What We Do

Our Strategic Approach

All people in the United States deserve to live in an inclusive, multiracial democracy that ensures their freedom, dignity, justice, and well-being.

Working toward this vision, Democracy Fund’s strategy is designed to counter immediate threats to our democracy while building for a future that centers people and their ability to shape their communities.

Our grantmaking supports efforts that block abuses of power and build democratic resilience, strengthen communities’ power to push for systemic change, and reimagine how our democracy can better serve people’s lives.

We also focus on bolstering the pro-democracy field by maximizing our grantmaking, identifying emerging needs, and organizing our peer funders for long-term impact.

Areas of Focus

Guardians and Guardrails

In a just democracy, people are safeguarded from threats to their well-being, and leaders who abuse their power are held accountable.

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Movements and Participation

A thriving democracy depends on people coming together to make change. It requires dedicated leaders organizing their communities to push for change in the systems that shape their lives.

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Reimagine and Rebuild

Our democracy has never served everyone, so it’s not enough to just fix what’s broken. To build a future that fully serves the American people, it will take bold and innovative action to reimagine our democracy and make that vision real.

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Grantmaking

Democracy Fund supports a wide array of inspiring pro-democracy grantees. We identify grantees through ongoing research and network building, and regularly re-evaluate our grantmaking strategy based on what we learn from these partners. We do not accept unsolicited proposals. If you’d like to discuss your work in service of democracy, please reach out to us at info@democracyfund.org

Are you a Democracy Fund grantee? Log in to our Portal for valuable tools and information or find instructions for creating an account.

Resources for Funders

We can’t do this work alone. Democracy Fund is committed to partnering with a broad group of peer funders to develop strategy, create alignment, and dedicate pooled resources to support the field. We make our team of experts available to assist other foundations and philanthropists in learning about the issues facing our democracy and in developing their funding strategies.

Find out how to take action

How We Learn

We continually assess whether our strategy is contributing to the change we hope to see in our country. By taking the time to ensure that Democracy Fund’s work is informed by and responsive to our grantee partners and the democracy field at large, we can make better-informed decisions about how to build more effective partnerships and invest our resources.

Democracy Fund
1200 17th Street NW Suite 300,
Washington, DC 20036