Type of Activity: Project
Grantee: SiX Action
Amount: $150,000 in 2023

What is SiX Action?

SiX Action is an independent, nonpartisan 501(c)(4) strategy and resource organization that supports state legislators to build and wield progressive governing power for the people they represent. Through providing legislators with the tools needed to shape impactful public policy and leadership development SiX Action works to secure real, lasting reforms that support working families, protect the environment, defend civil rights and liberties, and strengthen our democracy.

Why do we think this project is important?

Democracy Fund Voice supports work to strengthen and expand the movement for an inclusive, multi-racial democracy with a focus on POC power and leadership. The Defensive Democracy Advocacy project aims to build the capacity of state legislators to respond to attacks on voting rights and advance legitimacy in elections.

How is Democracy Fund Voice supporting SiX Action?

In 2023, Democracy Fund Voice approved a one-year grant of $150,000 to SiX Action to support their Defensive Democracy Advocacy project.

In 2022, Democracy Fund Voice approved a one-year grant of $200,000 to SiX Action to engage and provide resources to state legislators to advance legitimacy in elections and respond to attacks on voting rights at the state level. In 2020, a two-year grant was approved for $300,000.

Type of Activity: Project
Grantee: Poder NC Action
Amount: Updated to $260,000 in 2022.

What is Poder NC Action?

Poder NC Action is a Latinx-led and –serving, grassroots organization building the leadership and civic power of the Latinx community in North Carolina.

Why do we think this project is important?

Poder NC Action’s efforts to promote the active participation and engagement of the Latinx community in the democratic process are vital to improving voter participation and voter access in North Carolina. Poder NC is also building out its legislative work to more directly educate lawmakers on the impacts of election changes on the Latinx community.

As the Latinx community continues to grow in NC, organizations like Poder NC Action are key to ensuring inclusive elections and representative leadership in the state.

How is Democracy Fund Voice supporting Poder NC Action?

In 2022 an amendment was approved to increase the amount of the grant by $100,000 for a total of $260,000, with an extension of the grant period through February 2024.

In 2020, Democracy Fund Voice made a two-year grant of $75,000 to Poder NC Action. In 2021 an amendment was approved to increase the amount of the grant by $85,000 for a total of $160,000.

Type of Activity: General Operating Support 
Grantee: Secure Democracy 
Amount: $400,000 in 2019 over two years

What is Secure Democracy?

Secure Democracy’s mission is to educate policymakers and the public about secure and fair elections. Launched in January 2018, Secure Democracy develops campaigns at the state and local level to secure and protect fair and secure voting access for all Americans.

Why do we think this organization is important?

Secure Democracy works to ensure that every eligible American has the opportunity to make their voice heard. They create campaigns to work with the public, lawmakers, and other key stakeholders to create a voting system that works for all Americans.

Secure Democracy has the ability to mobilize quickly, and the organization has a proven track record of engaging state legislatures and working across the aisle to create meaningful policy change.

How is Democracy Fund Voice supporting Secure Democracy? 

In 2019, Democracy Fund Voice approved a two-year grant to Secure Democracy in the amount of $400,000.

Type of Activity: General Operating Support
Grantee: Living United for Change in Arizona
Amount: $500,000 in 2023 over two years

What is Living United for Change in Arizona?

Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA) is a membership-led, grassroots 501(c)4 organization that builds power with Arizona’s working families to advance social, racial and economic justice for all.

Why do we think this work is important?

Democracy Fund Voice supports work to strengthen and expand the movement for an inclusive, multi-racial democracy with a focus on POC power and leadership. LUCHA has a strong track record of fighting against anti-democratic and voter suppression efforts, safeguarding existing pro-democracy reforms, and identifying opportunities for proactive pro-democracy efforts in Arizona. LUCHA, alongside its partners in Arizona, is core to building the state civic infrastructure and educating and mobilizing black and brown communities, young people, and low-to-moderate income families to become civically engaged

How is Democracy Fund Voice supporting Living United for Change in Arizona? 

In 2023, Democracy Fund Voice approved a two-year grant of $500,000 to Living United for Change in Arizona.

In 2019, Democracy Fund Voice approved a two-year grant to Living United for Change in Arizona project in the amount of up to $100,000. In 2020 and 2021 amendments were approved to increase the amount of the grant by $50,000 and $75,000 respectively, for a total of $225,000.

Type of Grant: General Operating Support
Grantee: Fair Fight Action
Amount: Updated to $750,000 in 2023

What is Fair Fight Action?

Fair Fight Action is a national 501(c)(4) voting rights organization rooted in Georgia. Fair Fight Action is a unique voting rights organization that brings high-impact, deeply-localized, and sophisticated strategies to make elections free and fair for all. 

Why do we think this organization is important?

This grant provides general support to the organization in its work on national advocacy and amplification of the need for federal voting rights legislation, protecting voting rights through litigation, mitigation of state legislation that seeks to dismantle the right to vote, and supporting efforts to ensure that historically disenfranchised voters and young voters have access to the polls.

Fair Fight Action is an important source of voter education, voter protection, and community organizing to ensure free and fair elections for Georgia voters.

How is Democracy Fund Voice supporting Fair Fight Action?

In 2023 an amendment was approved to increase the amount of the grant by $150,000 for a total of $750,000.

In 2022 an amendment was approved to increase the amount of the grant by $250,000 for a total of $600,000, with an extension of the grant period through August 2023.

In 2021, Democracy Fund Voice approved a grant of $350,000 to Fair Fight Action. A previous grant of $50,000 was approved in 2019. 

Type of Activity: General Operating Support
Grantee: Defending Digital Campaigns
Amount: Updated to $300,000 in 2022

What is Defending Digital Campaigns?

Defending Digital Campaigns (DDC) is a nonprofit and non-partisan organization committed to bringing cybersecurity tools and resources to federal election campaigns. 

Defending Digital Democracy works to make our political process more secure by providing political parties and campaigns with the knowledge, products, and services to defend themselves from cyber threats and attacks.

Why do we think this organization is important?

Defending Digital Campaign provides free and reduced-cost cybersecurity services to campaigns that are operating at the federal, state and local levels.

Election campaigns lack support for cybersecurity even though they are primary targets for cyber attacks from those who would seek to disrupt an election. Establishing a robust and secure system is difficult due to the high cost of products, lack of technical expertise, and the decentralized nature of political campaigns. Defending Digital Campaigns overcomes these challenges by working with credible vendors to obtain access to cybersecurity tools at a lower cost, and by providing education and information sharing for campaigns.  

Ensuring that our elections are safe from outside influence is necessary to maintain the public’s trust in electoral results. For democracy to succeed, voters need to be confident in the integrity of the electoral process.

How is Democracy Fund Voice supporting Defending Digital Campaigns?

In 2022 an amendment was approved to increase the amount of the grant by $150,000, for a total of $300,000, with an extension of the grant period through March 2023.

In 2021, Democracy Fund Voice approved a grant of $150,000 to Defending Digital Campaigns. A previous grant of $250,000 was made in 2019.

Type of Activity: Project Grant
Grantee: Color of Change
Amount: $200,000 in 2019 over two years

What is Color of Change?

Color Of Change is the nation’s largest online racial justice organization. As a national online force driven by more than 1.5 million members, they move decision-makers in corporations and government to create a more human and less hostile world for Black people in America.

The Civic Engagement and Voting Rights Project is focusing on expanding voter access and ensuring the votes of all Black people count. Their work includes ending voter intimidation and suppression, including Voter ID laws to increase civic engagement before and after elections. Finally, the project works to ensure that the 2020 Census provides full and fair representation of the current US population. 

Why do we think this project is important?

Color of Change works with its 1.6 million members to defend against election policy that would limit access to the ballot for Black voters and advocate for election reform that expands voter access.

This grant will support Color of Change’s Civic Engagement and Voting Rights Project in their efforts to mobilize communities of color around issues of voter suppression throughout 2020 and 2021. During these two years, multiple legislative and administrative decisions about election policy will be made at the state level.

How is Democracy Fund Voice supporting Color of Change?

In 2019, Democracy Fund Voice approved a two-year grant to Color of Change’s Civic Engagement & Voting Rights project in the amount of $200,000.

Type of Activity: Project
Grantee: Center for Secure and Modern Elections (CSME) Action
Amount: $400,000 in 2023

What is the Center for Secure and Modern Elections Action?

Center for Secure and Modern Elections (CSME) Action, a fiscally sponsored project of Sixteen Thirty Fund, works to make voting registration easier through pro-voter policy reform advocacy. They are a bipartisan organization dedicated to advancing pro-voter policies at the state level that modernize the voting process and ensure that every eligible voter can have their voice heard. CSME Action supports state-led efforts to advance good voting policy, beat back bad ideas, and implement laws to maximize enfranchisement.

Why do we think this project is important?

While the pro-voter sector has made massive strides in the past five years changing state-based policy, significant work remains. Voters still experience a two-step voting process, with arbitrary barriers put into civic engagement that deter many from voting. Inequities in rules, administration, and elections funding mean that lower-income voters, as well as Black, brown, and young voters, all face a disproportionate challenge to vote in America.

How is Democracy Fund Voice supporting CSME Action?

In 2023, Democracy Fund Voice approved a two-year grant of $400,000 to the Center for Secure and Modern Elections Action.

In 2022, Democracy Fund Voice approved a one-year grant of $250,000 to support the primary purpose activities of Center for Secure and Modern Elections Action.

Previously, a two-year grant of $1,000,000 was approved in 2019, and in 2021 the grant was amended to increase the amount to $1,250,000.

Type of Activity: Project Grant
Grantee: American Oversight, Inc.
Amount: $200,000 in 2019 over two years

What is American Oversight?

A non-partisan, nonprofit ethics watchdog, American Oversight uses the Freedom of Information Act and public records laws to investigate government misconduct. Once documents have been uncovered and published, they work with the judicial system to end corruption and abuses of power within the government. 

Why do we think this project is important?

We believe that voting rights must be protected against voter suppression efforts. Greater transparency into how legislative and administrative election changes are made can deter attempts to disenfranchise voters. American Oversight enables greater transparency by requesting access to state government records and using the legal system to obtain documents when necessary. They make all of this information available to the public, shining a light on voter suppression attempts.

Through the course of their work, American Oversight has found that increased transparency can influence the actions of public officials who realize that their work and communications will be available for public scrutiny. This grant will support American Oversight’s current efforts to uncover paper trails behind concerted efforts to undermine the right to vote. 

How is Democracy Fund Voice supporting American Oversight?

In 2019, Democracy Fund Voice approved a two-year grant of $200,000 to American Oversight.

Type of Activity: General Operating Support
Grantee: Alliance for Youth Action
Amount: $150,000 in 2022

What is the Alliance for Youth Action?

The Alliance for Youth Action is a nationwide network of organizations growing progressive people power across America by empowering local young people’s organizations to strengthen our democracy, fix our economy, and correct injustices through on-the-ground organizing. The Alliance network is made up of youth-powered organizations in about 20 states across the country from Washington to Florida.

Why do we think this organization is important?

The Alliance works with a national network of state-based youth-focused organizations leading local Democracy Done Right issue campaigns to secure the access, security, and convenience young voters deserve. Democracy Fund Voice believes our electoral system needs the participation of young voters if the results of elections are going to truly reflect the will of the people, which in turn can increase the electorate’s faith in our political system. 

How is Democracy Fund Voice supporting the Alliance for Youth Action?

In 2022, Democracy Fund Voice approved a one-year grant of $150,000 to the Alliance for Youth Action to provide general operating support.

In 2019, Democracy Fund Voice approved a two-year grant to the Alliance for Youth Action for their Democracy Done Right project in the amount of $225,000. In 2021 an amendment was approved to increase the amount of the grant by $150,000 for a total of $375,000 and to change the purpose of the grant from project support to general operating support.