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 Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York
  • $400,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2014

To improve local journalism by continuing the United States Project at CJR which has become an important reference point for reporting on the state of local journalism across the country.

Project:

Columbia Journalism Review's United States Project

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism Education and Training

Grant Length:

Mar 2014 to Feb 2016

Strategy:

Previous Strategy
  • The New School
  • $400,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2020

The purpose of this renewal grant is to support the Journalism + Design program at The New School in their efforts to support local news through spreading the tools of systems thinking and community engagement. This grant will allow The New School to refine its approach to workshops, partnerships, and open-source material for further spreading the mission and mindset of systems thinking in journalism.

Project:

Journalism + Design Systems Thinking Training

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism Education and Training

Grant Length:

Apr 2020 to Mar 2022

Strategy:

Ecosystem News
  • The University of Texas at Austin
  • $400,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2013

The Engaging News Project has a single aim: to provide research-based techniques for engaging online audiences in commercially-viable and democratically-beneficial ways. The project tests web-based strategies for informing audiences, promoting substantive discourse, and helping citizens to understand diverse views.

Project:

Engaging News Project

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Public Participation, Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Aug 2013 to Aug 2015

Strategy:

Previous Strategy
  • Santa Fe Community Foundation
  • $400,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2018

The purpose of this grant is to catalyze the support of the New Mexico local news ecosystem in collaboration with local funding partners. The grant will set up a local news and information fund at the Santa Fe Community Foundation — the New Mexico Local News Lab Fund — that will focus on building more healthy news ecosystems as a vital part of just communities and a healthy democracy.

Project:

New Mexico Local News Lab Fund

Foundation Center Topic:

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

Grant Length:

Nov 2018 to Nov 2019

Strategy:

Ecosystem News
  • Center for Technology and Civic Life
  • $400,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2015

The Center for Technology and Civic Life (CTCL) focuses on three areas: training local governments on technology to enhance engagement with their communities, developing low to no cost tools for governmental use, and helping develop infrastructure to evaluate interactions between citizens and government.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration

Grant Length:

Jul 2015 to Jun 2017

Strategy:

Voter-Centric Election Administration
  • Free Press
  • $400,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2014

To support the core journalism program at Free Press, which is building an advocacy approach that combines credible, rigorous analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of local media ecosystems with a public engagement approach.

Project:

Building Community Around News

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Media Access and Policy, Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Nov 2014 to Mar 2016

Strategy:

Ecosystem News
  • The Niskanen Center Inc.
  • $400,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Governance
  • 2019

General operating support to the Niskanen Center. 

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Civil Liberties and Rule of Law

Grant Length:

Oct 2019 to Oct 2022

Strategy:

Oversight and Accountability
  • Future Currents
  • $400,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2021

The Social and Economic Justice Leaders Planning Group, a fiscally sponsored project of the New Venture Fund, provides research, scenario-planning methodologies, and strategy-design processes to grassroots organizations and movement leaders to help them achieve their goals for a vibrant, reparative democracy.

Project:

Social and Economic Justice Leaders

Foundation Center Topic:

Government

Grant Length:

Oct 2021 to Sep 2022

Strategy:

General
  • Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies
  • $400,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Governance
  • 2019

This grant will provide general operating support for the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies . 

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

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

Grant Length:

Oct 2019 to Jul 2023

Strategy:

Constructive Politics
  • State Power Fund
  • $400,000.00
  • Project
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2023

The State Power Accelerator is an innovative strategy focused on the development of independent resource generation for social justice organizations. This project is the result of four years of research, convenings, and case studies commissioned by a set of funders including the Solidago Foundation and the Amalgamated Foundation.

Project:

State Power Accelerator

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting, Civic Participation, Other

Grant Length:

Dec 2023 to Nov 2024

Strategy:

General
  • Bipartisan Policy Center, Inc.
  • $400,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2020

The Bipartisan Policy Center’s Elections Project promotes recommendations that improve the quality of U.S. elections. Building on the work in 2019 of the Task Force on Elections, BPC will advance state and federal election reform with recommendations about new challenges in election administration.

Project:

Democracy Project Elections Program

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration, Campaigns, Elections, and Voting

Grant Length:

Jul 2020 to Jun 2022

Strategy:

Pro-Voter Reform
  • The Miami Foundation Inc.
  • $400,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2023

The Legal Clinic Fund, a joint fund housed at The Miami Foundation, makes grants to university legal clinics to expand their capacity as critical First Amendment advocates and resources for legal support for local newsrooms around the country.

Project:

The Legal Clinic Fund

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Nov 2023 to Jan 2025

Strategy:

News & Information Ecosystems
  • The Brookings Institution
  • $400,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2023

Lawfare is a publication and media network at 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:

Lawfare

Foundation Center Topic:

Government/Open Government and Transparency

Grant Length:

Dec 2023 to Nov 2025

Strategy:

Preventing Authoritarian Abuse of Power
  • The German Marshall Fund of the United States
  • $400,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2020

The purpose of this grant is to support the Digital Innovation & Democracy Initiative in creating space for thoughtful policy development that addresses the role of platforms in our democracy and engages a diverse network of experts.

Project:

Digital Innovation & Democracy Initiative

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Media Access and Policy

Grant Length:

Apr 2020 to Apr 2023

Strategy:

Digital Democracy
  • Bipartisan Policy Center, Inc.
  • $400,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2022

The Bipartisan Policy Center’s (BPC) Elections Project will promote recommendations that improve the quality of U.S. elections. Building on the work of the Task Force on Elections, BPC will advance state and federal election recommendations with a focus on addressing new challenges in election administration.

Project:

Democracy Project Elections Program

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting, Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration

Grant Length:

Sep 2022 to Aug 2024

Strategy:

Pro-Voter Reform
  • Southern Coalition for Social Justice
  • $400,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2024

Southern Coalition for Social Justice is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded by a multidisciplinary group, predominantly people of color, who believed that communities engaged in social justice struggles need a team of lawyers, social scientists, community organizers, and media specialists to support them in their efforts to dismantle structural racism and oppression.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting, Civic Participation

Grant Length:

Jan 2024 to Dec 2025

Strategy:

Voting Power
  • Center for Technology and Civic Life
  • $400,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2023

The Center for Technology and Civic Life (CTCL) focuses on three areas: training local governments on technology to enhance engagement with their communities, developing low-to-no-cost tools for governmental use, and helping develop infrastructure to evaluate interactions between citizens and government.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration

Grant Length:

Dec 2023 to Nov 2025

Strategy:

Resilient Elections
  • The University of Texas at Austin
  • $400,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2020

The Center for Media Engagement will produce peer-reviewed research and practical recommendations that inform journalists and newsrooms on engagement practices, building and restoring trust, and serving diverse audiences.

Project:

Center for Media Engagement

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism Education and Training

Grant Length:

Jan 2021 to Aug 2023

Strategy:

Engaged Journalism
  • Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
  • $400,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Public Square
  • 2022

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press provides pro bono legal representation, amicus curiae support, and other legal resources to protect First Amendment freedoms and the newsgathering rights of journalists.

Project:

General Support

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Media Access and Policy, Media

Grant Length:

Jul 2022 to Aug 2024

Strategy:

Press Freedom
  • Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Inc.
  • $400,000.00
  • General Operating Support
  • Governance
  • 2023

Using bold legal actions and in-depth investigations, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) targets government officials who sacrifice the common good to special interests and personal gain.

Project:

General Operating Support

Foundation Center Topic:

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

Grant Length:

Jul 2023 to Dec 2024

Strategy:

Preventing Authoritarian Abuse of Power
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