· Public charity
Defending Democracy Together
To further the common good and general welfare of the citizens of the united states of america by protecting and defending american democratic norms and institutions.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2024
- $50k–250k1 grant · $100k
- $250k+3 grants · $3.6M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| REPUBLICAN ACCOUNTABILITY PAC INC | $3,000,000 |
| C & B GROUP | $300,000 |
| PRINCIPLES FIRST FOR AMERICA LTD | $300,000 |
| THE LIBERAL PATRIOT INC | $100,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY19–20, $35k) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Where the work is directed
The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.
About 98% of Defending Democracy Together’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 35% of the giving stays in DC; by stated purpose, 2%.
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +201% since the first grant, against +5% for those funded once.
7 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2024, 4 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 97% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $100k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- WIWORKMONEY INC2× · 2020–2021 · $5.2M · revenue +397%
- CBC & B GROUP3× · 2022–2024 · $613k · revenue +201% · 100% of their budget
- MWMormon Women For Ethical Government2× · 2019–2020 · $35k · revenue +721% · 44% of their budget
Funded once
- RVREPUBLICAN VOTERS AGAINST TRUMP INCone grant, 2020 · $6.6M
- PTPizza to the Pollsone grant, 2020 · $2.3M · revenue -99%
- DDDEFENDING DEMOCRACY TOGETHER INSTITUTEgraduatedone grant, 2020 · $1.0M · revenue +776% · 35% of their budget
How this is measured
Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.
Closest unfunded matches
The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.
To educate journalists and the public, and foster public debate, about improving political journalism to reflect public needs and hold the powerful accountable.
The organization's mission is to leverage web-technologies to improve civic engagement and voter education.
Providing research, education and practical information all aimed at optimizing newspapers' business operations, deepening their community engagement and enhancing the quality of their journalism.
Foreign Policy For America is a nonpartisan advocacy organization founded to strengthen support for principled American engagement in the world.
To teach and disseminate educational materials to the public.
Organize general election presidential and vice-presidential debates
The organization is founded for social welfare purposes, including assisting with voter registration and advocating for policies which lead to increased voter registration in the united states.
To further the common good and general welfare of the citizens of the united states of america by protecting and defending american democratic norms and institutions.
Partnership for Policy Integrity (PFPI) uses data-driven advocacy and litigation to fight for forests, communities and the climate.
The texas tribune promotes civic engagement and public education across the state by producing and sharing for free public data interactives, statewide events and intensive and daily reporting on texas public policy, politics and current…
Advance democracy, equity, and self-determination in U.S. territories through participatory advocacy, narrative and cultural change, and ecosystem building.
The nonpartisan campaign legal center advances democracy through law at the federal, state and local levels, fighting for every american's rights to responsive government and a fair opportunity to participate in and affect the democratic…
How this is measured
12 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.
Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.
How this is measured
Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 12 of the 18 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.
Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding
A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.
- Who funds WORKMONEY INC ↗
- Who funds Pizza to the Polls ↗
- Who funds DEFENDING DEMOCRACY TOGETHER INSTITUTE ↗
- Who funds C & B GROUP ↗
- Who funds PRINCIPLES FIRST FOR AMERICA LTD ↗
- Who funds SIXTEEN THIRTY FUND ↗
- Who funds VOTEAMERICA ↗
- Who funds KEEP COUNTRY FIRST POLICY ACTION INC ↗
- Who funds Swamp Accountability Project ↗
- Who funds THE LIBERAL PATRIOT INC ↗
- Who funds Mormon Women For Ethical Government ↗
- Who funds STAND UP REPUBLIC INC ↗
Co-funders
Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.
Open a dossier: America Votes · Sixteen Thirty Fund
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Defending Democracy Together funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Defending Democracy Together. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Defending Democracy Together?
Find your warmest path to Defending Democracy Together through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.
Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.
Play a game based on Defending Democracy Together’s filings →