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.
- The Project on Government Oversight, Inc.
- $300,000.00
- Project
- Governance
- 2017
This grant to The Constitution Project (TCP), a program within the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), will support POGO/TCP’s work to protect the courts. Through the “Defending Our Courts” campaign, POGO/TCP will develop messaging and build a coalition to restore and strengthen the public’s faith in the judiciary and build an infrastructure to resist any efforts to delegitimize or ignore a court’s decision.
Project:
The "Defending Our Courts" ProjectFoundation Center Topic:
Government/Civil Liberties and Rule of LawGrant Length:
Dec 2017 to May 2020Strategy:
Oversight and Accountability- FairVote
- $100,000.00
- General Operating Support
- Governance
- 2017
This grant will support the general operations of FairVote – an organization working to generate more effective governance through voting reforms.
Project:
General Operating SupportFoundation Center Topic:
Government/Legislative Branch Performance, Campaigns, Elections, and VotingGrant Length:
Dec 2017 to Nov 2018Strategy:
Constructive Politics- Curators of the University of Missouri
- $100,000.00
- Project
- Public Square
- 2017
The purpose of this grant is to support training and research on how newsrooms can build trust with their communities through social media, in person engagement and via their web sites and news products.
Project:
Trusting News ProjectFoundation Center Topic:
Media/Journalism Education and TrainingGrant Length:
Nov 2017 to Sep 2019Strategy:
Engaged Journalism- R Street Institute
- $730,000.00
- General Operating Support
- Governance
- 2017
General Operating Support
Project:
General Operating SupportFoundation Center Topic:
Government/Legislative Branch PerformanceGrant Length:
Nov 2017 to Oct 2019Strategy:
Empowering Congress- William J. Brennan, Jr. Center for Justice, Inc.
- $350,000.00
- Project
- Governance
- 2017
The William J. Brennan Center for Justice is preparing for the possible invocation of emergency authorities and the threat they would pose to democracy and to the constitutional order. This grant will support the Liberty and National Security Program’s Emergency Powers Project. The project involves legal and empirical research, a bipartisan working group of academic experts and former government officials to identify scenarios and interventions, and implementation of intervention strategies.
Project:
Liberty & National Security Program - Emergency Powers ProjectFoundation Center Topic:
Government/Civil Liberties and Rule of LawGrant Length:
Oct 2017 to Sep 2019Strategy:
Oversight and Accountability- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- $600,000.00
- Project
- Elections and Voting
- 2017
The MIT Election Data and Science Lab (MEDSL) facilitates election data collection and sharing through web-based tools and datasets. The lab will create systems for sharing findings, allowing for the development of a network of scholars in the Election Science field.
Project:
MIT Election Data and Science Lab SupportFoundation Center Topic:
Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election AdministrationGrant Length:
Dec 2017 to Nov 2020Strategy:
Voter-Centric Election Administration- OpenSecrets
- $225,000.00
- Project
- Governance
- 2017
Reports filed under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) are made publicly available but are not searchable or otherwise usable without laborious review. The Center of Responsive Politics’ (CRP) Foreign Lobby Watch Project will extract and convert this data into a useful form, then make it available for the public.
Project:
Foreign Lobby Watch ProjectFoundation Center Topic:
Government/Open Government and TransparencyGrant Length:
Nov 2017 to Oct 2019Strategy:
Oversight and Accountability- Protect Democracy Project
- $700,000.00
- General Operating Support
- Governance
- 2017
The Protect Democracy Project is investigating government actions, engaging in public outreach and education, encouraging oversight by existing government mechanisms, and, when appropriate, bringing litigation against government actions that threaten our democracy.
Project:
General Operating SupportFoundation Center Topic:
Government/Civil Liberties and Rule of LawGrant Length:
Nov 2017 to Oct 2019Strategy:
Oversight and Accountability- CoastAlaska, Inc.
- $100,000.00
- Project
- Public Square
- 2017
To support collaboration and fundraising services at Coast Alaska which helps build the Alaska media ecosystem. The shared services support will include a matching campaign for noncommercial public broadcasting stations inspired by NewsMatch, and the expansion of technological services to support small noncommercial stations in Alaska.
Project:
Coast Alaska ProjectFoundation Center Topic:
Media/Journalism Education and Training, Media/JournalismGrant Length:
Dec 2017 to Oct 2019Strategy:
Ecosystem News- North Carolina Community Foundation, Inc.
- $950,000.00
- Project
- Public Square
- 2017
The purpose of this grant is to support North Carolina’s local news and information ecosystem. The grant will create the North Carolina Local News Lab Fund at the North Carolina Community Foundation to support building a networked news ecosystem that is audience-centered, trusted, collaborative, and resilient.
Project:
North Carolina Local News Lab FundFoundation Center Topic:
Media/Journalism Education and Training, Media/JournalismGrant Length:
Nov 2017 to Nov 2019Strategy:
Ecosystem News- The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania
- $396,500.00
- Project
- President's Office
- 2017
The purpose of this grant is to support The Center for High Impact Philanthropy (“CHIP”) to develop a toolkit for donors that will help philanthropists understand the various aspects of strengthening our democracy and ways they can support efforts around the United States. CHIP will conduct a field scan, develop specific resources on what is working well, and disseminate the toolkit to various donor networks.
Project:
Educating Donors About DemocracyFoundation Center Topic:
Other, Media/Journalism, Campaigns, Elections, and VotingGrant Length:
Dec 2017 to Mar 2020Strategy:
General- Solutions Journalism Network
- $250,000.00
- General Operating Support
- Public Square
- 2017
The purpose of this grant is to support Solutions Journalism Network in training journalists to develop solutions stories that investigate situations and provide reporting on alternate options to challenges unearthed within the investigations.
Project:
General Operating SupportFoundation Center Topic:
Media/Journalism Education and TrainingGrant Length:
Aug 2017 to Jul 2019Strategy:
Engaged Journalism- Kennesaw State University Research and Service Foundation, Inc.
- $200,000.00
- Project
- Public Square
- 2017
This grant will support the Georgia News Lab. The News Lab’s mission is threefold: To make the vital work of investigative reporting affordable for news organizations, to increase diversity in newsrooms, and to help news outlets better serve their communities by increasing the flow of trustworthy public interest journalism.
Project:
Georgia News LabFoundation Center Topic:
Media/Journalism Education and TrainingGrant Length:
Oct 2017 to Jun 2020Strategy:
Engaged Journalism- Morgan State University Foundation Incorporated
- $250,000.00
- Project
- Public Square
- 2017
This grant will provide support for the Morgan Initiative. The Morgan Initiative demonstrates how universities can lead collaborative reporting projects that challenge local newsrooms to shift their practices to better create journalism that is meaningful to communities and responsive to their needs.
Project:
The Morgan InitiativeFoundation Center Topic:
Media/Journalism Education and TrainingGrant Length:
Oct 2017 to Sep 2019Strategy:
Engaged Journalism- The University of Texas at Austin
- $934,958.00
- Project
- Public Square
- 2017
The Engaging News Project (ENP) will test web-based strategies for informing audiences, promoting substantive discourse, and helping citizens to understand diverse views. They will also analyze business outcomes, such as clicks and time on page, which provides valuable information about what works, and what doesn’t.
Project:
Center for Media Engagement RenewalFoundation Center Topic:
Media/JournalismGrant Length:
Sep 2017 to Jan 2021Strategy:
Engaged Journalism- West Virginia University Foundation, Inc.
- $150,000.00
- Project
- Public Square
- 2017
This grant supports work to demonstrate how universities can lead collaborative reporting projects that challenge local newsrooms to shift their practices to better create journalism that is meaningful to communities and responsive to their needs through a focus on reporting from a rural Appalachian perspective.
Project:
WVU Media InnovationFoundation Center Topic:
Media/Journalism Education and TrainingGrant Length:
Aug 2017 to Jun 2019Strategy:
Engaged Journalism- Community Foundation of New Jersey
- $1,300,000.00
- Project
- Public Square
- 2017
The purpose of this grant is to support New Jersey’s local news information ecosystem. The grant will create a fund at the Community Foundation of New Jersey to support organizations that are working to build a networked, state-wide, place-based, news ecosystem that is audience-centered, trusted, collaborative and resilient.
Project:
New Jersey News EcosystemFoundation Center Topic:
Media/Journalism Education and Training, Media/JournalismGrant Length:
Nov 2017 to Oct 2019Strategy:
Ecosystem News- Public Agenda, Inc.
- $200,000.00
- Project
- Public Square
- 2017
The purpose of this grant is two-fold. This grant will support research and communications on the impacts and general efficacy of participatory budgeting regarding how governments spend money. This grant will also map and compare expert insights on the state of U.S. democracy, so that field leaders might better anticipate the path of democratic evolution and decide how best to support positive change in our politics.
Project:
Impacts of Participatory Budgeting on Government Spending and Jumpstarting DemocracyFoundation Center Topic:
Civic Participation/Public ParticipationGrant Length:
Dec 2017 to Nov 2019Strategy:
Engaged Journalism- Women's Congressional Policy Institute
- $460,000.00
- General Operating Support
- Governance
- 2017
This grant will provide general support for Women’s Policy, Inc. as they continue convening female leaders of Congress to build bipartisan relationships and increase congressional capacity.
Project:
General Operating SupportFoundation Center Topic:
Government/Legislative Branch PerformanceGrant Length:
Dec 2017 to Nov 2019Strategy:
Constructive Politics- The Brookings Institution
- $250,000.00
- Project
- Governance
- 2017
This grant will support a two-year research project to study how primary elections impact political polarization and congressional dysfunction, explore the potential of congressional primaries as a vehicle to increase political equality, restoring public trust in the electoral system, and ultimately what gives rise to more equitable economic opportunities.