Type of Activity: Project
Grantee: Trusted Elections Action Fund
Amount: Updated to $2,180,000 in 2021 — originally approved as $1,680,000 in 2020
What is the Trusted Elections Action Fund?
The Trusted Elections Action Fund is a fiscally sponsored project of Sixteen Thirty Fund. As a pooled fund with a grantmaking focus, it was created to move resources quickly to address election-related threats to the integrity of our election system. The grants made by the Fund support organizations fighting to ensure free and fair elections, and to protect the rule of law.
Why do we think this project is important?
Created in 2019, the Trusted Elections Action Fund supported preparations for, and responses to, high-risk threats to the integrity of our election. The U.S. faced significant threats to the integrity of the November 2020 elections. Some of these threats — natural disasters or higher-than-expected turnout — have long been considered by election administrators, experts, and advocacy groups. Novel threats, such as Election Day violence or foreign interference, presented new challenges for those fighting to promote trust in our elections while preventing significant threats to the rule of law.
The Trusted Elections Action Fund partnered closely with the National Task Force on Election Crises (run by Protect Democracy), a bipartisan task force of national security, civil rights, election administration, and legal experts that worked to identify the greatest potential risks for the 2020 election. The pooled resources coordinated by the Fund helped ensure that potential election-related crises were identified and that strategies were developed to prevent, mitigate or respond to those crises.
Grants from the Fund were made during two phases of activity; the first extended from April to September 2020 and focused on preventing crises from impacting the election and preparing the infrastructure needed to respond. The second phase extended from September 2020 to January 2021 and focused on rapid response.
How is Democracy Fund Voice supporting Trusted Elections Action Fund?
In 2020, Democracy Fund Voice approved a grant of $1,680,000 to the Trusted Elections Action Fund. In 2021 an amendment was approved to increase the amount of the grant by $500,000 for a total of $2,180,000.