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
  • International Women's Media Foundation
  • $100,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2022

The International Women’s Media Foundation’s Black Journalists Therapy Relief Fund offers stipends to women-identifying Black journalists facing financial hardship to access critical mental health services.

Project:

Black Journalists Therapy Relief Fund

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Jul 2022 to Jun 2023

Strategy:

Journalism & Power Building
  • Church World Service, Inc.
  • $100,000.00
  • Project
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2022

Church World Service’s Refugee Organizing project includes grassroots organizing, power-building, and leadership development in refugee communities.

Project:

Refugee Organizing

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership, Civic Participation/Naturalization and Immigrant Civic Integration

Grant Length:

Nov 2022 to Oct 2023

Strategy:

Power Building in Marginalized Communities
  • URL Media Holdings Inc
  • $100,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2021

URL Media, a project of the International Women’s Media Foundation, is building and supporting a network of Black- and Brown-led newsrooms to harness their collective power and content for distribution, sustainability, and audience growth.

Project:

URL Media

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Jul 2021 to Jun 2022

Strategy:

Engaged Journalism
  • The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia
  • $100,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2020

To provide support for the Deliberative Media Lab’s research on the intersection of people of color and social media platforms, situated within the new Democracy Initiative at the University of Virginia. 

Project:

Platforms & Civil Rights

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Media Access and Policy

Grant Length:

Apr 2020 to Dec 2021

Strategy:

Digital Democracy
  • The University of Texas at Austin
  • $99,984.95
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2018

To provide support for message testing research to combat destructive narratives about trust in elections.

Project:

Texas Media Society Survey

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Voting Access

Grant Length:

Jul 2018 to Sep 2019

Strategy:

Trust in Elections
  • URI Foundation & Alumni Engagement
  • $99,961.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2018

The purpose of this grant is to implement the election line allocation tools created by the Voting Technology Project, as recommended by the Rhode Island Board of Elections Task Force.

Project:

RI VOTES Project

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting

Grant Length:

Apr 2018 to May 2019

Strategy:

Voter-Centric Election Administration
  • Ignite
  • $99,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2016

This grant will support efforts by IGNITE and Empowered Women to bring together women-focused organizations and to help them plan ways to work together to achieve political parity in the United States. These organizations will do this through strategic planning and holding convenings of organizations who have similar goals but do not always work together toward those common goals. 

Project:

Strategic Planning Support

Foundation Center Topic:

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

Grant Length:

Dec 2016 to Dec 2017

Strategy:

Constructive Politics
  • The Institute for Cultural Evolution
  • $96,500.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2015

The purpose of the grant is to support the ongoing convening of conservatives seeking to work toward identifying policy solutions to the challenges facing our country initiated and successfully conducted at several locations around the country.

Project:

Conclave on the Future of the Right

Foundation Center Topic:

Other

Grant Length:

Dec 2015 to Nov 2016

Strategy:

Previous Strategy
  • Georgetown University
  • $95,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2019

To support Georgetown University’s Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life. The grantee will conduct programming on the role of faith in our political system and will create partnerships across Catholic institutions and with leaders across different faith traditions to strengthen religious pluralism and overcome polarization.

Project:

Engaging Young Leaders in Building Civility in Furtherance of Democracy and the Common Good

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Issue-based Participation, Civic Participation/Public Participation

Grant Length:

Aug 2019 to May 2022

Strategy:

Constructive Politics
  • The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation
  • $95,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2011

This planning grant will enable the Harwood Institute to develop key programs to help frame, seed and drive a counter-narrative in the country that focuses on people’s aspirations for public life and politics and what leaders, organizations and individuals can do to create a new trajectory in their communities and the country.

Project:

Planning Grant

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Public Participation

Grant Length:

Jan 2012 to Jan 2013

Strategy:

Previous Strategy
  • Regents of the University of California at Riverside
  • $94,600.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2020

To support the Laboratory for Technology, Communication and Democracy (TeCD-Lab) at the University of California, Riverside in their efforts to further development and deployment of an online communications platform that congressional offices can use to have constructive dialogue with constituents. This platform will provide an alternative to those currently available to offices on the commercial market. 

Project:

Laboratory for Technology, Communication and Democracy Online Town Hall Platform

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Issue-based Participation, Government/Legislative Branch Performance

Grant Length:

May 2020 to Oct 2021

Strategy:

Empowering Congress
  • The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania
  • $93,122.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2020

To support the Media, Inequality and Change Center’s (MIC) Compass Fellowship Program in continuing to strengthen the ties between academia and practice on tech and telecom issues.

Project:

Compass Fellowship

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Media Access and Policy

Grant Length:

Apr 2020 to Sep 2023

Strategy:

Digital Democracy
  • AmericaSpeaks
  • $92,500.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2011

AmericaSpeaks will develop a plan through which a critical mass of citizens in 1-2 Congressional districts will take part in a pilot project for scaling up public deliberation.

Project:

Planning Grant to Scale Up Public Deliberation

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Public Participation

Grant Length:

Sep 2011 to Jan 2012

Strategy:

Previous Strategy
  • ThinkTennessee
  • $90,739.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2018

This grant will provide support to ThinkTennessee’s efforts to build awareness around registration modernization in Tennessee.

Project:

Registration Modernization in Tennessee

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election Administration

Grant Length:

May 2018 to Apr 2019

Strategy:

Pro-Voter Reform
  • Equality State News Fund
  • $90,000.00
  • Project
  • Public Square
  • 2023

Equality State News Fund, a fiscally sponsored project of Wyoming Community Foundation, supports trustworthy, equitable and solutions-focused people, projects and organizations that contribute to a vibrant media ecosystem that helps Wyoming residents and communities to thrive.

Project:

Equality State News Fund

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism

Grant Length:

Nov 2023 to Apr 2025

Strategy:

News & Information Ecosystems
  • Yale University
  • $90,000.00
  • Project
  • President's Office
  • 2017

BrightLinesWatch is a project to track the potential corrosion of democratic norms through the expert opinion of domestic and international political scientists. The grant will also fund an international conference and a series of briefing papers using international experiences to better understand potential threats to American democracy.

Project:

BrightLines Watch

Foundation Center Topic:

Other

Grant Length:

Mar 2017 to Feb 2018

Strategy:

General
  • Women's Public Leadership Network
  • $90,000.00
  • Project
  • Governance
  • 2018

To provide support for Women Influencers Network (WIN), a project of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF). This support will help WIN retain legal counsel and build out essential staff in order to provide education and training to women who are considering running for public office. 

Project:

General Support for Women Influencers Network Project

Foundation Center Topic:

Civic Participation/Public Participation, Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership

Grant Length:

Apr 2018 to May 2019

Strategy:

Constructive Politics
  • President-Board of Trustees Santa Clara College
  • $90,000.00
  • Project
  • Just and Inclusive Society
  • 2019

To support the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, which is developing a research agenda and public facing initiatives to translate their research to advance solidarity journalism.

Project:

RAD Support for Solidarity Journalism

Foundation Center Topic:

Media/Journalism Education and Training

Grant Length:

Dec 2019 to Nov 2021

Strategy:

General
  • POPVOX Foundation
  • $90,000.00
  • Project
  • President's Office
  • 2022

POPVOX Foundation works to inform and empower people and make government work better for everyone. They reimagine the concept of civic infrastructure and provide new ways for government to share information and engage the public. They are building internal capacity to increase long-term sustainability and improve the impact of their work.

Project:

Capacity Building

Foundation Center Topic:

Grant Length:

Oct 2022 to Sep 2023

Strategy:

General
  • Kanu Hawaii
  • $85,000.00
  • Project
  • Elections and Voting
  • 2019

To provide Kanu, a Hawaii based volunteer organization, with capacity to engage volunteers to raise awareness about nonpartisan civic engagement and empowerment in the state. Kanu will work with other organizations and nonprofits to promote greater Hawaiian participation in voting and public engagement.

Project:

Volunteerism and Civic Engagement-Hawaii

Foundation Center Topic:

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Voter Education, Registration, and Turnout, Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership

Grant Length:

Dec 2019 to Nov 2020

Strategy:

Pro-Voter Reform
Democracy Fund
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