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
  • New York University
  • $250,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2018

The Membership Puzzle Project is a research and field lab designed to help journalism in America rebuild its social contract with communities through membership and reader revenue strategies.

Project:

Membership Puzzle Project Year Two

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism Education and Training

Grant Length:

May 2018 to Oct 2019

Strategy:

Investigative Journalism
  • New York University
  • $151,800.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2018

This grant will support a project of GovLab, a program within the Tandon School of Engineering at New York University, to develop a handbook for congressional offices with techniques for increasing citizen voice in the policymaking process and improving constituent engagement through new technologies. The grant also will allow GovLab to pilot projects with several congressional offices for using open source software to test some of the techniques outlined in the handbook. 

Project:

GovLab Congressional CrowdLaw Project

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Legislative Branch Performance

Grant Length:

Oct 2018 to Jan 2020

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • University System of New Hampshire
  • $40,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2018

The New Hampshire Listens program at the University of New Hampshire’s Carsey School of Public Policy will partner with the Beeck Center for Social Impact & Innovation at Georgetown University to design and execute a demonstration project of a digital version of a congressional committee hearing. 

Project:

Digital field hearing

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Legislative Branch Performance

Grant Length:

Jul 2018 to Aug 2019

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism CUNY Foundation, Inc.
  • $111,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2018

The Center for Community and Ethnic Media (CCEM) will undergo a strategic planning process and support new leadership as it develops into a national hub for ethnic media. CCEM will add depth and national scope to its efforts with news and information outlets serving ethnic, minority and immigrant communities.

Project:

Center for Community and Ethnic Media

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Jun 2018 to May 2019

Strategy:

Engaged Journalism
  • URI Foundation & Alumni Engagement
  • $99,961.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2018

The purpose of this grant is to implement the election line allocation tools created by the Voting Technology Project, as recommended by the Rhode Island Board of Elections Task Force.

Project:

RI VOTES Project

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting

Grant Length:

Apr 2018 to May 2019

Strategy:

Voter-Centric Election Administration
  • National Press Photographers Foundation Inc
  • $10,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Public Square
  • 2018

The National Press Photographers Foundation work as educators and advocates for the rights of visual journalists and freedom of the press. The grant is to support NPPF’s legal advocacy on behalf of journalists and their work to educate journalists about their rights and their safety.

Project:

Supporting the National Press Photographers Foundation

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Media Access and Policy, Media

Grant Length:

May 2018 to Apr 2019

Strategy:

Press Freedom
  • POPVOX LegiDash Fund
  • $100,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2018

The POPVOX LegiDash Fund, a project of the Tides Foundation, will develop a communications and legislative resources dashboard for use by congressional staff. The free product, called LegiDash, will provide staff with an improved constituent communications portal they can use to view and respond to messages delivered to Congress by POPVOX, increasing the efficiency of that process.

Project:

POPVOX LegiDash Fund

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Legislative Branch Performance

Grant Length:

Jun 2018 to May 2019

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • Lawfare Institute
  • $25,000.00
  • Project
  • General and Field Building
  • 2018

This project grant will support capacity building at the Lawfare Institute. Lawfare facilitates research and robust analysis of national security issues, and its experts also use FOIA to uncover information that will help foster objective, public, and transparent discussions around government decision-making. This capacity building grant will support Lawfare’s work to build its influence by improving its ability to produce high-quality audio and video content.

Project:

Capacity Building for Videos and Podcasts

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Civil Liberties and Rule of Law

Grant Length:

Nov 2018 to Jun 2019

Strategy:

General
  • National Immigration Law Center
  • $200,000.00
  • Project
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2018

The purpose of this grant is to support litigation and legal services around issues pertaining to vulnerable communities – specifically MASA and immigrant communities.

Project:

Support Immigration Litigation and Legal Services

Foundation Center Topic:

Other, Media/Media Access and Policy, Government/Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Civic Participation/Naturalization and Immigrant Civic Integration

Grant Length:

Dec 2018 to Nov 2019

Strategy:

General
  • National Issues Forum Institute
  • $200,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2018

This grant will support National Issues Forum Institute (NIFI) and its partner –the Institute for Democratic Engagement and Accountability (IDEA) at The Ohio State University — in developing and promoting a new, deliberative town hall meeting module for use by congressional offices online. NIFI will develop materials for the modules and coordinate with IDEA and other partners to produce and distribute modules and monitor project progress.

Project:

Connecting to Congress

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Legislative Branch Performance, Civic Participation/Public Participation

Grant Length:

Dec 2018 to Nov 2019

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • iCivics Inc.
  • $100,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2018

This grant will support iCivics’ strategic planning efforts to coordinate a network of presidential library foundations and the National Archives Foundation to work collaboratively to establish a common set of measurement tools, support opportunities to develop joint civics programming, and explore a national communications strategy to promote and enhance civic education. 

Project:

Planning Grant for Civic Education Network

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Public Participation, Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership

Grant Length:

Oct 2018 to Mar 2019

Strategy:

Constructive Politics
  • Oficina Legal Del Pueblo Unido Inc., dba Texas Civil Rights Project
  • $20,000.00
  • Project
  • General and Field Building
  • 2018

The purpose of this grant is to provide capacity building support to the Grantee as they engage in executive coaching and management training.

Project:

TCRP Capacity-Building Support

Foundation Center Topic:

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

Grant Length:

Nov 2018 to May 2019

Strategy:

General
  • Proteus Fund Inc.
  • $400,000.00
  • Project
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2018

To provide support for the Security & Rights Collaborative (SRC), a Proteus Fund initiative. SRC’s primary grantmaking focus is to support a diverse field of organizations working to address anti-Muslim bigotry, xenophobia, and more, by building capacity of Muslim, Arab and South Asian (MASA) community based and grassroots organizations.  

Project:

Security and Rights Collaborative

Foundation Center Topic:

Other

Grant Length:

Sep 2018 to Aug 2019

Strategy:

General
  • Field Foundation of Illinois Inc.
  • $200,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2018

To support efforts to create a healthy local news ecosystem via a grant program that supports community-based journalism and media organizations in Chicago, with a focus on community-based journalism organizations led by people of color.

Project:

Chicago Local News Field Fund

Foundation Center Topic:

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

Grant Length:

Dec 2018 to Nov 2019

Strategy:

Ecosystem News
  • ReThink Media, Inc.
  • $100,000.00
  • Project
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2018

The purpose of this grant to provide project support to Rehink Media Inc.’s Security and Rights team to address anti-Muslim bigotry through strategic communications, rapid response messaging, and spokesperson training.  

Project:

Rapid response communications support for MASA communities

Foundation Center Topic:

Other

Grant Length:

Sep 2018 to Aug 2019

Strategy:

General
  • Fair Elections Center
  • $75,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2018

This grant will provide support for growth and visibility of the website workelections.com, which is a site designed to collect and centralize poll worker information and applications from several jurisdictions, making it easier for local election officials and potential poll workers to connect and fill Election Day positions. 

Project:

Poll Worker Recruitment

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration

Grant Length:

Aug 2018 to Dec 2018

Strategy:

Voter-Centric Election Administration
  • iCivics Inc.
  • $75,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2018

The purpose of this grant is to support planning between centers for the study of Congress, the presidential libraries and iCivics, and will result in a shared strategic plan that will facilitate collaboration and collective impact among these organizations, with the goal of increased civic awareness, especially with regard to Congress.

Project:

iCivics Planning Grant

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Public Participation, Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership

Grant Length:

Oct 2018 to Mar 2019

Strategy:

Constructive Politics
  • Local Independent Online News Publishers Inc.
  • $25,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2018

The purpose of this grant is to provide capacity building support to LION (Local Independent Online News Publishers), a fiscally sponsored project of Poynter Institute for Media Studies, Inc., for strategic planning and board training.

Project:

Capacity Building Grant

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism Education and Training

Grant Length:

Oct 2018 to Apr 2019

Strategy:

Ecosystem News
  • iCivics Inc.
  • $75,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2018

The purpose of this grant is to support development of a joint strategic plan between iCivics and the centers for the study of Congress, led by the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate. The strategic plan will include documentation of planning activities, a summary of the assessment of required program enhancements, and an outline of next steps required for program scaling.

Project:

Network Building for Centers for the Study of Congress

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Public Participation, Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership

Grant Length:

Oct 2018 to Mar 2019

Strategy:

Constructive Politics
  • Georgetown University
  • $25,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2018

To support Georgetown University’s Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life in hosting a gathering of Catholic leaders from around the country to discuss the problem of polarization within the Catholic Church in the United States, and the ways in which Catholics can contribute to our national political culture in a way that decreases hyper partisanship and polarization.  

Project:

Support for Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life's Conference on Polarization

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Public Participation, Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership

Grant Length:

Jun 2018 to Nov 2018

Strategy:

Constructive Politics
Democracy Fund
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