Lugar Center, including their work to study the function of Congressional committees, creating bipartisan delegation meetings at state universities, increase congressional capacity for oversight, and other work to improve the bipartisan function of Congress. 

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

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

Grant Length:

Jul 2017 to Jun 2018

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • Issue One
  • $400,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2017

To provide general support to Issue One as they continue to broaden the coalition of leaders, supporters and ideas in an effort to find meaningful opportunities to educate the public on problems and solutions to the influence of money on politics. 

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Campaign Finance

Grant Length:

Apr 2017 to Mar 2019

Strategy:

Previous Strategy
  • The Council of State Governments
  • $300,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2017

This grant will provide support to the Council of State Governments (“CSG”) to establish a national working group on elections cybersecurity issues with plans to convene in 2018, as well as partnering on CSG’s upcoming Cybersecurity and Privacy Policy Academy. 

Project:

State Elections Cybersecurity Working Group

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration

Grant Length:

Nov 2017 to Dec 2018

Strategy:

Trust in Elections
  • Reporters Without Borders Incorporated
  • $75,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Public Square
  • 2017

The purpose of this grant is to provide general operating support for Reporters Without Borders – the North American branch of Reporters Sans Frontieres, as they build their influence and efforts to support and defend journalists within the United States.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Grant Length:

Dec 2017 to Mar 2019

Strategy:

Press Freedom
  • Student Press Law Center
  • $150,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Public Square
  • 2017

General operating support for the Student Press Law Center.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Media Access and Policy

Grant Length:

Dec 2017 to Mar 2019

Strategy:

Press Freedom
  • Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
  • $100,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2017

This grant will support a sustained education and engagement effort to reinforce the critical role of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in today’s policy-making environment. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) will convene the nation’s top budget experts – many of whom have served in CBO leadership – to elevate a timely discussion about the need for the impartial, nonpartisan budget scorekeeping and analysis that CBO provides.

Project:

Elevating the Role of the Congressional Budget Office

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Legislative Branch Performance

Grant Length:

Dec 2017 to Nov 2018

Strategy:

Oversight and Accountability
  • Wayne State University
  • $100,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2017

The purpose of this grant is to explore how WDET, and in turn other local non-profit media organizations, can integrate revenue driving activities into engaged journalism projects. Our intention is to identify and realize the sustainability of “engagement” as a practice, and share our learnings for the wider industry to review.

Project:

WDET Engagement & Contribution Pipeline

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism, Media/Journalism Education and Training

Grant Length:

Dec 2017 to May 2019

Strategy:

Ecosystem News
  • 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
  • The Brookings Institution
  • $200,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2017

This grant will support Lawfare, a blog and project of the Brookings Institution’s Governance Studies Program. Lawfare facilitates research and robust analysis of national security issues, and Lawfare experts also use FOIA to uncover information that will help foster objective, public, and transparent discussions around government decision-making. 

Project:

Support for Lawfare

Foundation Center Topic:

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

Grant Length:

Dec 2017 to Nov 2019

Strategy:

Oversight and Accountability
  • Movement Law Lab
  • $320,000.00
  • Project
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2017

To support Movement Law Lab, an innovation hub bringing lawyers together with other change-makers to implement novel and bold solutions for some of America’s toughest justice related problems. 

Project:

Support for Movement Law Labs

Foundation Center Topic:

Other, Media, Civic Participation

Grant Length:

Nov 2017 to Oct 2019

Strategy:

General
  • Common Cause Education Fund
  • $925,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2017

Common Cause Education Fund (CCEF) is a national organization supporting civic reform in the U.S., working for improvements in both election administration and campaign finance. At the national level, they are a key player in shaping conversations around voting. Leverage their 35 state offices and national membership, they continue to build local coalitions around many of the reforms that the Democracy Fund believes can strengthen our democracy. 

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Voting Access, Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Campaign Finance, Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Redistricting, Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration

Grant Length:

Dec 2017 to Nov 2019

Strategy:

Pro-Voter Reform
  • Former Members of Congress Inc.
  • $350,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Governance
  • 2017

General Operating Support

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

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

Grant Length:

Dec 2017 to Nov 2019

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • The OpenGov Foundation
  • $250,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Governance
  • 2017

This grant will provide OpenGov Foundation with additional resources to help Congress modernize its technological infrastructure. Such modernizations hold the promise to improve the legislative capacity of congressional staff and make communications between constituents and member offices more efficient, effective, and satisfying for all parties.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Legislative Branch Performance

Grant Length:

Dec 2017 to Nov 2019

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • Lincoln Network Inc.
  • $200,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2017

This grant will support the development of an App Market that reviews tech products for use by congressional staff, focusing on key features like whether those tools can handle the required volume and whether they meet security requirements. 

Project:

Congressional Tips and App Market

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Legislative Branch Performance

Grant Length:

Dec 2017 to Nov 2019

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • Asian Americans Journalists Association
  • $200,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Public Square
  • 2017

The Asian American Journalists Association builds programming that engages Asian American and Pacific Islander community voices, grows membership, and leads in developing entrepreneurship/enterprise projects in the journalism industry.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism Education and Training

Grant Length:

Dec 2017 to Oct 2019

Strategy:

Engaged Journalism
  • Democracy Works Inc.
  • $700,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2017

Democracy Works and their subdivision of TurboVote explores low-cost ways to increase civic engagement and voting through new civic technology and improving processes and data. Their aim is to make voting easier through use of technology and support for elections administrators and voters.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration

Grant Length:

Dec 2017 to Nov 2019

Strategy:

Voter-Centric Election Administration
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College
  • $500,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2017

This grant will support the Defending Digital Democracy Project at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

Project:

Defending Digital Democracy (D3P) project

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Voter Education, Registration, and Turnout, Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration

Grant Length:

Nov 2017 to Oct 2019

Strategy:

Trust in Elections
Democracy Fund
1200 17th Street NW Suite 300,
Washington, DC 20036