November 24, 2025
From September 2024 through September 2025, Democracy Fund conducted three short surveys to understand the perspectives of funders of democracy work. Overall, we surveyed 337…
research
Explore insights, lessons, and resources from our work
Democracy Fund staff — alongside grantees, researchers, and other field experts — regularly develops resources and shares lessons on strengthening democracy. Here you will find guides, reports, and insights from our team and network.
September 15, 2025
Accurately tracking turnout rates is a challenge Accurate information on who votes in the United States is crucial for evaluating the quality of our democracy.…
Blog
How All by April Improved 2024 Election Funding — and How Nonprofits Say Philanthropy Can Go Further
April 24, 2025
In early 2024, Democracy Fund launched the successful All by April campaign, urging funders to make nonpartisan election-related grants by the end of April. We…
External Content
Democracy Fund Survey Reveals Deep Concern Among Philanthropists
April 22, 2025
A recent survey of democracy funders presents a pessimistic picture about the state of American democracy and where the country is headed. Unsurprisingly, the vast…
January 30, 2025
Local news has a growing need for robust infrastructure. As authoritarian movements threaten journalists and pro-democratic news organizations, better infrastructure can strengthen existing newsrooms, provide…
Report
Pushed and Pulled: How Attitudes About Race and Immigration are Settling and Shifting After Trump
June 25, 2024
Created by eBay founder and philanthropist Pierre Omidyar, Democracy Fund is an independent and nonpartisan foundation that confronts deep-rooted challenges in American democracy while defending against new threats.
May 15, 2024
Introduction The 2020 presidential election happened amid a pandemic and racial justice protests, and it was followed by an insurrection. What can we expect in…
January 22, 2024
Executive Summary Philanthropic support for promoting a healthy democracy has grown in recent years, marking a period of transformation for the field. Since 2016, an…
January 4, 2024
While the vast majority of Americans claim to support democracy, fewer than half consistently and uniformly support democratic norms across multiple surveys over the past seven years.
October 31, 2023
Reliable information fuels our lives. We need to know who is on the ballot, what’s happening in our schools, where to find rental assistance, and…
November 2, 2022
In a nation of over 258.3 million eligible voters, election officials’ myriad duties differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction—small to large, rural to urban—and from voter…
September 15, 2022
At Democracy Fund, we see every day how local news strengthens democracy. People rely on local news to figure out who to vote for, how…
July 6, 2020
While most Americans express belief in democratic values and preference for a democratic political system, a new report published by the Voter Study Group, "Democracy…
November 7, 2018
American democracy is in crisis. At a time of deepening polarization and social strife, many of our elected officials – most notably our chief executive…
October 31, 2018
Democracy in America suffers from a decades-long pattern of institutional decline. The candidacy and election of President Donald Trump is a symptom as well as…
October 16, 2018
This report provides insights into the state of public opinion about election administration and reform. The findings are primarily drawn from the 2008–2016 Cooperative Congressional…
April 9, 2018
Today Facebook announced a new initiative which will provide independent researchers access to Facebook data to study the impact the social network has on our…