Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
FAIR DEMOCRACY
FAIR DEMOCRACY (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,300,000 to it, the largest being HOPEWELL FUND ($6,490,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 66% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.8M
- Funders on record
- 13
- Grants received
- $11M
- Net assets
- $592k
What Fair Democracy does
Mission
Fair Democracy works to ensure that the roots of american democracy are healthy with strong voting rights and access, an engaged and informed electorate, an open and accountable government and trusted messengers engaging americans in civil discourse.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Fair Democracy works to build an engaged and informed electorate with state legislative tracking and voter education on a range of state-level issues, with a focus on voting rights, ethics in government, education, tax reform and health care.
$2,882,114 spentof which $1,440,000 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $2,882,114.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $608k to $1.3M (+117%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
100% of FAIR DEMOCRACY’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (97% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $15k → $125k.
2 of 13 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 66% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $4.0M from one payer (an institutional transfer, not a grant programme, largest Civic Involvement Fund). These are real filings, and they are not money FAIR DEMOCRACY raised.
From the IRS filings of FAIR DEMOCRACY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
FAIR DEMOCRACY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 57% of grant income and the top three 83%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
96% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund FAIR DEMOCRACY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 76% · 2023 80% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
0% of FAIR DEMOCRACY's funders are still giving 1 year after their first grant; 15% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
66% of FAIR DEMOCRACY's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $3.9M that is directly attributable, 82% of it comes from Washington, D.C. funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $7.4M arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
FAIR DEMOCRACY has grown faster than three-quarters of the 431 civil rights nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 431 civil rights nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like FAIR DEMOCRACY
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Washington, D.C.
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
64% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 6 states
Part of a family of 3 related entities
- Forward Majority Action · exempt
- Forward Majority Action 527 · exempt
- Fair Democracy Engagement Fund · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FAIR DEMOCRACY: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds FAIR DEMOCRACY?
- FAIR DEMOCRACY (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,300,000 to it, the largest being HOPEWELL FUND ($6,490,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 66% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does FAIR DEMOCRACY have?
- IRS filings report 13 organizations giving $11,300,000 in grants to FAIR DEMOCRACY, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FAIR DEMOCRACY?
- HOPEWELL FUND is the largest funder on record, with $6,490,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FAIR DEMOCRACY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2020–2025), and the filings of 13 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing