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.

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Elections and Voting
General and Field Building
Governance
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Civil & Human Rights Online
Constructive Politics
Digital Democracy
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Power Building in Marginalized Communities
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Pro-Voter Reform
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Voting Power
Organization Name (A-Z) Grant Amount Type Program Area Year
  • Wayne State University
  • $150,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2017

This project grant will provide support for the Levin Center at Wayne Law to continue its efforts to strengthen congressional oversight. This work will include academic research and collaboration on congressional oversight issues. By facilitating the development of an academic field focused on oversight and research into effective oversight methods, the Levin Center’s work is part of a longer term strategy to rebuild civil society’s work on oversight and accountability issues.

Project:

Levin Center at Wayne Law

Foundation Center Topic:

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

Grant Length:

Nov 2017 to Oct 2019

Strategy:

Oversight and Accountability
  • ReflectUs
  • $558,500.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2017

ReflectUS (formerly known as the Women’s Representation Coalition), a fiscally sponsored project of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, is a project by a bipartisan group of national organizations who support women leaders and a political system in which more women can be represented.

Project:

Support for Women's Representation Coalition

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Legislative Branch Performance, Civic Participation/Public Participation

Grant Length:

Nov 2017 to Oct 2019

Strategy:

Constructive Politics
  • The Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting
  • $300,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2017

The purpose of this grant is to provide support to the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting.

Project:

Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism Education and Training

Grant Length:

Dec 2017 to Nov 2019

Strategy:

Engaged Journalism
  • Foundation for Minority Interests In Media Inc.
  • $500,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2017

This grant will provide support for the Emma Bowen Foundation’s (“EBF”) diversity through internships work. This project will provide capacity for EBF to support at least 25 interns in rural, diverse-led, and nonprofit news outlets across the country. To enhance and extend current EBF intern programing on media specific content and leadership development, EBF will also hire a Program Director.

Project:

Supporting Diversity through Internships

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism Education and Training

Grant Length:

Oct 2017 to Sep 2019

Strategy:

Engaged Journalism
  • Congressional Management Foundation
  • $500,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Governance
  • 2017

General Operating Support

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Legislative Branch Performance

Grant Length:

Nov 2017 to Oct 2019

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • Openthegovernment.org
  • $500,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2017

OpenTheGovernment (a project of the Fund for Constitutional Government) will map civil society sectors to identify groups to collaborate with. They will identify organizations who do not traditionally advocate for open government and transparency, but whose own causes could be helped by focusing on this issue.

Project:

Support for OpenTheGovernment

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Open Government and Transparency

Grant Length:

Sep 2017 to Aug 2019

Strategy:

Oversight and Accountability
  • National Conference of State Legislatures
  • $420,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2017

This grant will support the National Conference of State Legislatures’ Elections and Redistricting Program as it endeavors to grow and improve its elections administration programming and provide the best possible service to its members and their staffs. 

Project:

Elections & Redistricting Program Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration

Grant Length:

Oct 2017 to Sep 2020

Strategy:

Voter-Centric Election Administration
  • Dēmos: A Network for Ideas and Action LTD
  • $925,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2017

This grant will provide funding to Demos to continue its work in enforcing the requirements of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) that state motor vehicle agencies provide information and assistance to register to vote at all state facilities. This grant will also provide limited assistance to engage in Section 8 compliance efforts in states and jurisdictions where opportunities exist to support modernization of list-maintenance programs.

Project:

Freedom to Vote

Foundation Center Topic:

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

Grant Length:

Dec 2017 to Nov 2020

Strategy:

Pro-Voter Reform
  • 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
  • News Revenue Hub Inc.
  • $467,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2017

A grant to the News Revenue Hub to support expanded services and capacity building activities to strengthen the financial sustainability of their clients and the larger nonprofit news community. 

Project:

News Revenue Hub, a project of the Institute for Nonprofit News

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Sep 2017 to Nov 2018

Strategy:

Investigative Journalism
  • New Venture Fund
  • $500,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2017

This grant will provide support for the field of elections and voting research through participation in the Civic Engagement and Elections Research Collaborative Fund.

Project:

The Civic Engagement and Elections Research Collaborative Fund

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting

Grant Length:

Nov 2017 to Oct 2019

Strategy:

Pro-Voter Reform
  • Demand Progress Education Fund
  • $300,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2017

This grant will provide support to Demand Progress, an organization that plays a critical education and advisory role on a variety of institutional practice and rulemaking areas that affect congressional capacity to function.

Project:

Legislative Capacity Project at Demand Progress, a Project of the New Venture Fund

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Legislative Branch Performance

Grant Length:

Nov 2017 to Oct 2019

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • Library of Congress
  • $300,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2017

This grant will renew support for training programs developed by the Library of Congress. Specifically, this grant will extend Democracy Fund support for the Congressional Research Service – a division of the Library of Congress – to conduct orientation seminars for newly-elected members of the 116th Congress and for the John W. Kluge Center at the Library to conduct a congressional masterclass series on governance-related topics of wide interest by leading academics. 
The grant will also support two historical exhibits that will showcase important Library resources and collections for congressional audiences and the broader public. One exhibit will focus on the history of Baseball and the exhibit will focus on the women’s’ movement. The goal of the exhibits is to educate members of Congress and others who might not seek education on the role of race in sports or the history of gender (in)equity in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.

Project:

Support for New Member Seminars and Public-Facing Programming

Foundation Center Topic:

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

Grant Length:

Dec 2017 to Mar 2023

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • Poynter Institute for Media Studies, Inc.
  • $525,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2017

The purpose of the Grant is to provide support for the fight against mis/disinformation through fact-checking innovation, research, collaboration, and training. For this project, Grantee will work to support fact-checking through the PolitiFact and PunditFact platforms. Grantee will also support research, training, and opportunities for collaboration for the broader fact-checking and journalism networks. 

Project:

Strengthening Accountability Reporting

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism Education and Training, Media

Grant Length:

Dec 2017 to Jun 2020

Strategy:

Digital Democracy
  • Trustees of Tufts College
  • $200,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2017

To provide support for a 2-year research project that seeks to better understand the reasons why hard-to-reach youth populations choose not to vote and then create a set of guidelines that election officials can use to help address the needs of young voters. 

Project:

Working with Election Officials to Address Youth Participation

Foundation Center Topic:

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

Grant Length:

Nov 2017 to Oct 2019

Strategy:

Pro-Voter Reform
  • Yale University
  • $90,000.00
  • Project
  • President's Office
  • 2017

BrightLinesWatch is a project to track the potential corrosion of democratic norms through the expert opinion of domestic and international political scientists. The grant will also fund an international conference and a series of briefing papers using international experiences to better understand potential threats to American democracy.

Project:

BrightLines Watch

Foundation Center Topic:

Other

Grant Length:

Mar 2017 to Feb 2018

Strategy:

General
  • University of Maryland
  • $105,600.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2017

This grant supports a collaborative research initiative led by the University of Maryland (UMD) in partnership with the U.S. Association of Former Members of Congress (FMC) and the Millennial Action Project (MAP). This research explores the behavioral and psychological aspects of political cooperation to counteract polarization in American government.

Project:

Interdisciplinary Study to Counteract Polarization in Congress

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Legislative Branch Performance

Grant Length:

Oct 2017 to Dec 2021

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • The Congressional Institute, Inc.
  • $300,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2017

This grant will support the Congressional Institute’s efforts to provide educational information about Congress to the general public, and to educate Members of Congress and staff about efforts to improve the function and management of the institution.

Project:

Congressional Reform Project

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Legislative Branch Performance

Grant Length:

Dec 2017 to Nov 2019

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • Institute for Social Policy and Understanding
  • $100,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2018

The purpose of this grant is to provide general operating support for the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU) as it conducts research, raises awareness, and works with partners to better understand the American Muslim community. 

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Other

Grant Length:

Sep 2018 to Aug 2019

Strategy:

General
  • New York University
  • $44,440.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2018

To support the Social Media and Political Participation (SMaPP) laboratory in conducting research around the role of misinformation on social media platforms during the 2018 election.

Project:

NYU Platform Research

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Media Access and Policy

Grant Length:

Dec 2018 to Dec 2020

Strategy:

Digital Democracy
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