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.

General Operating Support

Democracy Works and their subdivision of TurboVote explores low-cost ways to increase civic engagement and voting through new civic technology and improving processes and data. Their aim is to make voting easier through use of technology and support for elections administrators and voters.

This general operating grant will support the growth and expansion of the News Revenue Hub, which helps nonprofit newsrooms develop reader support models and build sustainable membership programs. Through this grant the News Revenue Hub will be able to build on its successful pilot year and further institutionalize the model they have developed, setting up a learning lab, brining on new clients and developing resources that serve the entire nonprofit journalism community. 

Voter Registration Project’s (VRP) works to create a more representative democracy by narrowing the registration gap between Black, Indigenous, LatinX, Hispanic, Asian-American, and Pacific Islander voters and white voters. VRP funds and coordinates non-partisan voter registration efforts and works with in-state, community-based organizations and 501(c)(3) civic engagement tables.

The New Mexico Local News Fund at the Santa Fe Community Foundation is working to create a healthy news and information ecosystem that serves the news and information needs of all New Mexicans.

The North Carolina Local News Lab Fund, a fiscally sponsored project of NEO Philanthropy, Inc., is a pooled fund working to repair and transform the state’s news and information ecosystem. They envision a North Carolina where everyone can find, trust, and use the news and information they need to thrive.

The California Civic Engagement Project (CCEP) at the University of Southern California will design, release, and host the Vote Center Siting Tool in three states: Colorado, Arizona, and Texas. The development of the tool in these three states will help election officials make informed decisions about where to locate polling places and how to better target other services to the voters and potential voters they serve.

Free Press’ Media 2070 project calls for the policies needed to make media reparations a reality, falling within the historical lineage of calls for repair of anti-Black harm. Media 2070’s vision is to achieve a future where Black people have the capital and power necessary to own and control their own stories, from ideation to production, through to distribution.

The purpose of this grant is to grow and continue The Fund for Nonprofit News, hosted at The Miami Foundation, in support of NewsMatch, a fundraising campaign for nonprofit news.

The Safe Voting Fund, a fiscally sponsored project of New Venture Fund, centralizes and shares resources on issues such as educational efforts for policymakers on the importance of updates to voting systems in a COVID-environment and funding state-specific implementation programs.

Democracy Works’ Voting Information Project, How to Vote, & Ballot Scout programs address voting and election administration issues brought about or exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 Democracy Fund  will provide general operating support to Welcoming America to support their work to promote more welcoming communities in the United States. 

The purpose of this grant is to establish The News Match Fund for Nonprofit News at Miami Foundation. The Fund is a collaboration between Knight Foundation and Democracy Fund that supports a matching gifts program designed to encourage donations to nonprofit newsrooms and expand the capacity of nonprofit journalism to build their small donor base.

This grant provides support for the Center for Inclusive Democracy at the University of Southern California to maintain and expand the Vote Center and Ballot Drop Box Siting Tool.

MediaJustice (formerly Center for Media Justice) is building a powerful grassroots movement for a more just and participatory media — fighting for racial, economic, and gender justice in a digital age.

Kairos works toward an inclusive, multi-racial democracy by changing how pro-justice organizations see, use, and imagine the future of the internet. Kairos recognizes that understanding the internet as a place, and reshaping governance of the internet as a public square, are essential to strengthening democracy and building a healthier digital media ecosystem.

FlackCheck.org will use satire and deconstructions of political ads to assist reporters and the public in identifying and rejecting fear-mongering and fact-mangling in the 2012 elections.

General Operating Funds to support to goals of the Bipartisan Policy Center, including support of the Democracy Program, and to raise awareness among key stakeholders and the general public of the recommendations of the Presidential Commission on Election Administration and The Commission on Political Reform, and to support efforts to educate officials and the public regarding the functional benefits of adopting the best practices recommended by the commissions.

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.