· Public charity
State Democracy Defenders Action
STATE DEMOCRACY DEFENDERS ACTION, d/b/a democracy defenders action is a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization which was formed on may 24, 2023 and located in the district of columbia.
Read this first · the figures below need context
80% of State Democracy Defenders Action’s FY2025 grant dollars went to Global Impact, not to grantees.
Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2025 names 6 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2024, the last year State Democracy Defenders Action named its own grantees at scale: 8 organizations, $1M. It is dated, not current.
Organizations named directly on the return
Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.
What you funded, over time
Every grant clustered by its grantee’s IRS cause code (NTEE), by year — across FY2023–2025.
Where the money goes
Your grants by size, and where they go.
By grant size · FY2024
- $10k–50k6 grants · $150k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $221k
- $250k+2 grants · $900k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| DEFEND DEMOCRACY PROJECT | $500,000 |
| FUND FOR STATES | $400,000 |
| DEMOCRACY 21 | $220,500 |
| CTR AMERICAN PROGRESS ACTN FD | $25,000 |
| WORKING FAMILIES ORGANIZATION | $25,000 |
| AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION | $25,000 |
| CENTER FOR COMMUNITY CHANGE | $25,000 |
| SIXTEEN THIRTY FUND | $25,000 |
| ALL VOTING IS LOCAL ACTION | $25,000 |
Do your dollars go where the need is?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY23–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 13%. 86% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.
The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.
Preservation of civil liberties through litigation and public education.
The organization's mission is to leverage web-technologies to improve civic engagement and voter education.
The Center's mission is to bring transparency and accountability to corporate political spending. The Center sees this as ending the pervasive secrecy that hides corporate political activity from shareholders and the public.
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…
All voting is local (avl) focuses its nonpartisan programming in three core ways: 1) fighting voter suppression against american citizens and opening up pathways to registration and voting - at every turn and for eligible voters; 2)…
To sustain and support the prioritization of comprehensive voting rights and democracy reform legislation at all levels of government.
Fairvote action campaigns for better elections for all. we win voting reforms that make democracy more functional and representative for every american.
States united action is a nonpartisan section 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization with a mission to protect our elections and our democracy. (continued on schedule o)states united action advances election protection, holds democracy violators…
As noted in its articles of incorporation, the mission of the aclu foundation is "to encourage, sponsor, and facilitate the cultivation and diffusion of knowledge and understanding of the various civil liberties and civil rights which are…
Fair elections center (fec) is a national, nonpartisan voting rights and election reform organization dedicated to safeguarding the future of our democracy through innovative efforts focused on voting rights and civic engagement. the…
The foundation works to defend and promote the constitution of the united states, focusing especially on the first, fourth, fifth, sixth, eighth, and 14th amendments. the foundation also works to defend and promote the constitution of the…
Strengthen democracy for all voters by promoting the responsible use of technology in all elections.
For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Center for Community Change Action and the most unlike its peers is The Voter Project. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
12 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.
Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.
Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 12 of the 17 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.
Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee
Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them
A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.
- Who funds Global Impact ↗
- Who funds DEMOCRACY 21 ↗
- Who funds FUND FOR STATES ↗
- Who funds The Voter Project ↗
- Who funds SIXTEEN THIRTY FUND ↗
- Who funds ALL VOTING IS LOCAL ACTION ↗
- Who funds WORKING FAMILIES ORGANIZATION INC ↗
- Who funds AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION INC ↗
- Who funds LULAC INSTITUTE INC ↗
- Who funds CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS ACTION FUND ↗
- Who funds CENTER FOR COMMUNITY CHANGE ACTION ↗
- Who funds FAIR FIGHT ACTION INC ↗
The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.
Open a dossier: Open Society Action Fund Inc · National Education Association of the United States · Sixteen Thirty Fund · Tides Foundation · Democracy Fund Voice Inc · NEO Philanthropy Action Fund Inc · American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees · America Votes · Tides Advocacy · Our Children Our Future · Fund for a Better Future Inc · Our American Future Action
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.
Government reliance of your grantees
Every dot is one organization State Democracy Defenders Action funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.
Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending — grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12–24 months.