How have Democracy Alliance‑linked donors supported political organizations since 2016, and which groups received the largest grants?
Executive summary
Since 2016 Democracy Alliance–linked donors have shifted from quiet infrastructure building to more overt pooled-fund and stewardship strategies — funding voter-file work, state “infrastructure” funds, national think tanks and media-defence groups — but precise dollar flows are opaque because the Alliance does not publish detailed grant accounting and many activities run through fiscal-sponsor vehicles [1] [2] [3].
1. Background: what Democracy Alliance is and how it operates
The Democracy Alliance (DA) is an invite-only network of wealthy progressive donors, unions and foundations that acts primarily as a convener and matchmaker rather than a traditional grantmaker, advising partners on which organizations and pooled funds to support and incubating projects run through fiscal sponsors like New Venture Fund and Sixteen Thirty Fund [1] [4] [2].
2. How donors have supported political organizations since 2016
After the 2016 election the DA reoriented toward building long-term infrastructure: recommending and seeding state “2020 State Funds,” circulating a 2017 “Resistance Map” of recommended advocacy groups, and backing center-left voter mobilization projects and policy outfits through pooled funds and fiscal sponsors rather than direct, centralized grantmaking — tactics designed to scale statewide organizing, voting access and progressive policy campaigns [1] [2] [5]. Documents and reporting show DA-affiliated vehicles raised and deployed sums at the six‑ and seven‑figure level — for example, the Inclusive Economy Fund raised about $1.37 million in 2016 to pass state economic-policy initiatives, and a Democracy Alliance–branded Democracy Fund raised roughly $500,000 (spending about $400,000) in the same period — but much of the Alliance’s recommended giving is executed by members themselves or routed through third‑party fiscal sponsors, complicating traceability [5] [4].
3. Which organizations received the largest grants (and what can be said publicly)
Public reporting and historical lists of DA recommendations identify heavy, recurring beneficiaries such as the Center for American Progress and Media Matters among the think‑tank and media-defense ecosystem the Alliance has steered donors toward, and numerous state funds and progressive civic-engagement groups featured on DA recommendation lists and the Resistance Map [6] [2]. Independent data aggregators record some DA‑linked giving: OpenSecrets reports modest direct contributions by the Democracy Alliance entity in 2024 (about $2.4 million) but does not capture the full universe of partner donations or fiscal‑sponsor flows [3] [7]. Because DA does not publish a full grant ledger and many transfers flow through donor-advised funds and intermediary nonprofits, definitive public rankings of “largest grants since 2016” are not available in the sources reviewed; only certain pooled-fund totals and named recommended recipients are documented [1] [5].
4. Secrecy, criticism and defensive rationales
The Alliance cultivates donor anonymity and confidentiality — a feature critics describe as “dark‑money” style opacity while supporters say it protects members and strategic grantees from harassment — and DA partners have required nondisclosure in some instances; watchdogs and conservative outlets highlight these practices as evidence of elite coordination, whereas philanthropy outlets emphasize the Alliance’s role in long‑term capacity building after 2016 [2] [6] [1]. InfluenceWatch and similar critics link DA‑recommended funds to Arabella‑managed fiscal sponsors and raise concerns about accountability; proponents point to DA’s post‑2016 pivot toward state infrastructure and voter access as pragmatic course correction [2] [8].
5. What the evidence supports — and what remains unknown
Available reporting supports a clear pattern: since 2016 DA‑linked donors have prioritized pooled funding, state infrastructure and national policy/media support and have used fiscal‑sponsor vehicles to channel money (examples include the Inclusive Economy Fund and Democracy Fund), and named beneficiaries include major progressive think tanks and media watchdogs [5] [4] [6]. What cannot be established from the cited sources is a comprehensive, ranked list of the largest individual grants made by DA‑linked donors since 2016, because the Alliance itself and many partner donors do not publish itemized grant records and much giving moves through intermediary nonprofits and donor-advised channels [1] [3].