National Endowment for Democracy Grant Program

National Endowment for Democracy Grant Program

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: National Endowment for Democracy
Last Updated: November 20, 2025

Summary

The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) provides funding to organizations championing democratic values globally. With over 2,000 grants annually, NED supports initiatives that promote human rights, free media, and civic education in over 100 countries. They prioritize projects from independent, nonpartisan civic groups that foster accountability, transparency, and democratic processes, especially in newly democratic or repressive contexts. NED aims to strengthen civil society and democratic institutions worldwide.

Overview

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. Each year, NED makes more than 2,000 grants to support the projects of non-governmental groups abroad who are working for democratic goals in more than 100 countries. NED is interested in proposals from local, independent organizations for nonpartisan programs that seek to: Promote and defend human rights and the rule of lawSupport freedom of information and independent mediaStrengthen democratic ideas and valuesPromote accountability and transparencyStrengthen civil society organizationsStrengthen democratic political processes and institutionsPromote civic educationSupport democratic conflict resolutionPromote freedom of associationStrengthen a broad-based market economy

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. NED funds only nongovernmental organizations, which may include civic organizations, associations, independent media, and other similar organizations.All proposed projects must be consistent with NED’s general purposes as outlined in the NED STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES AND OBJECTIVES.

Ineligibility

NED does not make grants to individuals, governmental bodies, or state-supported institutions such as public universities.