Democracy grants are about 1.3% of foundation giving, Candid finds

With the midterm elections fast approaching, Candid has published an analysis of how much foundation money goes to U.S. democracy work. Its answer, in a post on October 8, is that the sum is large in absolute terms and small as a share of giving: an estimated 1.3% of all foundation grantmaking in 2024.

Candid looked at grants from private and community foundations in fiscal years ending 2016 through 2024, the most recent complete year in its grants database. Because "democracy" has no single definition, it focused on three areas: grants explicitly coded for democracy, grants for policy and administration including civic participation, and grants for freedom of information and expression, including elections and voting. Its figures come from Forms 990 and 990-PF filed with the IRS, or from foundations directly, and cover grants to U.S. recipients for domestic purposes.

A surge, a drop, and a plateau

Unadjusted for inflation, Candid reports that funding tripled between 2016 and 2020, during the first Trump presidency, and almost doubled between 2019 and 2020 alone. In 2021 it fell by nearly a third, a dip not reflected in overall grantmaking, then climbed slightly through the Biden years. Adjusted for inflation, funding more than doubled between 2016 and 2024.

The presidential years differ: 2020 saw $1.5 billion and 2024 saw $1.3 billion. Between the two midterm years, funding rose 55%, from $740 million in 2018 to about $1.2 billion in 2022.

Many funders, few constants

Democracy funding is a sliver of most funders' budgets. Candid counted 13,531 foundations that awarded at least one democracy grant between 2016 and 2024, and for them such grants made up between 1% and 3% of yearly grantmaking. The number of funders giving in a given year rose from 3,701 in 2016 to 4,580 in 2024, after peaking at 5,161 in 2019. But they are not always the same funders, so many give only now and then.

The most consistent funders drive the grant dollars, Candid says. Its top ten, each of which gave in at least eight of the nine years, were, by total dollars: the Ford Foundation ($1.17 billion across 1,926 grants), Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($759.6 million), the Foundation to Promote Open Society ($332.9 million), the Freedom Together Foundation ($269.0 million), the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation ($207.1 million), Wellspring Philanthropic Fund ($181.9 million), the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation ($149.0 million), the W.K. Kellogg Foundation ($131.2 million), the Mellon Foundation ($125.2 million) and the MacArthur Foundation ($106.6 million).

Location is lopsided too. Recipients in the District of Columbia received $2.6 billion over the nine years, New York recipients $1.5 billion and California recipients $1.2 billion. Together, Candid says, they received more than the remaining 48 states combined, though a recipient's work can reach any state.

What could change

Candid says it is too early to predict 2025 and 2026. It points to pressure on funders to give outside their usual missions, for legal defense of nonprofits and to fill gaps left by federal funding cuts, which could mean more competition for limited dollars. Market performance, history and growth in the number of Democracy Fund survey respondents who said they would increase funding in 2025 suggest the total will at least exceed 2022's midterm-year level, the post says.

Open Society is one funder to watch. The Guardian reported in May that Open Society Foundations announced a $300 million commitment to boost economic security and defend civil liberties in the United States. Candid's post describes the pledge as running over five years and notes that, at an average of $60 million a year, it would equal 4.5% of the democracy funding Candid identified for 2024, if every dollar met its criteria.

What it means for grantseekers

In our view, the useful number is the small one. A funding area can feel crowded in an election season while still depending on a small group of consistent funders, and a nonprofit that relies on any one of them should plan for the year that funder changes course. Our reporting has also covered how few foundations say their response to the moment is working and the federal review of voter-registration nonprofits, two stories that sit in the same pool of money and attention.