National Endowment for Democracy

Each year the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) makes direct grants to hundreds of nongovernmental organizations worldwide working to advance democratic goals and strengthen democratic institutions. NED is interested in proposals from local, independent organizations for nonpartisan programs that seek to:

• Promote and defend human rights and the rule of law
• Support freedom of information and independent media
• Strengthen democratic ideas and values
• Promote accountability and transparency
• Strengthen civil society organizations
• Strengthen democratic political processes and institutions
• Promote civic education
• Support democratic conflict resolution
• Promote freedom of association
• Strengthen a broad-based market economy

Amount: The average grant lasts 12 months and is around $50,000.

Eligibility: NED funds only nongovernmental organizations, which may include civic organizations, associations, independent media, and other similar organizations. NED does not make grants to individuals, governmental bodies, or state-supported institutions such as public universities.

Link: https://www.ned.org/apply-for-grant/en/

Note: This funder targets organizations that work on broad-reaching, international projects. Organizations in the U.S. are eligible to apply but the focus is on supporting international projects. Examples of U.S. organizations funded include:

• $275,000 National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (Washington, DC) to develop programs that promote democratic development and broaden the institute’s involvement with emerging democratic organizations in priority countries.
• $235,000 to Women’s Learning Partnership for Rights, Development, and Peace (Bethesda, MD) to strengthen the capacity of women to become leaders and advocates for women’s rights, democratic governance, and peacebuilding.
  $235,674 to Scholars at Risk (New York, NY), an international network of institutions and individuals whose mission it is to protect scholars and promote academic freedom.
• $175,000 to Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights (Washington, DC) to strengthen human rights defenders’ capacity and collaboration with one another to use regional and international mechanisms to shape legal standards in the protection of basic freedoms that enable civil society to operate.

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