This renewal grant will provide general operating support for the Institute for Nonprofit News. The Institute for Nonprofit News is a critical anchor organization, providing support, training and networking for America’s almost 250 nonprofit journalism organizations.

Common Cause Education Fund (CCEF) is a national organization supporting civic reform in the U.S., working for improvements in both election administration and campaign finance. At the national level, they are a key player in shaping conversations around voting. Leverage their 35 state offices and national membership, they continue to build local coalitions around many of the reforms that the Democracy Fund believes can strengthen our democracy. 

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.

The Engaging News Project (ENP) will test web-based strategies for informing audiences, promoting substantive discourse, and helping citizens to understand diverse views. They will also analyze business outcomes, such as clicks and time on page, which provides valuable information about what works, and what doesn’t.

The Colorado Media Project supports people and organizations working to build a more connected, collaborative and sustainable local news and information ecosystem in Colorado.

The Consider the Source project seeks to ‘out’ shadowy political organizations that have flourished in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling.

The purpose of this grant is to grow and continue The Fund for Nonprofit News, fiscally sponsored by The Miami Foundation, in support of NewsMatch 2018. The Fund 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.

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 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.

Future Currents creates the spaces for movement organizations to build resilient relationships, tackle pressing challenges, and prepare for possible conditions.

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.