Democracy Fund gave nearly $366 million in about 1100 grants to 471 recipients from 2011-2023 mostly to "protect democracy"
Kansas nonprofits benefit from connections to national organizations funded by Pierre Omidyar’s nonprofit
French-born Pierre Omidyar, the founder of eBay, started the DC-based 501(c)(3) Democracy Fund nonprofit in 2014, which is a major source of funding for many progressive nonprofits.
Democracy Fund’s first IRS 990 filed in 2016 stated three main activities:
Elections program “to ensure our election and campaign finance systems provide the public with confidence that their voices can be heard … to hold their leaders to account for their actions.”
Public square program “to help people understand and engage in the democratic process.”
Governance program “to improve the ability of governing institutions … to function in the face of increased hyper-partisanship.”
The table below shows a breakdown of grants by program area. While one area is “Elections and Voting,” nearly all grants have connections to elections and voting.
Omidyar’s Democracy Fund gives exclusively to progressive causes, which likely increases hyper-partisanship when only one side of the public discussion receives funding. Much like George Soros, Pierre Omidyar hides behind a “democracy” PAC to sabotage it.
There are no known direct Democracy Fund grants to Kansas recipients, but Kansas nonprofits benefit from connections to national organizations funded by Omidyar’s nonprofit. See Related section below.
A related 501(c)(4) nonprofit, Democracy Fund Voice, is not covered in this article.
Grants By the numbers
Top 15 Grant Recipients 2011-2023
Top 15 Grant Recipients in 2023
Counts
Amounts
Amount Per Grant
The boxplots above show larger grants were given in 2019 in anticipation of the 2020 election. Smaller grants were then given in 2021 and 2022, with larger grants given in 2023 in anticipation of the 2024 election.
Notable Election and Voting-Related Grant Recipients
Bipartisan Policy Center, 10 grants, 2011-2022, $9,225,000.
Center for Civic Design, 4 grants, 2016-2023, $1,314,000.
Center for Democracy & Technology, 2 grants, 2017-2019, $900,000.
Center for Election Innovation & Research, 2 grants, 2017-2018, $905,000. CEIR’s David Becker was a conduit for about $69 million in Mark Zuckerberg’s funding to about 20 Secretaries of State for the 2020 election. Prior to founding CEIR, David Becker developed the Electronic Registration Information System (ERIC). Nine states have withdrawn from ERIC since 2020.
Center for Internet Security, 3 grants, 2018-2021, $858,000.
Center for Secure and Modern Elections, 2 grants, 2018-2023, $700,000. CSME is not a separate organization, but rather is a trade name of the Arabella Advisor’s New Venture Fund, a source of “dark money.”
Center for Technology and Civic Life (CTCL), 6 grants, 2015-2023, $2,590,000. CTCL was conduit for $350 million in “Zuck bucks” to about 2500 election authorities in 2020.
Common Cause Education Fund, 11 grants, 2014-2023, $4,120,000.
Democracy Works, 13 grants, 2013-2013, $4,586,000. Democracy Works currently manages the Voting Information Project, which was managed by the Soros-funded New Organizing Institute’s Tiana Epps-Johnson before she left to start CTCL in 2015.
League of Women Voters Education Fund, 3 grants, 2016-2022, $1,635,000.
Nonprofit Vote, 3 grants, 2018-2021, $400,000.
President and Fellows of Harvard College, 9 grants, 2017-2023, $2,570,000.
Rock the Vote, 1 grant, 2014, $300,000.
The Campaign Legal Center, 7 grants, 2014-2020, $3,475,000.
Trusted Elections Fund, 4 grants, 2019-2023, $6,100,000.
Lists
Grant Recipient Summary
Individual Grants
Related
Connections to Kansas non-profits benefiting from national nonprofits receiving funding from Democracy Fund …
Soros’ nonprofits and Democracy Fund give money to many of the same nonprofits and philanthropies. Democracy Fund contributions to organizations also funded by Soros include Borealis Philanthropy ($5.6 million), NEO Philanthropy ($2.1 million), New Venture Fund ($750K), Proteus Fund ($4 million).
The State of Pro-Democracy Institutional Philanthropy, Democracy Fund, Oct. 2023.
State Voices received $1,050,000 from Democracy Fund in 2020 and 2022.
Why has DC-based "Protect Democracy" purchased 68 updates of the Kansas voter registration file since 2020 for its VoteShield project?
Democracy Fund provided $3.85 million to the Protect Democracy Project in 2017-2022.
The 65 Project received $300,000 from Democracy Fund in 2023.
Loud Light, Demos, ACLU sent letter to "Concerned Kansas Officials" in 2019.
Demos: A Network for Ideas and Action LTD received 4 grants from Democracy Fund over 2013-2020 that totaled $2,022,465.