Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
FOCUS FOR DEMOCRACY FUND
FOCUS FOR DEMOCRACY FUND (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 75 organizations whose IRS filings report $22,274,659 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($7,734,311). 5 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
- $7.3M
- Funders on record
- 75
- Grants received
- $22M
- Net assets
- $12M
What Focus for Democracy Fund does
Mission
Focus for Democracy Fund educates donors, raises funds, and makes grants to nonprofit organizations that promote civic engagement and strengthen democratic participation.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Received donor contributions and allocated funds in support of pro-democracy organizations.
$6,189,203 spentof which $4,673,243 as grants$6,960 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $6,189,203.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2024, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2024, 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 2024 to 2025, from $11M to $12M (+10%).
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.
95% of FOCUS FOR DEMOCRACY FUND’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (97% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 2 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
2021 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $10k → $4k.
38 of 75 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.
From the IRS filings of FOCUS FOR DEMOCRACY FUND’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 75 funders by total. 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
FOCUS FOR DEMOCRACY FUND leans on a few funders — its largest provides 35% of grant income and the top three 63%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
91% 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 FOCUS FOR DEMOCRACY FUND.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2021 100% · 2022 99% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.
“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.
Where its funders are
66% of FOCUS FOR DEMOCRACY FUND'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 $7.5M that is directly attributable, 52% 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. $15M arriving through sponsors registered in 15 states 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
FOCUS FOR DEMOCRACY FUND runs a healthier operating margin than half 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 FOCUS FOR DEMOCRACY FUND
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
92% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 30 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FOCUS FOR DEMOCRACY FUND: 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 FOCUS FOR DEMOCRACY FUND?
- FOCUS FOR DEMOCRACY FUND (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 75 organizations whose IRS filings report $22,274,659 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($7,734,311). 5 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 FOCUS FOR DEMOCRACY FUND have?
- IRS filings report 75 organizations giving $22,274,659 in grants to FOCUS FOR DEMOCRACY FUND, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FOCUS FOR DEMOCRACY FUND?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $7,734,311 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FOCUS FOR DEMOCRACY FUND 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 2024–2025), and the filings of 75 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