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 Campaign Finance Institute
  • $200,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2012

The Campaign Finance Institute will convene a nationally prominent group of scholars to assess what is known about the campaign finance system and determine what are the most important research questions that should be investigated to insure that future policy reforms are informed by the best available nonpartisan information and analysis.

Project:

Research Agenda for Campaign Finance Policy

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Campaign Finance

Grant Length:

Aug 2012 to Sep 2013

Strategy:

Previous Strategy
  • 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
  • Social Science Research Council
  • $200,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2018

The purpose of this grant is to support the Digital Disinformation Research and Mapping Project, which will track and aggregate ongoing research, facilitate the alignment of research with relevant policy efforts, and build a diverse and multidisciplinary scholarly network.

Project:

Digital Disinformation Research and Mapping Project

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Media Access and Policy

Grant Length:

Sep 2018 to Aug 2021

Strategy:

Digital Democracy
  • City Bureau NFP
  • $200,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Public Square
  • 2018

The purpose of this grant is to support City Bureau, an innovative local news organization in Chicago, that is leading efforts in community engagement, ecosystem building, business models. This grant will enable City Bureau to continue and expand their core programs, including Documenters, Civic Reporting Fellowships, and Public Newsrooms.

Project:

City Bureau

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism, Media/Journalism Education and Training

Grant Length:

Dec 2018 to May 2020

Strategy:

Ecosystem News
  • Asian Law Caucus
  • $200,000.00
  • Project
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2018

To support direct litigation and legal services work, and to strengthen and expand multilingual know your rights materials that can be delivered to MASA and immigrant communities.  

Project:

Litigation, legal services, and know your rights

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Civic Participation/Naturalization and Immigrant Civic Integration, Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership

Grant Length:

Nov 2018 to Oct 2019

Strategy:

General
  • Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Incorporated
  • $200,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2015

The purpose of this grant is to support the Local News Lab in New Jersey. Dodge has been a co-funder (using Knight Funds) of our work with Rutgers and Free Press. They are also involved in a number of other initiatives well aligned with our priorities.

Project:

Local News Lab Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Dec 2015 to Dec 2016

Strategy:

Ecosystem News
  • 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
  • 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
  • National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development
  • $200,000.00
  • Project
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2021

National CAPACD’s 2021 AAPI Community Resilience Fund supports the racial healing and anti-racism work of recipient organizations, as well as their work to build multi-racial coalitions and strengthen solidarity work locally in neighborhoods. This work includes political education that combats anti-Blackness and advances a deeper understanding of diverse AAPI communities.

Project:

National CAPACD 2021 AAPI Community Resilience Fund

Foundation Center Topic:

Other

Grant Length:

Nov 2021 to Apr 2023

Strategy:

General
  • Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy
  • $200,000.00
  • Project
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2021

The Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy, a fiscally sponsored project of Project South, advances structural shifts toward Climate Justice + Ecological Equity in Gulf South Black, Indigenous, and Brown communities on the frontlines of climate change.

Project:

Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership, Government/Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Civic Participation/Public Participation, Other

Grant Length:

Dec 2021 to May 2023

Strategy:

General
  • No Labels Foundation
  • $200,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Governance
  • 2015

A general operating grant to the No Labels Foundation will support the innovative work of the organization to reduce Congressional dysfunction and foster bipartisan problem solving.

Project:

No Labels Renewal 2015

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Legislative Branch Performance

Grant Length:

Dec 2015 to Nov 2016

Strategy:

Previous Strategy
  • Institute for Nonprofit News
  • $200,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2015

The purpose of this grant is to provide funds to the INNovation Fund which supports projects proposed by nonprofit news organizations to advance the economic sustainability of their newsroom.

Project:

INNovation Fund Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Dec 2015 to Nov 2016

Strategy:

Ecosystem News
  • Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans
  • $200,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2021

The Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans (PANA) works to ensure that Black and African, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian (BAMEMSA) immigrant communities are centered in legislative and administrative policies. They also work to reimagine refugee resettlement narratives and policies that have created barriers to the full inclusion of refugees in the fabric of our democracy.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Naturalization and Immigrant Civic Integration, Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership, Civic Participation

Grant Length:

Nov 2021 to Apr 2023

Strategy:

General
  • Adhikaar for Human Rights and Social Justice
  • $200,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2021

Adhikaar for Human Rights and Social Justice is an immigrant women-of-color-led grassroots organization based in Woodside, New York. Founded in 2005, they are the country’s only worker and social justice center dedicated to serving and mobilizing the Nepali-speaking community — an underserved, under-resourced, and undercounted community.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Naturalization and Immigrant Civic Integration, Other

Grant Length:

Nov 2021 to Apr 2023

Strategy:

General
  • Healthy Democracy Fund
  • $200,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Public Square
  • 2014

To continue support for Healthy Democracy as they further institutionalize the Oregon process and extend the CIR practice to other states.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

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

Grant Length:

Dec 2014 to Dec 2016

Strategy:

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 Lab

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism Education and Training

Grant Length:

Oct 2017 to Jun 2020

Strategy:

Engaged Journalism
  • 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 Democracy

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Public Participation

Grant Length:

Dec 2017 to Nov 2019

Strategy:

Engaged Journalism
  • Open News
  • $200,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2022

OpenNews, a fiscally sponsored project of Community Partners, helps journalists create authentic, trusting relationships and to build a community of support. This grant supports their ongoing efforts to increase peer support and peer learning among the journalists they serve.

Project:

Open News

Foundation Center Topic:

Media

Grant Length:

Nov 2022 to Oct 2023

Strategy:

Ecosystem News
  • Democracy Forward Foundation
  • $200,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Governance
  • 2022

Democracy Forward Foundation is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that uses the law to build collective power and advance a bold, vibrant democracy for all people.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Government/Judicial Selection and Performance

Grant Length:

Nov 2022 to Oct 2023

Strategy:

Preventing Authoritarian Abuse of Power
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