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.
- New York University
- $275,000.00
- Project
- Public Square
- 2017
The Dutch news site, De Correspondent – which has solved the sustainability problem by becoming a world leader in member-supported journalism — wants to bring its formula to the US. This grant would fund a year of research and incubation at NYU and would create a laboratory to test De Correspondent’s models and lessons in the American context and focus on sharing those lessons throughout nonprofit news in the United States.
Project:
Membership Puzzle ProjectFoundation Center Topic:
Media/Journalism Education and TrainingGrant Length:
Apr 2017 to Sep 2018Strategy:
Investigative Journalism- Trustees of Tufts College
- $200,000.00
- Project
- Elections and Voting
- 2017
To provide support for a 2-year research project that seeks to better understand the reasons why hard-to-reach youth populations choose not to vote and then create a set of guidelines that election officials can use to help address the needs of young voters.
Project:
Working with Election Officials to Address Youth ParticipationFoundation Center Topic:
Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Voter Education, Registration, and TurnoutGrant Length:
Nov 2017 to Oct 2019Strategy:
Pro-Voter Reform- 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 WatchFoundation Center Topic:
OtherGrant Length:
Mar 2017 to Feb 2018Strategy:
General- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- $75,000.00
- Project
- Public Square
- 2017
This grant will support initial research into the surveillance, experimentation, and persuasion capabilities of platforms such as Facebook and Google and the ways we can prevent or mitigate the use of these capabilities by authoritarians. The initial funding will support the development of a plan for an academic center devoted to these issues as well as the hiring of research support staff for the primary investigator.
Project:
Research on Platform Surveillance and AuthoritarianismFoundation Center Topic:
MediaGrant Length:
Dec 2017 to May 2020Strategy:
Digital Democracy- Institute for Social Policy and Understanding
- $75,000.00
- General Operating Support
- Just and Inclusive Society
- 2017
To provide general operating support for the Institute of Social Policy and Understanding as they seek to continue to conduct research around the American Muslim community, the challenges the communities face, and to produce a series of online training for media professionals that are covering issues effecting the community.
Project:
General Operating SupportFoundation Center Topic:
Other, Media/Media Access and PolicyGrant Length:
Jun 2017 to May 2018Strategy:
General- Over Zero
- $150,000.00
- Project
- Just and Inclusive Society
- 2017
To provide support to Over Zero in it’s aim to bring about the reduction and prevention of violence and to create societal resilience to violence in the United States.
Project:
Support for Over ZeroFoundation Center Topic:
OtherGrant Length:
Nov 2017 to Oct 2018Strategy:
General- The German Marshall Fund of the United States
- $300,000.00
- Project
- Elections and Voting
- 2017
To provide quick, expansive capacity for the Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund to identify and support the best methods of pushing back on foreign threats to our US political system, whether they be through elections, misinformation and attempts to intervene in our governance programs.
Project:
Project on Alliance for Securing Democracy (US)Foundation Center Topic:
Media, Government/Legislative Branch Performance, Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Election AdministrationGrant Length:
Nov 2017 to Oct 2018Strategy:
Trust in Elections- Cato Institute
- $70,000.00
- Project
- Governance
- 2017
This grant will support a series of dinner discussions hosted by the Cato Institute. This series is about the future of liberal democracy in the United States and will feature activists, academics, and political leaders across the spectrum.
Project:
Prospects for Liberal Democracy SeriesFoundation Center Topic:
Civic Participation/Civic Education and LeadershipGrant Length:
Oct 2017 to May 2019Strategy:
Constructive Politics- The Aspen Institute Inc
- $100,000.00
- Project
- Governance
- 2017
This grant will support the Aspen Institute’s Socrates Program American Values Series. These events will seek to promote American democratic values and civil discourse and understanding among the American people. These events will build off the successful Socrates learning model from the Aspen Institute.
Project:
Socrates Program - American Values SeminarFoundation Center Topic:
Civic Participation/Public Participation, Civic Participation/Civic Education and LeadershipGrant Length:
Dec 2017 to Nov 2018Strategy:
Constructive Politics- The Andrew Goodman Foundation Inc.
- $100,000.00
- Project
- Governance
- 2017
Grantor will provide support for the Student Ambassador’s Program of the Andrew Goodman Foundation. This program engages student leaders in the electoral process and educates college students on the important issues facing our democracy.
Project:
Support Vote Everywhere Student Ambassador ProgramFoundation Center Topic:
Civic Participation/Public Participation, Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Voting AccessGrant Length:
Dec 2017 to Nov 2018Strategy:
Constructive Politics- Arizona State University Foundation for a New American University
- $100,000.00
- Project
- Public Square
- 2017
This grant supports the establishment of the News Literacy Lab at Arizona State University. The project’s focus is on developing newsrooms as leaders in news literacy through education, research, and engagement.
Project:
Co/Lab News Literacy ProjectFoundation Center Topic:
Media/Journalism Education and TrainingGrant Length:
Nov 2017 to May 2019Strategy:
Engaged Journalism- Local Independent Online News Publishers Inc.
- $250,000.00
- Project
- Public Square
- 2017
The purpose of this grant is to support the sustainability of news publishers with training and education from the Local Independent Online News Publishers (LION). For this project, LION will create a pilot program to help educate independent publishers on sustainability to support a healthy local news ecosystem.
Project:
LION Sustainability Pilot ProgramFoundation Center Topic:
Media/JournalismGrant Length:
Nov 2017 to Apr 2019Strategy:
Ecosystem News- Human Rights First
- $150,000.00
- Project
- Just and Inclusive Society
- 2017
This grant will support Vets for American Ideals (“VFAI”). VFAI will continue to organize support amongst its chapters of veterans to speak out against anti-Muslim rhetoric. VFAI do so by with expanded capacity in the form of a field coordinator and a junior communications associate.
Project:
Vets countering islamophobiaFoundation Center Topic:
Media/Journalism, Civic Participation/Public Participation, Civic Participation/Issue-based Participation, Civic Participation/Civic Education and Leadership, Civic ParticipationGrant Length:
Nov 2017 to Oct 2018Strategy:
General- MOAA Military Family Initiative
- $220,000.00
- Project
- Elections and Voting
- 2017
The grant will provide support for the Military Officers Association of America Military Family Initiative (“MOAA-MFI”) to continue establishing a baseline, evidence-based understanding of the state of military family absentee voting. The second phase of the Military Voting Education Project (MVEP) will significantly increase MOAA-MFI’s brand presence in the military family voting market to increase organic referrals in a future third phase.
Project:
Military Voter Education Project II (MVEP/II)Foundation Center Topic:
Campaigns, Elections, and Voting/Voter Education, Registration, and TurnoutGrant Length:
Nov 2017 to Oct 2018Strategy:
Pro-Voter Reform- National Association of Black Journalists
- $200,000.00
- Project
- Public Square
- 2017
The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) is executing its new Strategic Plan 2017-2020. In an effort to help leverage opportunities from the wealth of information derived from the plan, this grant will support partial funding for operational support to secure NABJ’s infrastructure.
Project:
Management CapacityFoundation Center Topic:
Media/Journalism Education and TrainingGrant Length:
Sep 2017 to Aug 2019Strategy:
Engaged Journalism- Georgetown University
- $400,000.00
- Project
- Just and Inclusive Society
- 2017
The purpose of this grant is to provide a portion of the initial funding for the forthcoming Institute for Constitutional Accountability and Protection at Georgetown University’s law school. The Institute will draw on expert litigators, savvy litigation strategy, and the constitutional scholarship of Georgetown to vindicate individuals’ rights and protect America’s constitutional way of life.
Project:
Institute for Constitutional Accountability and Protection at Georgetown University Law CenterFoundation Center Topic:
OtherGrant Length:
Oct 2017 to Sep 2018Strategy:
General- NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.
- $400,000.00
- Project
- Just and Inclusive Society
- 2017
The purpose of this grant is to support NAACP-Legal Defense Fund’s (“LDF”) Police Reform Campaign. For this project, LDF will employ litigation, research, technology, and data strategies to advance reforms at the local, state, and national levels.
Project:
Policing Reform CampaignFoundation Center Topic:
Government/Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Civic ParticipationGrant Length:
Oct 2017 to Mar 2019Strategy:
General- Business Forward Foundation
- $100,000.00
- Project
- Just and Inclusive Society
- 2017
To organize business leaders and earned media, in specific areas, to educate the public and policymakers about the importance of respecting and protecting vulnerable communities.
Project:
Business Leaders for Vulnerable CommunitiesFoundation Center Topic:
Media/Media Access and Policy, Media, Government/Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Civic Participation/Naturalization and Immigrant Civic Integration, Civic Participation/Civic Education and LeadershipGrant Length:
Sep 2017 to Aug 2018Strategy:
General- University of Chicago
- $150,000.00
- Project
- Governance
- 2017
University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy will host a conference and a series of supporting meetings and events featuring a bipartisan cohort of political consultants and academic leaders. These gatherings will focus on discussing and finding potential solutions to the political polarization that negatively impacts the ability of Congress to function. The Grantee will also conduct research to support these convenings.
Project:
The Harris School of Public Policy's Project on Political ReformFoundation Center Topic:
Government/Executive Branch Performance, Civic Participation/Civic Education and LeadershipGrant Length:
Oct 2017 to Sep 2018Strategy:
Constructive Politics- Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies Inc.
- $300,000.00
- Project
- Governance
- 2017
Democracy Fund will support The Joint Center’s efforts to identify, screen, and counsel African-American candidates for jobs in the U.S. Congress.