Puppet Masters Part 4: Who [Really] Controls The News?
Luminate Group's Partners List and Grants
If you haven’t read the previous parts of the series, here are the links:
Part 1: Weaponizing Philanthropy... Also Known As Impact Investing
Part 2: NewsTrust Communications Partners List
Part 3: Omidyar Network's Partners List and Grants
This is an overview of the grants distributed through Luminate, an Omidyar owned organization and part of the Omidyar Syndicate, into NGO's, startups, grassroots organizations, media, projects, funds, and other organizations. If you want to find the strands in a spiderweb, just follow the money. Here we begin to do just that.
This part may seem a little drier than my usual content. I put a summary of my observations at the top but did include the research details. Just read the summary and glance through the data. Skim the names. Look at the dollar amounts. It will make sense as to why I wanted to show this to you soon.
This is one tangled web. Let’s begin…
Following The Money
In total, $428,248,647 was given to 422 different organizations through 737 individual grants. This total only reflects one of the many Omidyar organizations used to funnel money via philanthropy or impact investing.
In looking at this data, there are patterns between Luminate and other organizations within the Omidyar Syndicate. (Note: Omidyar Syndicate isn't an actual organization per se. Just a description of the dozens of companies which fall under the Omidyar name and control.)
For NewsTrust, an Omidyar affiliated organization, that list is short:
Frontline, through FrontlineSMS
Global Voices
NewsTrust
Poynter Institute
Stanford University
Sunlight Foundation
For the Omidyar Network, an Omidyar owned organization, that list grows considerably:
Amalgamated Foundation
Atlantic Council
Center for International Governance Innovation
Corporate Accountability Network/Corporate Accountability Lab
Data and Society Research Institute
European Digital Rights (EDRi)
Global Impact
Global Voices
Institute for Strategic Dialogue
Just Futures Law
Luminate Projects Unlimited
Mozilla Foundation
National Conference on Citizenship
New America Foundation
New Venture Fund
Nuffield Foundation
Open Collective Foundation
Open Secrets
PersonalData.IO
Poynter Institute
Praekelt Foundation
Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors
Stanford University
The University of Oxford Development Trust
The University of Texas at Austin
United Nations Foundation
When you start to compare the multiple organizations in the Omidyar Syndicate, you start to see a pattern. Many of them give grants to the same entities of the others. It is a spider web of multiple donations spread out amongst the Omidyar Syndicate but ultimately going to the same destinations.
Observations
I have offered up brief descriptions as to what the grants were given for. In it you will find repeating variations of the following phrases.
NOTE: This is not an exhaustive list. These are phrases that I noticed being repeated often. The main focus for these grants, in my opinion after looking through this data, is towards investigative journalism, whistleblowing, fact checking, civic action, and the infrastructures or technology they would use.
Regarding news, media, and journalism:
Media
Investigative journalism and/or journalism
Whistleblower
Disinformation/misinformation
Fact checking
Narrative change, building, or shaping
Story building
Regarding free speech:
Control of big tech
Artificial intelligence
Hate speech
Free speech
Islamophobia
Anti-semitism
ADL (Anti-Defamation League)
Open data
Information control
Regarding social issues:
Education
Immigration
LGBT+
Regarding civic action:
Protesting
Grassroots
Civil action
Litigation
Social demonstrations
Audit
Democracy
COVID-19
Sources
You can find the original information on the Luminate's website under their Partner Database.
The Data
#Jesuislà
$350,000
To support hiring the necessary staff to scale up its fight against online hate, disinformation, and harassment. To encourage online citizenship.
Abraji
$230,000
The Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism - Abraji is a non-profit institution composed of and run by journalists, dedicated to improving Brazilian journalism and defending freedom of expression.
Access Now
$2,008,305
To provide general operating support to Access Now and to its work in Central & Eastern Europe. To support a collaborative effort between Access Now and Observacom, addressing content moderation practices in Argentina. To support Access Now's Digital Security Helpline, a resource offering real time, direct technical assistance and advice to users at risk around the world.
Accountability Counsel
$1,500,000
To amplify the voices of communities around the world to protect their human rights and environment.
Africa Check
$2,174,952
To collaborate with other Luminate investees. To expand their impact in South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya. To promote accuracy in public debate and the media in Africa. To support the Digital Africa Research Lab in addressing the threat posed by the misuse of social media in the 2019 Nigerian general election and post-election period. To provide funding for their fact checking work across the continent.
Africa Uncensored
$70,000
Working in collaboration with Open Cities Lab and OdipoDev. To run an initiative called MyCandidate. To help inform voters who they are able to vote for in their area while increasing informed participation.
African Centre for Media and Information Literacy
$50,000
To track and document misinformation and disinformation around the Nigeria elections on social media. To provide recommendations on appropriate policy responses.
African Media Initiative
$1,700,000
This is a consortium of private media companies in Africa that are working together to improve the quality of journalism, improve business practices, and access more flexible capital for investment in media. To support the African News Innovation Challenge.
African Technology and Transparency Initiative
$2,400,000
To support organizations in Africa that use technology and media platforms to empower citizens. To hold their leaders accountable by providing access to credible public information, influence, and stewardship of resources.
African Women in Media
$100,000
To build capacity of young women journalists, improve the visibility and accessibility of young women in politics, and design a media toolkit for reporting on young women in politics.
All Out
$900,000
This is a global organization advancing the rights and political agency of the LGBT+ community in Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico.
ALT Advisory
$400,000
To support research, analysis, and policy work on data and digital rights issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. To support an effective digital and information rights landscape in South Africa.
amaBhungane
$600,000
This is a non-profit organization that conducts and develops investigative journalism to promote free, capable media and open, accountable, just democracy.
Amalgamated Foundation
$1,000,000
To support their Families and Workers Fund. To support Emergent Fund's COVID relief efforts. To seek long-term social justice and economic justice.
amandla.mobi
$850,000
This organization empowers anyone to initiate both online and offline campaigns to protest for a more just society and take coordinated, strategic action.
Amazon Land Documentary
$313,600
To support The Territory, a film that tells the story of an Indigenous community - the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau people - in the Brazilian Amazon and their struggle to keep their land.
America's Voice
$500,000
To strengthen pro-immigrant strategic communications and advocacy to achieve pro-immigrant policies.
American Immigration Council
$1,000,000
To support their Justice Campaign, which builds a network of pro-bono lawyers to provide services to people in isolated detention centers in the United States. To support the operations and goals of their Immigrant Justice Campaign.
American University
$500,000
To support the Yes, and... Laughter Lab and Comedy Think Tanks initiatives.
Amnesty International
$200,000
Focuses on disrupting the surveillance-based business models of big tech companies.
Anti-Defamation League
$1,700,000
To support the Center for Technology & Society in advancing the ADL's mission of fighting antisemitism and hate, reinforcing its leadership against cyber-hate, and protecting freedom of speech and democratic rights affected by emergent technologies.
Arab Techies
$70,000
To sponsor an event in July 2011 for the 'Arab Techies', a network of technologists in the Middle East that fosters collaboration in the development of Internet and mobile applications.
Artemisas
$25,000
To protect the right to peacefully assemble and de-stigmatize social demonstrations in Colombia.
Article 19
$380,000
To support a government task force working to propose a new data protection policy in Kenya. To enable a more favorable digital environment for exercising human rights, especially freedom of expression and access to information in Mexico.
Aspiration
$845,119
To support AI Now Institute (Cadence). To produce interdisciplinary research and public education on the social implications of artificial intelligence and the industry responsible for it. To determine the feasibility of technology backed interventions to address the problem of disinformation.
Association for Computing Machinery
$500,000
To support the Conference on Fairness, Accountability and Transparency. To bring together researchers and practitioners interested in fairness, accountability, and transparency in socio-technical systems.
Association for Progressive Communications (APC)
$350,000
To provide a project grant to APC for capacity building of digital rights defenders, connecting them to other actors in the space, and supporting the work of different actors to promote a human rights-based approach to information and communications technology (ICT) policy making and advocacy in Southeast Asia.
Asylum Access
$700,000
To support their Global Systems Change work. To transform the refugee system into one that is led and influenced by refugees and host communities. To prioritize efforts that defend refugee rights and secure access to services.
Atlantic Council
$45,000
To support their Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab)'s work to research and understand misinformation in Nigeria.
Avalanche Insights
For-profit figures not reported
To build organizing infrastructure that helps causes, campaigns, and companies better understand their stakeholders and lead advocacy campaigns.
Aventura Capital Partners
$40,000
To support a hackathon competition in Mexico that pits teams of programmers against each other to develop mobile applications for government agencies.
Avina Americas
$7,700,000
To support ALTEC in spurring the development of the civic tech ecosystem in Latin America. To develop the digital rights ecosystem. To invest in early-stage organizations focused on the use of technology to increase civic engagement and government effectiveness. To fund civic empowerment organizations, social movements, and rapid-response campaigns which are striving to protect civic space and democratic governance.
BBC Media Action
$200,000
To support the design of an international fund for public interest media.
Betterplace Lab
$180,000
To foster healthy and productive collaboration between social change organizations in Germany.
Big Cabal
For-profit figures not reported
To fund Big Cabal Media with seed equity investment to support the scaling of their core operations, storytelling, and citizen engagement media platforms
Black Stripe Foundation
$1,414,000
To support The Big Debate, a town hall debate TV show produced by the Black Stripe Foundation. To provide a platform for public engagement. To promote informed discussion and accountability on critical topics.
Brand New Bundestag
$60,000
To find and support new progressive candidates to run for political office in Germany.
Bridgespan Group
$229,500
To research early stage for-profit investment opportunities in the government transparency area.
BudgIT
$3,350,000
To support expansion into Abuja and BudgIT. To support Procurement Nigeria (BudgIT), a social enterprise focused on using technology to drive civic participation and fiscal transparency in Nigeria. To support citizen engagement, media advocacy, civic tech for participation and ecosystem building work.
BuscaVida Films
For-profit figures not reported
To support Dystopia, a Brazilian documentary that will shed a light on the COVID-19 crisis.
California Immigrant Policy Center
$450,000
To conduct research to gain understanding of how Americans think about immigrants. To support the Immigration Strategic Messaging Project.
Campaign Bootcamp
$2,000,000
Aims to provide people with the skills, confidence, and community necessary to run effective campaigns.
CANVAS
$400,000
To advocate for the use of nonviolent resistance in the promotion of human rights and democracy.
Caribe Afirmativo
$582,000
Fosters LGBTIQ+ public policy in Colombia.
ccHub Growth Capital
For-profit figures not reported
To support CcHub's financial sustainability and seed innovation.
Center for Cultural Power
$75,000
This is a women of color, artist-led organization, inspiring artists and culture makers to imagine a world where power is distributed equitably and where we live in harmony with nature.
Center for Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL)
$3,171,024
To support activities related to Stanford's Center for Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law and Haas Center for Public Service - specifically, an undergraduate seminar, several undergraduate fellowships, and an alumni network - all intended to develop talent and foster knowledge sharing in the Government Transparency area. This includes ON Leadership Forum (ONLF), Leadership Academy for Development (LAD), and the Ukrainian Emerging Leaders Program.
Center for Economic Investigation and Teaching (CIDE)
$365,000
To support the Mexico Innovation Agents project, which is an opportunity to catalyze public service delivery and generate learning for the global Open Government Partnership community. To support data-driven journalism activities at the Center for Economic Investigation and Teaching (CIDE) in Mexico.
Center for Global Development
$1,500,000
This is a think tank focused on reducing poverty and inequality through rigorous research and active engagement with the policy community.
Center for International Governance Innovation
$50,000
To provide support for international coordination on opposing surveillance commerce.
Center for New American Security
$349,159
To support a research project housed in their Transatlantic Security program.
Center for Public Integrity
$1,850,000
To focus investigations on money and politics, government waste/fraud/abuse, the environment, healthcare reform, national security and state government transparency. To support its work on the State Integrity Investigation in the U.S.
Center for Technology and Society
$1,700,000
To advance the ADL's mission of fighting antisemitism and hate, reinforcing its leadership against cyber-hate, and protecting freedom of speech and democratic rights affected by emergent technologies.
Center on Privacy and Technology
$600,000
This is a think tank at Georgetown Law focused on privacy and surveillance law and policy.
Centre for Community Development Zimbabwe
$130,000
This is a community-centered non-profit organization in Zimbabwe, to work on enhancing citizen engagement, social accountability and monitoring of local government officials, and civic education at grassroots level.
Centro Latinoamericano de Investigacion Periodistica (CLIP)
$300,000
This is a non-profit association composed of a Latin American team, which conducts and coordinates collaborative cross-border journalistic investigations. Through its investigations, CLIP seeks to serve as a secure platform for exchange and hard-hitting journalism.
Change.org
For-profit figures not reported
This is an online petition platform that empowers individuals to initiate and win campaigns for social change.
Chequeado
$1,227,000
To advance fact-checking efforts in Latin America through automation, content distribution, and data literacy programs.
Chicken and Egg Pictures
$300,000
To promote more inclusive documentary film makers.
Cidade Democratica
$202,500
This is a revenue-generating non-profit that provides an open innovation platform designed for Brazilian users and municipal governments.
Citizens' Gavel
$250,000
To provide core support to their operations and implementation of their strategy. To support legal empowerment work for Covid-19 in Nigeria.
Citymart
For-profit figures not reported
To transform the way cities solve problems. To connect with new ideas through open challenges to entrepreneurs and citizens.
Civic Hall
For-profit figures not reported; At least $500,000
To launch Civic Hall, a one-of-a-kind innovation center for civic tech innovators located in New York City. To support Personal Democracy Media in developing the Personal Democracy Center, which will be an accelerator / incubator that supports civic start-ups and serves related purposes.
Civic Hall Labs
$2,600,000
This is the non-profit R&D arm of Civic Hall.
Civix
$355,000
To develop an educational curriculum on digital threats to democracy for middle and high school students.
ClientEarth
$80,000
To embed proper consideration of climate change and other environmental and social risks and impacts into the heart of accounting and audit practices.
Co-Creation Hub
For-profit figures not reported; At least $500,000
To support their GoVote initiative To improve citizens' participation in elections through voter education, registration, and voter-turnout activities in Nigeria. To catalyze creative social tech ventures.
Co-op Foundation
$1,615,000
To support The Federation (Federation House in Manchester), an open community and hub run by the Co-op Group. It provides co-working space and venture support to digital social enterprises and an events program.
CODA
$319,200
To support the CODA team in their plans for sustainability and developing business model and audience related processes.
Code for Africa
$532,500
To support the Innovate Africa media challenge. To encourage digital experimentation in newsrooms.
Code for America
$16,365,000
This is an organization working towards a government by the people, for the people.
Colab.re
For-profit figures not reported
This is a Brazil-based civic tech platform that enhances governments' ability to engage and respond to their citizens. Provides a platform for citizens to engage with local governments and utility companies.
Color of Change
$1,500,000
To support ongoing civic empowerment programs, which will help to create narratives about criminal justice reform and other issues of importance to Black and historically marginalized communities in the United States.
Committee to Protect Journalists
$2,900,000
To promote press freedom worldwide by defending the rights of journalists to report the news without fear of reprisal.
Community Initiatives
$200,000
To contribute to the Global Philanthropy Project in supporting organizations working across the globe to defend and claim LGBTQI+ rights.
Community Partners
$200,000
To provide support to Storyline Partners to strengthen the field of narrative change for civic empowerment in the United States.
Conectas
$1,980,000
To combat misinformation and hate speech in Brazil. To ensure that Latin America perspectives are taken into consideration in the global debates around digital platforms' regulations.
Connected Development (CODE)
$1,350,000
To empower citizens in Nigeria to participate in holding government accountable for public spending.
Corporate Accountability Network
$40,000
To build an understanding of the need for audit reform by communicating the technically complex issues involved and communicate this to the media, public, politicians, and the tax and accounting professions.
Corporate Europe Observatory
$150,000
To expose Big Tech interference in EU decision-making. To strengthen the resolve of decision-makers to stand firm against such lobbying pressure.
Correctiv
$1,749,500
This is an independent, non-profit media organization in Germany that investigates injustices and abuses of power, and runs educational programs on journalism and media literacy.
Cuestion Publica
$110,000
Cuestion Publica - 2021 Project Agreement
Dalberg Consulting
$360,000
To fund Dalberg Global Development Advisors to collect credible citizen feedback on public sector performance in several African countries.
DATA
$50,000
To sponsor a regional conference on open data for Latin America held in Uruguay.
Data and Society Research Institute
$5,365,000
This is a research institute focused on the social and cultural issues arising from data-centric technological development. To fund a convening on Data, Discrimination, and Civil Rights held in Washington, DC.
DataKind
$2,400,000
This is an organization building a community of data scientists for social change.
Debunk Media
$220,000
This is a pioneer in digital media in Africa using the art of storytelling to convey public interest issues.
Define American
$400,000
To create narratives about immigrants and refugees in the United States.
Democracy Club
$200,000
To create a UK with the digital foundations to support everyone's participation in democratic life.
Democracy Works
$835,000
To increase their R&D capabilities to make their voter engagement tools even more effective at serving under-reached voter populations.
Democratie Ouverte
$200,000
This is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit collective which focused on political systems and organizations.
Development Initiatives
$670,000
To support an international framework and working group on "Joined Up Data."
Diga Communications
$40,000
To provide coordination and campaign leadership for audit reform and scope future opportunities.
Digital Freedom Fund (DFF)
$3,365,455
This is a non-profit fund that supports partners in Europe to advance digital rights through litigation.
Digital Rights Lawyers Initiative (DRLI)
$100,000
To publish a review of digital rights judgments. To litigate digital rights in Nigeria.
Digital Security Exchange
$50,000
This is a matchmaking effort seeking to bridge the gap between civil society organizations that are particularly vulnerable and the digital security providers who want help them.
DigitalReach
$277,419
Supporting the research on social media, elections, and digital authoritarianism in Southeast Asia.
Directorio Legislativo
$435,795
To support Directorio Legislativo's work in Argentina and Latin America, with a focus on in-house communications expertise. To stabilize the impact in the anti-corruption and transparency field and opening two legislatures at the sub-national level. To leverage the Open Government Partnership leadership opportunity.
Disclose
$150,000
This is a not-for-profit organization which acts as both a media outlet and an NGO to promote investigative journalism.
DoSomething.org
$8,300,000
This is the largest member organization for young people and social change in the world.
e-Governance Academy
$342,000
This is an Estonian CSO founded in 2002. To investigate the widening gap in Ukraine and Georgia in terms of digital literacy, access to digital tools, and digital skills among various vulnerable groups.
East West Management Institute
$3,103,017
This is a mentoring and capacity-building program which supports a cluster of organizations working to advance freedom of expression civil society organizations in Malaysia.
Economy
$50,000
To develop framing, narrative, and language around audit reform. To co-produce a short public education course on accounting and audit reform.
Education as a Vaccine (EVA)
$35,000
To uphold the rights of young people to utilize digital technology for accessing information and as a social accountability tool. To strengthen their understanding on digital rights.
Eko
$1,450,000
To mobilize their movements to demand their rights be enforced under data protection regulations in Europe. Focuses on ending the destructive behavior of digital platforms.
El Espectador
$65,000
To support La Pulla's 2022 election project. To encourage voters to head to the polls. To educate young people on electoral matters.
El Veinte
$50,000
To support the initiative "COVID-19 Index and Digital Rights" (Index), an alliance of NGOs working together to monitor and address the digital rights implications of regulatory, technical, and public policy measures in response to COVID-19 in Colombia.
ELSAM (The Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy)
$300,000
To focus on the inclusion of human rights principles in policies and regulations in Indonesia. To strengthen the protection of digital rights.
Elucd
For-profit figures not reported
To enable cities to measure how residents feel and prioritize fixing what isn't working.
Engage Media
$403,430
To develop and strengthen the data and digital rights network and ecosystem in Southeast Asia through convening, peer-learning, and series of research and advocacy. To build the capacity of civil society.
Enough is Enough
$217,500
To campaign to use technology to mobilize Nigerian citizens to register to vote in the 2011 Presidential Elections.
ePanstwo Foundation (ePF)
$1,200,000
This is a non-profit that aims to increase the transparency and accountability of government in Poland.
Equality Labs
$50,000
This is a South Asian American human rights arts organization which uses storytelling, design, technology, and digital security to end caste apartheid, Islamophobia, and religious intolerance.
Equipo Latinoamericano de Justicia y Genero (ELA)
$364,400
To enhance women's political participation in Argentina.
Estonian Human Rights Centre
$166,000
This is an independent non-governmental human rights organization to develop their digital rights competence and raise awareness in the field.
Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence Fund
$10,000,000
To support the establishment of the Ethics and Governance of AI Fund.
EU DisinfoLab
$52,000
To convene an annual conference on the challenges of disinformation.
European Digital Rights (EDRi)
$1,140,000
This is an association of civil and human rights organizations from across Europe, defending rights and freedoms in the digital environment.
European Journalism Centre
$54,000
To support IJ4EU (Investigative Journalism for Europe), a fund that supports cross-border investigative journalism in Europe.
European Press Prize
$120,000
To support the capacity and operations of the European Press Prize.
Extituto
$210,000
To foster more representative, participative, and accountable governments in Colombia.
Fair Tax Foundation
$260,000
To support the internationalization of the accreditation scheme and the tax advocacy and research of the Fair Tax Foundation.
Fast Forward
$345,000
To support civic tech startup Raheem.ai in collecting and publishing data about interactions with police in the U.S.
Finance Uncovered
$1,105,000
This is a follow-the-money organization that is part of the Global Investigative Journalism Network.
Financial Transparency Coalition (FTC)
$1,950,000
To curtail illicit financial flows through the promotion of a transparent, accountable, and sustainable financial system that works for everyone.
Four Freedoms Fund
$3,100,000
This is a national donor collaborative working toward full integration of immigrants as active participants in our democracy.
Foxglove
$341,200
To support Foxglove in providing pre-litigation research related to tech accountability.
Fractured Atlas
$50,000
To support Equality Labs, a South Asian American human rights arts organization which uses storytelling, design, technology, and digital security to end caste apartheid, Islamophobia, and religious intolerance.
Freedom Voices Network
$2,369,000
To support Forbidden Stories, which publishes the work of journalists that have been imprisoned or harmed.
Frontiers of Tech Governance
$200,000
To support stakeholder engagement around convening an international effort on digital rights.
FrontlineSMS
$700,000
This is a professional messaging platform.
Full Fact
$2,250,000
This is the UK's leading independent fact checking charity.
Fund for Constitutional Government
$332,500
To support the Anti-Corruption Data Collective, a project that brings together journalists, programmers, academics, and advocates to identify ways to tackle specific dimensions of illicit financial flows.
Fund for Global Human Rights
$780,000
To support grassroots organizations working across the globe. To enable activists to remain agile in the face of crackdowns on their work.
Fund for the City of New York
$6,859,500
To support Open Contracting Partnership, which works to bring transparency, accountability, participation, and innovation to government contracting to ensure that the trillions of dollars spent lead to better goods and services for citizens, greater opportunities for businesses, and more effective and trusted governments. To support the Open Data Charter, which is a collaboration between governments and organizations working to open up data based on a shared set of principles.
Fundacao Getulio Vargas
$88,000
To support their Department of Public Policy Analysis's project focused on near real-time monitoring of disinformation and fake news in Brazil's 2018 elections. To positively influencing public debates and inform electoral authorities and policymakers on how to deal with related challenges.
Fundacion Ciudadania Inteligente (FCI)
$1,245,000
This is a non-profit in Chile. To promote government transparency and accountability, using web and mobile technology. To encourage active citizen participation and engagement in the political process.
Fundacion Mi Sangre (FMS)
$267,127
To provide general operating support.
Fundacion para la Libertad de Prensa (FLIP)
$400,000
To consolidate its work on freedom of expression and journalists protection and ramp-up efforts to fight misinformation in Colombia.
Fundacion Viaa Libre
$60,000
To support The Citizen Initiative for the Control of the Intelligence System, an initiative dedicated to monitoring and promoting the effective operation of control mechanisms over the intelligence system of Argentina.
Fundacja Reporterow
$160,000
To launch an independent, sustainable, non-profit investigative newsroom frontstory.pl in Poland.
Fundar
$211,000
To to build a data community to create social value from Mexico City's open transit data.
Fuse Corps
$6,000,000
To grow its executive-level Fellowship program, which places experienced leaders within local governments to work on year-long projects tackling strategic issues like economic and workforce development, healthcare, public safety, climate change, and education.
Futurelect
$300,000
To design and deliver non-partisan, intensive, and interdisciplinary leadership development and training to 25-30 emerging young leaders from East Africa annually through the EAC Public Leadership Program.
Georgetown University
$1,800,000
To support the Center on Privacy and Technology at Georgetown Law. This is a think tank focused on privacy and surveillance law and policy. To evaluate how administrative and political devolution can improve accountability, foster the provision of local public goods and services, and promote citizen engagement in sub-national governance to overcome unequal development and allocation of resources between counties in Kenya.
GFF (Gesellschaft fur Freiheitsrechte)
$550,000
To litigate in support of human and civil rights, with a focus on digital rights, in Germany and Europe.
Global Action Plan
$240,000
To engage existing civil society coalitions and mass mobilization groups in the European environment/development sectors to join the campaign to fix Big Tech. To engage the full breadth of the climate movement and expand its understanding of how Big Tech's business model is a fundamental obstacle to climate action.
Global Disinformation Index
$1,400,000
To disrupt, defund and down-rank disinformation sites. It collectively works with governments, business, and civil society and operates on three core principles of neutrality, independence, and transparency.
Global Forum for Media Development
$150,000
To support the 3rd GFMD World Conference in Brasilia on May 8-11, 2012.
Global Fund for Women
$700,000
To kick off their initiative on movement-led grant-making and support for gender justice movements worldwide, the Gender Justice Data Hub project.
Global Impact
$75,000
To support an Open Ownership research project into the private sector costs and benefits of Beneficial Ownership Transparency.
Global Initiative for Fiscal Transparency (GIFT)
$1,650,000
This is a multi-stakeholder program of the International Budget Partnership addressing challenges in fiscal transparency and participation.
Global Integrity
$4,965,800
To support a project by the Sunlight Foundation and Open Gov Hub called Global Lessons for US Democracy. To provide funding for an upcoming convening of the Governance Data Alliance, which seeks to improve the quality of governance data and foster better communication between data producers and data users. To support Global Integrity in developing and piloting an approach to understand the ability to Follow the Money in Mexico.
Global Investigative Journalism Conference
$25,000
This is one of the largest conferences on investigative journalism held in Rio de Janeiro.
Global Press Institute
$1,300,000
To train and employ local journalists to produce ethical, accurate news coverage from the world's least-covered places.
Global Voices
$2,400,000
This is a "citizen media platform" that seeks to find and publish the most compelling and important stories coming from marginalized and misrepresented communities.
Global Witness
$9,800,000
To strengthen their corruption, land & forests, and conflict campaigns.
Grassroot
$180,000
This is a non-profit organization whose mobile tools enable ordinary people in communities across South Africa to organize groups, meetings, and events - using any mobile phone - which eliminate the transaction costs of collective action.
Greenpeace UK
$190,147
To ensure audit fit its purpose, including the production of Paris-aligned financial statements, through building increased scrutiny of and pressure on auditors and their regulators among civil society and investors.
Guardian Activate
$98,000
To provide funding for a conference in Africa, which seeks to increase collaboration in media, technology, civil society, and business in order to improve civic innovation.
Haki Africa
$220,000
To support Haki Africa's Haki Mtaani project.
Haki Yetu
$100,000
To support Haki Yetu's work in civic empowerment to help underrepresented people to fully participate in governance and leadership in Kilifi, Kwale, and Mombasa counties.
Herdict
$300,000
To support the Berkman Center's crowd sourcing platform for providing insight into what users around the world are experiencing in terms of website accessibility.
HiviSasa
For-profit figures not reported
To provide a seed investment in HiviSasa.com, an online Kenyan newspaper that provides local, county level news tailored for the mobile web.
HNK Legal
For-profit figures not reported
This is a legal firm and consultancy focused on data rights.
Hostwriter
$200,000
To build out their decentralized newsroom's content and distribution strategy. To help journalists collaborate across borders.
Human Dignity Trust
$810,000
To work towards the decriminalization of LGBT people through strategic litigation and legislative reform.
I-SEEED
$440,000
To further the development, adoption, and consolidation of an International Open Data Charter, which guides the creation and implementation of open data policies and initiatives of governments.
ICT Watch
$241,000
To extend and expand the capacity building workshops on privacy and digital literacy in Indonesia.
IDEAS
$300,000
To develop advocacy tools and strategic communications and to support their research into financial transparency.
ideas42
$247,800
To support their program of applied behavioral design and empirical field research in Africa, Latin America, and India.
IDFI
$390,000
To support the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information's 3G project: Good Governance for Georgia.
Igualada Film LLC
$250,000
To support IGUALADA, a film that tells the story of Francia Marquez, the first Afro-Colombian woman to run for president of Colombia.
InfluenceMap
$121,270
To develop an Ad Tracker to track, store and analyze advertising on the Facebook UK platform. To create awareness for disinformation/misinformation and green-washing propagated by fossil fuel corporations and other vested interests in relation to climate news.
Infonet
$99,942
To develop open source technologies that give individuals the ability to share public information for democratic social action.
Iniciativa Latinoamericana por los Datos Abiertos (ILDA)
$711,610
To expand its work on open data through applied research, experimental pilots, and agenda building.
Institute for Integrated Transitions
$300,000
To support the work of their Inclusive Narratives Practice Group, which is an advisory platform on the need to construct and promote inclusive social and political narratives as part of any negotiation, dialogue, or transition process taking place.
Institute for Philanthropy
$65,000
To co-sponsor a one-day event in London on September 2011, themed Technology for Development, that showcases the role of technology in social change in the developing world.
Institute for Public Policy Research
$66,000
To support profound reform of the auditing industry in the UK through a program of research, policy development, and engagement with business and political stakeholders.
Institute for Strategic Dialogue
$185,000
To deliver an operational review and analysis of the European Parliamentary elections projects and findings.
Institute of Digital Development for Latin America and the Caribbean (IDD LAC)
$145,000
To reduce the prevalence of misinformation and disinformation on social media in Argentina ahead of the 2023 presidential election.
Instituto Betty & Jacob Lafer
$40,000
This is a philanthropic organization that focuses on empowering Brazilian organizations and offering support to agendas such as the defense of democracy, public security, data & digital rights, and human rights.
Instituto Cultura e Democracia
$210,000
To strengthen Desinformante as a platform and specific connected initiatives that have a role in monitoring and holding social media platforms accountable in Brazil's 2022 elections and the initial months of the new government.
Instituto de Referencia Negra Peregum
$250,000
To support the Peregum Black Reference Institute.
Instituto de Tecnologia e Sociedade do Rio de Janeiro (ITS)
$1,555,000
This is a non-profit that uses technology opportunities to drive positive social change. To support democracy and technology, algorithmic accountability, disinformation, and computational propaganda.
Instituto Igarape
$1,330,000
This is a think and do tank committed to safety, security and justice with operations across Latin America and Africa.
Instituto Socioambiental (ISA)
$250,000
This is a non-profit NGO that seeks to ensure the rights of Indigenous peoples in Brazil.
Instituto Update
$1,095,000
This is a Brazilian organization that fosters civic engagement and political innovation in Latin America, seeking increased representation in politics and higher trust in democracy. To advance campaigning, storytelling, and research to improve the presence of women and other underrepresented groups in institutional politics.
Instituto Vladimir Herzog
$200,000
This is a Brazilian civil society organization founded in 2010, which seeks to defend the values of democracy, human rights, and freedom of expression.
International Budget Partnership (IBP)
$2,600,000
To support IBP's Kenya and South Africa country programs. To support the International Budget Partnership's pilot project to develop a real-time survey tool that would automatically provide information on the transparency of budgets in countries around the world.
International Budget Partnership Kenya
$400,000
To support IBP Kenya in influencing the inclusivity, transparency, and responsiveness of national and county budgets, especially on budget execution.
International Center for Journalists (ICFJ)
$2,603,050
To map the impact of the pandemic on journalism, and describe how journalists and news organizations are responding to it. To support the establishment of media organizations in Latin America.
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ)
$6,000,000
This is an investigative reporting enterprise and network of journalists and media outlets.
International Lawyers Project (ILP)
$168,000
To support local actors on economic inequality issues including corruption, tax reform, media freedom, and curbing illicit financial flows.
International Women's Media Foundation
$862,000
To support journalists around the world.
InternetLab
$1,015,000
This is a Brazilian civil society organization whose mission is to produce social and legal research and analyses to identify and clarify critical issues. To build the intellectual and evidential foundation for public awareness, action and policy-making.
Internews
$500,000
To provide funding to small, local news organizations worldwide in the face of COVID-19.
Intervozes
$110,000
To guarantee and improve the human right to communication, including freedom of expression and seeking, receiving and impart information and ideas, privacy, and data protection.
Involve
$330,000
To support the coordination and delivery of a citizens' assembly, in partnership with two parliamentary select committees.
Irish Council for Civil Liberties
$150,000
To deliver a program of work to protect the privacy rights and personal data of European-based internet users.
JoinPolitics
$200,000
This is a new organization and fund in Germany with a mission to seed capital for political talents. To empower political talent and teams (individuals who want to run for office, or teams who want to work on specific political issues/projects) to develop and implement innovative solutions to the big political challenges of our times.
Journalism Development Network
$1,200,000
This is an internationally renowned investigative journalism non-profit focused on organized crime and corruption.
Just Futures Law
$600,000
To provide legal support that strengthens the immigrant rights and racial justice movements, centering the leadership and lived experience of organizers, activists, and base-building community groups.
JustaPaz
$71,600
To support JustaPaz's 2022 Elections project in Colombia. To increase the representation of historically marginalized groups in Congress both before and after elections.
Katiba Institute
$1,500,000
To to achieve social transformation in Kenya through the Constitution. It uses research, collaborative workshops on constitutional issues, public interest litigation, and advocacy to achieve economic and social progress.
La Silla Vacia
For-profit figures not reported
This is an independent digital media outlet, which offers quality, investigative reporting about Colombian politics.
Laboratorio para la Ciudad
$100,000
This is a civic innovation office within the Mexico City government. To test and document its theory of change. To learn how to most effectively increase civic engagement and government responsiveness.
Lateral Economics
$65,000
To research the economic value of open data for the purpose of supporting policy recommendations in G20 meetings.
Lawyers Hub
$75,000
To support the convening of the 2022 Africa Law Tech Festival.
Leadership Academy for Development
$350,000
This is a program at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, which is designed to train government officials and business leaders from developing countries to promote private sector development through public policy.
Liberty
$2,000,000
This is an independent membership organization that challenges injustice, defends freedom, and campaigns to make sure everyone in the UK is treated fairly.
LightboxAfrica
$430,000
To support post-production of "Softie," a documentary film which follows Kenyan activist and photojournalist Boniface Mwangi as he enters mainstream politics to challenge social injustice.
Livity Africa
$720,664
To transform the lives of young people in South Africa by using youth-created media platforms and campaigns that engage, empower, and cause young people to act, including through political and democratic processes.
Local Development Research Institute
$75,000
To support an Open Government Partnership (OGP) Fellow engaged in the Kenya Open Government CSO Support program.
Macondo Book Society
$50,000
To support putting together the Macondo Festival as well as side events with the aim of creating avenues for youth to engage with information regarding the country's (and continent's) history and current affairs. To inform debates on political issues with the aim of promoting freedom of expression and strengthening democratic culture.
MAFINDO
$91,283
This is an Indonesian non-profit organization which does social media monitoring and platform-focused advocacy during the period leading up to and after the Indonesian election.
Magamba Network
$595,000
To increase youth participation in national civic processes and consolidating citizen engagement through digital media and the use of civic tech in Zimbabwe.
Making All Voices Count
$5,000,000
To grow the nascent technology for transparency and accountability sector, globally.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
$401,033
To fund the Omidyar Network-MIT Collaboration for Impact Assessment, a project to test theories of change for organizations in the government transparency sector.
Mathare Social Justice Centre
$80,000
To promote social justice through engaged community and social movement platforms.
McGill University
$165,000
To support the Max Bell School of Public Policy to participate as the research lead in the Digital Democracy Project, a multi-faceted initiative designed to monitor, study, and respond to digital threats to democracy in Canada.
medConfidential
$100,000
To campaign for confidentiality and consent in health and social care.
Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF)
$3,095,234
To provide financial and venture support to independent media organizations globally.
Media Legal Defence Initiative (MLDI)
$2,050,000
To provide legal defense to journalists under threat.
Media Monitoring Africa
$780,000
To support media monitoring, policy submissions, strategic litigation, and stakeholder engagement.
MediaJustice
$800,000
To support the Center for Media Justice, in partnership with Wellstone and United We Dream, in conducting three day-long local events that deliver grassroots digital security workshops to activists and organizers and engage them in related advocacy or educational events.
Memria
$100,000
To capture and curate stories of victims from the Colombian armed conflict.
Merdeka Center
$450,500
To carry out a youth empowerment and leadership program towards the goal of youth voter engagement and mobilization in semi-rural and rural communities.
Metta
$987,000
To provide core funding for Baraza Media Lab's space and program establishment.
Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO)
$2,050,000
To support a convening to increase awareness of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) among Latin American transparency organizations. To support a project by IMCO and Ciudadano Inteligente called Hunt for Electoral-Spending Monsters in Chile and Mexico.
Mideast Youth
$600,000
This is a group of websites that serves as an interactive and educational platform for its users throughout the Arab world, offering uncensored information, human rights abuses, personal anecdotes from underrepresented minorities, and articles on culture.
Migratory Notes
$75,000
This is a weekly guide to rapidly developing immigration issues for journalists, policymakers, lawyers, academics, advocates, and immigrants themselves.
More in Common
$4,300,000
This is an organization which aims to build communities and societies that are more resilient to the increasing threats of polarization and social division.
Mozilla Foundation
$2,752,140
To conduct public campaigns and coalition building in key EU member states and to partner with Global Progress to promote a policy agenda that defends democracy from digital threats.
Mutante
$75,000
To support a non-partisan 2022 Elections project in Colombia. To increase youth representation in 2022 Congress agendas, focusing on raising the voices of young people who mobilized and participated in the 2021 social protests.
mySociety
$7,075,000
This is a UK-based organization that provides technology, research, and data to help people globally to be active citizens.
Mzalendo
$64,200
To keep an eye on the Kenyan parliament.
Namati
$660,000
To support Namati's work in Kenya on the Right to Citizenship.
Nation Media Group
$165,000
To re-launch the Weekly Review with a special focus on youth and youth-related issues in Kenya.
National Conference on Citizenship
$369,000
To support projects related to the 2020 Census. To support a convening of Parliamentary Monitoring Organizations to discuss advocacy strategies to set global norms for legislative transparency which would be organized by the National Democratic Institutes.
NationBuilder
For-profit figures not reported
This is a software platform enabling leaders and communities to organize, rally supporters, and take action on causes and issues that matter to them.
Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI)
$5,790,000
This is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving countries' governance over their natural resources to promote sustainable and inclusive development.
Neo Philanthropy
$2,825,000
To support country efforts around our strategy on digital threats to democracy.
Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD)
$30,000
To increase the representation of underrepresented groups in policy-making through civic participation methodologies and building capacities of congress people to carry out citizen-focused legislation.
Network of European Foundations
$1,250,000
To renew support to Civitates - the Fund for Solidarity and Democracy in Europe. To establish a pooled fund to shape the direction of AI in Europe based on a diversity of actors and a plurality of goals that represents society as a whole.
New America
$1,080,000
To support the Ranking Digital Rights project. To provide project support to New America Foundation to "rethink the think tank". NAF will pilot a model of building a national network of public problem-solvers, offering a new model for public engagement and civic discourse that bridges local, state, and federal policy levels.
New Media Ventures
$2,600,000
This is a seed fund and angel network investing in media and technology startups that support advocacy movements, create new narratives, and drive civic engagement.
New Venture Fund
$1,234,00
To support Digital Action's work coordinating policy engagement and advocacy, and encouraging collaboration on digital rights. This funding is part of Luminate's participation in the NetGain Partnership, a philanthropic collaboration seeking to advance the public interest in the digital age. NetGain's current work is focused on addressing the harms wrought by Big Tech and exploring and advancing meaningful reform. Unrestricted grant to Nebula Fund, a new multi-year initiative that aims to strengthen the narrative power of progressive movements advancing gender justice to promote an inclusive, just and hopeful vision of the future.
New York University
$1,720,000
To provide support for the Membership Puzzle Project to identify and incubate innovative early-stage membership models globally. The Membership Puzzle Project is run by New York University's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. To collect and analyze data that increases the transparency of organized political messaging on major digital media platforms. To provide a public audit of voluntary corporate transparency and expose how organized information operations use digital advertising.
New/Mode
For-profit figures not reported; At least $20,000
This is a multi-channel advocacy and engagement platform that helps causes activate grassroots support, reach lawmakers, and win campaigns on the issues.
NewsDeeply
For-profit figures not reported
This is a media organization providing in-depth content on thematic topics.
NewsTrust
$100,000
This is a non-profit news network where users were able to reference news stories, rate those stories according to quality of journalism, post reviews, and add stories they found worthwhile.
Nexo
$1,170,000
This is a Brazilian award-winning, digital-only independent media start-up. To strengthen citizenship and democracy through information and data and champion the idea that respectful public debate.
NextRequest
For-profit figures not reported
To streamline the public records request process with a user-friendly, cloud-supported digital portal that makes it easier for civil servants to respond to the public.
No Ficcion
$85,000
To implement impact campaigns for films highlighting the crisis of impunity in Mexico.
None on Record
$302,500
To support AQ studios in building out its content and team as it scales its growth and to provide executive coaching support.
Nossas
$2,470,000
To expand its model for people-powered political participation at the city-level in Brazil, originally developed by Meu Rio.
Nuffield Foundation
$250,000
To support the work of the Ada Lovelace Institute, focusing on the Institute's responsive work on COVID-19 and technology, and the Institute's international engagement.
OBSERVACOM
$57,000
To support a collaborative effort between Access Now and Observacom, addressing content moderation practices and aiming to guarantee user's freedom of expression online in Argentina.
Olas Altas Productora
$50,000
To support an impact campaign for "La Vocera", a film about the first indigenous woman to formally aspire to the Mexican Presidency. The impact campaign for the film is designed to contribute to the effort of making Mexican politics more inclusive and representative.
Olduvai Ltd
$300,000
This is a 24-month grant to support Scrolla's ambitions to establish Scrolla.Africa as the preeminent popular mobile news platform in South Africa, with the aim to expand its work into the rest of southern Africa, and later to create regional hubs in Nigeria and Kenya.
ONE Campaign
$4,390,000
This is an international advocacy organization to fund a campaign to crowd-source the next Millennium Development Goals. To support core operations and program work for Open Cities Lab. To facilitate reliable information to citizens of various countries, especially Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa, to enable participation in civic and political life.
Open Collective Foundation
$275,000
To support internet freedom projects through the "Internet Freedom Support Fund", jointly created with the Ford Foundation.
Open Contracting Partnership
$6,150,000
To support the Open Contracting Partnership to continue advancing work globally to make public procurement more transparent and effective.
Open Data Charter
$500,000
This is a project of the Fund for the City of New York. It is a collaboration between governments and organizations working to open up data based on a shared set of principles.
Open Data Institute (ODI)
$8,450,000
This is an organization working to build an open, trustworthy data ecosystem, where people can make better decisions using data and manage any harmful impacts.
Open Data Manchester
$500,000
This is a community group that advocates for responsible and intelligent data practice in Greater Manchester and beyond.
Open Government Partnership (OGP)
$6,780,000
This is an initiative launched in 2011 across 38 countries to ensure greater transparency of government and improved means for citizens of holding governments accountable.
Open Institute
$282,000
To support its operations and the Active Citizen Data and Government Responsiveness programs.
Open Knowledge Foundation (OKF)
$3,815,000
This is a central player in the movement for open, useful information, which has helped build communities of practice and tools to facilitate greater and more efficient publication and consumption of data.
Open Knowledge Foundation Germany
$1,315,000
Focuses on open data, transparency, and access to information through the use of FOI.
Open Rights Group
$75,000
To explore the impact that British negotiations to leave the EU, alongside the agreement of new trade agreements, will have on data and digital rights protections.
Open Secrets
$635,000
To provide general operating support for Open Secrets' continued investigations and litigation against economic crimes.
Open the Government
$200,000
This is an organization that provides a platform for the community of open government-focused NGOs in the U.S. to collaborate on issues of shared importance.
OpenCorporates
$1,100,000
This is the largest open database of companies in the world.
openDemocracy
$1,280,000
This is an independent media organization.
OpenOil
$2,018,285
This is a provider of financial analysis and commercial advice on natural resource assets for public policy, in creating a community of open financial modelers. To support a project by OpenUp and Grassroots called Delivering the Accountability Stack. To support Code for South Africa, a civic technology lab using data and technology for social change.
Our Future Engagement and Empowerment Initiative
$200,000
To support the Run-To-Win initiative that aims to increase the capacity and chances of youths in Nigeria to participate and get voted into elected offices.
Outriders
$300,000
This is an independent media company based in Poland.
Paradigm Initiative
$105,000
To strengthen the data and digital rights ecosystem in Nigeria. PIN will address threats and challenges to digital rights by building capacity of civil society actors, supporting strategic litigation efforts, and raising public awareness of digital and data rights more broadly.
Paradigm Leadership Support Initiative (PLSI)
$250,000
This is a civic organization working to promote citizens' active participation in the Nigerian public audit through its Value for Money project.
Paris Peace Forum
$1,405,000
This is an event to mobilize all stakeholders for collective action and a resource to help implement and scale-up the most promising governance projects. To demonstrate that international cooperation is key to tackling global challenges.
ParliamentWatch
$400,000
To support a cross-media campaign to promote Candidate Check, a vote-matching platform, leading up to the 2017 federal elections in Germany.
Partnership on AI
$1,500,000
This is a multi-stakeholder organization that brings together academics, researchers, civil society organizations, companies building and utilizing AI technology, and other groups working to better understand AI's impacts.
People, Technology, Government Conference (PTGC)
$120,000
To support a one-day event in 2012 which showcases the use of technology tools for open government and for enabling increased transparency and accountability.
Personal Democracy Forum
$600,000
To support a two-day event in 2014 exploring the interaction between open internet and open government. To support the creation of The DoTank, a news-blog/online hub for reporting and analysis on groups working globally on government transparency, anti-corruption, open data, and civic hacking. To support the WeGov project, a hub for current reporting, analysis, and background on groups working on government transparency, operated by the Personal Democracy Forum. To support Personal Democracy Media's efforts to develop a new facility in New York, to be called the Personal Democracy Center, which will serve as an accelerator / incubator for civic start-ups and related purposes.
PersonalData.IO
$150,000
This is an organization committed to developing, supporting, and stewarding infrastructure that enables, accelerates, and maximizes individual and collective empowerment around personal data.
Pilot Media Initiatives
$145,000
To provide a project grant to PMI to, in collaboration with Buni Media. To launch the first season of a news and political satire TV show in Kenya.
Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa (PPLAAF)
$280,000
To defend and support whistleblowers, and conducts strategic litigation and advocacy on their behalf where their disclosures speak to the public interest of African citizens.
Plop Media
$230,000
To produce satirical multimedia content focused on political topics that engage young audiences in Latin America.
PODER
$695,000
To renew support to their Transparency Technologies program and its work in data for accountability, whistleblowing promotion, and data and investigative journalism.
Poder Ciudadano
$38,439
To establish accountability mechanisms to keep track of the electoral campaign expenditures during the national 2019 elections in Argentina.
POGO Action
$250,000
To support the FACT Coalition project.
Pop Culture Collaborative
$1,000,000
To advance just, authentic narratives of immigrants, communities of color, women, LGBTQ, and Muslims in pop culture with the purpose of creating a more equitable society. To support content creators, culture change strategists, and advocacy groups. To sponsor audience engagement evaluation research. To grow the pop culture for social change field through convening, events, and immersive learning sessions.
Poynter Institute
$1,260,000
To support their fact-checking network.
Praekelt Foundation
$1,100,000
To support JoziHub, a technology hub in Johannesburg. To develop new technology ventures by creating an environment where social entrepreneurs, techies, and other stakeholders can interact.
Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism
$200,000
To improve Nigeria's investigative journalism landscape, promoting press freedom in Nigeria, and for the expansion of Dubawa, their fact checking platform.
Privacy International (PI)
$6,650,000
This is an organization which is building a global movement for the rights of citizens to privacy, contesting growing state surveillance and challenging data exploitation.
Producciones P.P. Mexico
$175,000
To support a documentary about journalists in Mexico.
Project Isizwe
$472,533
To support their WiFi's TV project that delivers hyper-local news content to low-income communities via online channels.
Project On Government Oversight (POGO)
$1,575,000
This is a bipartisan watchdog focused on bringing to light and rectifying systemic abuses of power in the U.S. federal government.
Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC)
$1,200,000
To support the development of Budeshi, a project that links procurement data to public services using the Open Contracting Data Standard.
Public Benefit Journalism Research Centre
$43,000
This is a group of journalists, media experts, funders, academics, and lawyers working together to research Public Benefit Journalism.
Public Citizen
$200,000
To support the Digital Trade Alliance project.
Public Interest News Foundation
$100,000
This is a charity supporting public interest news organizations through capacity building, leadership training, advice, and networking to unlock their potential to strengthen democracy.
Public Services International (PSI)
$65,000
To support the growth of labor and civil society co-ordination to build power for change in corporate tax and transparency rules.
Publica
$120,000
To support Reportagem Publica, a crowd funded network of independent, investigative journalists, which will signal to other non-profit journalism organizations that crowd funding represents a viable revenue stream.
Publish What You Fund
$330,000
To support an international framework and working group on "Joined Up Data."
Publish What You Pay (PWYP)
$4,080,000
To support organizational development of their international secretariat and their open data programming.
Purpose
$175,000
To research the civic tech movement to better inform policies, products, investments, and civic actions.
Quebrando o Tabu
$240,000
This is a Brazilian, social-first independent media outlet, which covers issues of policy, politics, and human rights.
Quid
$400,000
This is a non-profit dedicated to improving Brazil's public debate by researching, testing, and implementing new narratives against disinformation and hate speech.
Race Forward
$600,000
To support organizations in creating and amplifying more humanizing immigration narratives.
Rappler
For-profit figures not reported
To invest in Philippine Depository Receipts, which support Rappler Holdings Corporation, the parent company of Rappler, a Philippines-based social news network and video website.
Red en Defensa de los Derechos Digitales (R3D)
$420,000
To build evidence-based approaches to defend human rights in the digital realm.
Refugees United
$2,600,000
This is a non-profit organization that uses an online forum and mobile phones to help refugees reunite with family.
Reimagine Politics Foundation
$1,700,000
To develop a nascent ecosystem in Europe working to reimagine political power: who holds it; how it's exercised; and how people connect to it.
Reporters Without Borders
$1,300,000
To assist the Forum on Information and Democracy expand its influence into new geographies outside Europe and build institutional capacity.
Represent Justice
$1,000,000
To support the Represent Justice campaign, launched in conjunction with the film Just Mercy, to change the culture and conversation about criminal justice in the United States.
Res Non Verba
$2,281,847
To support Change.org Argentina's citizen mobilization efforts, with a focus on campaigns and expanding its reach at the local level. To support the Open Data Charter, a project of the Fund for the City of New York. The Open Data Charter is a collaboration between governments and organizations working to open up data based on a shared set of principles. To support Change.org Argentina in developing an online platform to provide citizens with opportunities for civic engagement and interaction with candidates.
Responsible Mining Foundation
$107,000
To support the first edition of the Responsible Mining Index, designed to encourage improvement in responsible mining by transparently ranking the performance of some of the world's largest mining companies on ESG issues, and highlighting leading practice.
Results for Development Institute
$400,000
To support the Governance Data Alliance, a community of organizations and individuals involved in the production and usage of governance data.
Rhize
$150,000
To coach, mentor, and build more people-powered movements that amplify the voices of historically marginalized groups and communities.
Rhodes University
$25,500
To fund the Highway Africa journalism conference, the largest annual gathering of African journalists in the world.
Right2Know
$240,000
This is a grassroots organization raising public awareness, mobilizing communities, and undertaking research and targeted advocacy that aims to ensure the free flow of information necessary to meet people's social, economic, political, and ecological needs.
Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors
$3,500,000
To provide unrestricted core funding to support Africa No Filter in advancing their narrative change work across the African continent. To support IFPIM to pilot its programs in its geographies of focus. To support Pop Culture Collaborative in re-granting to content creators, culture change strategists, and advocacy groups; sponsoring audience engagement evaluation research; and growing the pop culture for social change field through convening, events, and immersive learning sessions for practitioners and philanthropists.
Ruta Civica
$300,000
To support Aina's programmatic work in advancing the participation of women in Mexican politics by supporting them at every level (neighborhood, city, state, and national levels) through training, mentorship, and other activities.
SAFEnet
$199,900
To work on digital rights violation monitoring and in increasing the digital rights and digital security awareness in Indonesia.
Sahara Reporters
$2,897,000
This is a citizen media website that encourages citizen journalists to publish stories focusing on corruption in Nigeria.
Samosa Festival Ltd
$30,000
To promote freedom of expression and democratic culture through digitization and dissemination of visual representations of history and hosting sessions to engage the youth on themes.
School of Politics, Policy and Governance
$400,000
This is a school that seeks to build a base and pipeline of a new value-based and disruptive thinking political class with the requisite knowledge and skills to solve complex problems of development.
SEATTI
$2,210,000
The Southeast Asia Technology and Transparency Fund is a partnership between Omidyar Network and Hivos supporting technology-driven civil society organizations working on media and government transparency in Southeast Asia. To support the Openness Marketplace Conference, which seeks new ideas relating to the Open Government Partnership.
SeeClickFix
For-profit figures not reported
This is a web and mobile platform which enables citizens to report non-emergency issues, such as potholes, graffiti, abandoned vehicles or property, to their cities in order to improve service delivery and citizen engagement with local government.
Seedstars World
$340,000
To run national and regional competitions and workshops and grow the civic tech ecosystems in Myanmar, Zimbabwe, and Central and Eastern Europe.
Skylight Pictures
$175,000
To support a new endeavor called the Toolbox, which creates a platform where citizen activists and other stakeholders, such as app developers and large non-profits, can actively engage on social issues.
Social Impact Fund
$100,000
To support A Day of Unreasonable Conversation, bringing together television writers, producers, and executives across networks to connect with world leaders, policy makers, social entrepreneurs, and activists to discuss challenges and opportunities facing the world in 2019.
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP)
$1,140,000
To build awareness around the Freedom of Information Act in Nigeria, to support citizens and civil society to make use of it, and to conduct strategic litigation to build jurisprudence around the right of the public to access information.
Spaces for Change
$50,000
To support the tracking and documentation of civic space issues arising from the 2023 general elections, the Nigerian judiciary's contributions to these, and provide recommendations on appropriate responses.
Spotlight on Corruption
$130,000
To highlight and seek to remedy the accountability gap in which the large accounting firms operate.
Stanford University
$400,000
To support their Cyber Policy Center in their research, project, and writing/editing work
Stears
For-profit figures not reported; At least $150,000
To support Stears NG, which publishes financial and economic news and analysis in Nigeria. To support in building an internet enabled election situation room designed to engage an estimated audience of 33 million Nigerians.
Stiftung Neue Verantwortung (SNV)
$2,980,000
This is a non-profit think tank based in Berlin. To bring together privacy advocates engaged in the surveillance debate. To establish a privacy policy framework with democratic legitimacy. To compare the US and the EU on their capabilities to address social, economic, and political challenges associated with AI. To research and develop policy on technology issues including data governance, fake news, and surveillance. Focuses on the intersection of technology and public policy such as the impact of AI, intelligence oversight on surveillance, and disinformation in political campaigns.
Sundance Institute
$1,200,000
To support independent filmmakers and finalize the ongoing evaluation of the Sundance Institute | Luminate Fund. Provides non-recoupable grants to independent artists working across documentary, narrative, episodic, and emerging media projects that address the areas in which Luminate strives to have impact.
Sunlight Foundation
$19,084,000
To explore the merit and feasibility of an Open Data Charter, an initiative that would examine and develop policies and resources that countries could use to build new open data reforms. To increase government transparency in the United States.
Swish Labs
$48,000
To fund specialized engineering and design services from Swish Labs, delivered to Robhat Labs, which is building a user-facing software that detects and labels automated and spam accounts on Twitter.
Tactical Technology Collective
$500,000
This is an organization that works globally to help transparency and accountability activists, citizen journalists, and human rights advocates use information and technology effectively in their work.
TASCK
$350,000
TASCK is a creative company with access to a wide network of creative influencers across many fields, across Nigeria and Africa. This includes the movie, music, art, fashion, etc. industries. Works to harness the power of creators for advocacy and social change.
Tax Justice Network
$100,000
To support the work of the Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation (ICRICT) on global corporate tax reform.
Tax Justice Network Africa
$450,000
This is a pan-African initiative consisting of a network of members in 15 African countries.
Tax Justice UK
$90,000
To support a Tax Reform Project of Tax Justice UK.
Temblores
$515,000
To support work in Colombia. Focuses on increasing visibility of systematic police violence while supporting citizens' capacity and tools to access the justice system. To strengthen their legal support for police violence victims, the Observatory on Police Violence and Global Network Against Police Violence.
The Accountability Lab
$820,000
To support programming, operations and learning for their South Africa and Nigeria country programs.
The AI Now Institute
$1,500,000
Located at New York University, this is an research center dedicated to understanding the social implications of artificial intelligence across four key domains: rights and liberties, labor and automation, bias and inclusion, and safety and critical infrastructure.
The B Team
$1,755,946
To support the Governance & Transparency program.
The Bristol Cable
$725,000
To support their investigations and build a media co-operative. This is an independent media cooperative in Bristol that is redefining media ownership and providing journalism that holds power to account.
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism
$1,800,000
To support their journalism and investigations. This is an independent, not-for-profit media organization.
The Citizens
$975,000
To establish and set-up of the Real Facebook Oversight Board. To use journalism to hold government and big tech to account.
The Conversation Indonesia
$200,000
To curate and distribute research-based content on digital rights, digital democracy, and other socio-political issues in Indonesia.
The Correspondent
For-profit figures not reported
This is an international expansion of the Dutch membership-based journalism model, De Correspondent. In 2018, Luminate invested $950,000 in The Correspondent. The Correspondent was not able to sustain its operations and shut down in December 2020.
The Democratic Society (Demsoc)
$750,000
To support the 'Public Square' project, a partnership between the Democratic Society and mySociety. To develop and build consensus around common social and technological infrastructure to support citizen participation in the democratic process at local and regional level in the UK.
The Engine Room
$350,000
To ensure that social justice movements can use technology and date in safe, responsible and strategic ways, while actively mitigating the vulnerabilities created by digital systems.
The Ferret
$360,000
This is an independent media cooperative based in Scotland. To build a media co-operative.
The Glitch
$150,000
This is a not-for-profit organization working towards ending online abuse.
The Governance Lab
$1,570,690
To strengthen the ability of institutions and people to make better decisions and solve public problems. To research and produce case studies on the impact of open data. To support a project by The Governance Lab, Reboot, and the New York City Mayor's Office called Powering New Yorkers via NYC Open Data.
The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
$75,000
To develop the Justice, Equity and Technology Table. To create routines and structures for knowledge exchange and coordination between civil society practitioners on issues of justice, data-driven technologies, and their governance.
The Markup
$1,550,000
This is a non-profit newsroom that investigates how powerful institutions are using technology to change our society. The Markup undertakes data driven investigations of tech and how it influences society.
The Open Trust
$350,000
To support the investigations and output of openDemocracyUK.
The Praxis Project
$500,000
To advocate for legislation and executive actions to protect and provide permanent immigration status relief to Black undocumented immigrants facing the dual threat of xenophobia and racism.
The Signals Network
$50,650
To fund the launch of their Tech Accountability Project (TAP) in Europe. To support whistleblowers and coordinate media investigations to the technology industry to Europe. To empower more whistleblowers and show the impact whistleblowers make.
The University of Oxford Development Trust
$1,499,127
To support the University of Oxford 's Internet Institute's Computational Propaganda Program. To investigate the interaction of algorithms, automation, and politics. To create a new research program called the Governance of Emerging Technologies.
The University of Texas at Austin
$25,000
To support International Symposium on Online Journalism. Focused on new kinds of independent, alternative journalism in Latin America.
The World Investigates (TWI)
$355,000
This is an organization comprised of award-winning journalists and filmmakers focused on supporting African investigative journalism and bringing those stories to a global audience.
Tifa Foundation
$369,553
To research and engage policy in the Health and Education sectors during COVID-19 and its impact towards public service delivery in Indonesia. Carries out research, convening, and policy advocacy work.
Tilburg University
$200,000
To support policy specialist position for the Global Data Justice project at Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology and Society.
Tous Elus
$100,000
To increase representation in politics by providing people with the information they need to participate in elections. To support people who typically do not stand for election to do so. To build national and local community.
Transparencia Mexicana
$912,507
To provide support to advance anti-corruption efforts in Latin America through Transparency International chapters in Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil.
Transparency & Accountability Initiative (TAI)
$2,368,500
To support effective grant-making by the participating donors. This is a donor collaborative working toward a world where citizens are informed and empowered, governments are open and responsive, and collective action advances the public good. Luminate is a founding member of TAI, and participates in this collaborative alongside many of the largest donors in the transparency, accountability, and participation field.
Transparency International
$640,244
To support global institutional advocacy and national-level advocacy around fiscal transparency, contracting, and open data.
Transparency International EU
$330,000
To advocate on country-by-country reporting on corporate tax and the strengthening of corporate accountability standards in the EU.
Transparency International UK (TI-UK)
$2,009,023
To build on the outcomes of the UK Anti-Corruption Summit to establish global standards on anti-corruption practices such as beneficial ownership transparency.
Tshisimani Centre for Activist Education
$150,000
To grow their regional work. To operate as an activist education centre across multiple African countries.
Tumml
$300,000
This is an organization in San Francisco that operates as an accelerator, supporting early stage companies developing innovative consumer products and services that improve urban living.
UK Field Study
$100,000
To fund the Field Study on UK Tax Payer Statements. This will research the impact of distributing to UK taxpayers statements that explain how their taxes are being spent.
Undocublack
$500,000
To advocate for legislation and executive actions to protect and provide permanent immigration status relief to Black undocumented immigrants facing the dual threat of xenophobia and racism.
Unite US
For-profit figures not reported
To scale the platform to reach more customers in more verticals and geographies. To design, build, and deliver software to streamline the delivery of health and human services. This is an outcome-focused technology company that builds coordinated care networks of health and social service providers.
United Nations Foundation
$2,000,000
To support Verified, an initiative launched by the United Nations to combat the growing scourge of COVID-19 misinformation by increasing the volume and reach of trusted, accurate information. This grant was funded by The Omidyar Group and is managed by Luminate.
United We Dream
$3,200,000
To empower undocumented young people to develop their leadership, their organizing skills, and to develop their own campaigns to push for justice and dignity for U.S. immigrants and all people.
United We Dream Action
$800,000
To support UWD Action's C4 policy advocacy efforts. To ensure full protections for undocumented immigrants in the United States.
University of Johannesburg
$100,000
To support the Media Policy and Democracy Project (MPDP). To further investigative reporting of instances of state-surveillance in Southern Africa.
University of Massachusetts Amherst
$266,450
Aims to support original research, develop policy advocacy, and provide capacity-building on technology accountability in/from the global South.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
$750,000
To support UNC's Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life (CITAP).
University of the Witwatersrand Foundation
$430,000
To support the Civic Tech Innovation Network, a community of practice based at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. Aims to advance research, learning, and application in the field of civic tech in southern Africa. This is a program of the Journalism and Media Department.
Univision
$100,000
To educate Spanish-speaking audiences on how to identify misinformation and disinformation related to the 2020 census and election. Helps to identify and debunk disinformation aimed at reducing Latino-participation in these events.
Upturn
$1,500,000
This is an organization that promotes equity and justice in the design, governance, and use of digital technology. To promote equity and justice in the design, governance, and use of digital technology.
Urban Innovation Fund
For-profit figures not reported
This is a venture fund focused on identifying early-stage innovators disrupting entrenched industries.
Ushahidi
$3,680,000
To support SwiftRiver. This is a free and open source platform that helps people make sense of a lot of information in a short amount of time. It offers organizations an easy way to combine natural language/artificial intelligence process, data-mining for SMS and Twitter, and verification algorithms for different sources of information. To help improve the bottom up flow of information.
Veritas
$64,900
To support strategic litigation for improved electoral processes, media freedom and transparency in Zimbabwe.
Versa
For-profit figures not reported
This is a for-profit civic startup developing digital products to deliver engaging, factual information to citizens through partnerships with online publishers.
Viamo
$1,435,338
To support Voto's work with EiE. To help increase National Assembly transparency and accountability via an advocacy campaign.
Victory Institute
$589,254
To strengthen the network and skills of LGBTQI+ leaders across Latin America. To produce a two-volume research on the regional situation of the political participation of LGBTQI+ persons. To develop institutional capacity and resilience of the LGBTQI+ movement in Brazil.
Viewfinder
$200,000
To continue and expand their investigations into police abuses and impunity. To scale its model for long term, data-driven investigations.
VoteRunLead
$200,000
This is a nonpartisan organization focused on increasing women's political representation at the local and state level in the U.S.
Vox Public
$50,000
To support running a network of rights and justice NGOs, movements, lawyers, and academics to monitor the state of emergency in France during COVID-19.
Washington Office on Latin America
$1,900,000
To foster civil society efforts in the region that seek to build democratic governance, attack systemic corruption, defend human rights, secure peace, and promote equity, especially in Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, and Mexico.
Well Told Story
$1,083,340
To support Well Told Story's 24-month Governance Campaign.
Where is my Transport
For-profit figures not reported
This is an integrated mass transit solution for emerging markets, focused on providing public transport data and technologies that enrich services, empower people, and enable innovation.
Wingu
$742,147
Focuses on expansion and professionalization of tech engagement, civic impact, and experimentation with sustainability models.
Women Win
$450,000
To support Numun Fund, the first dedicated funding for feminist tech in, and for the Larger World, aka the Global South. Its aim is to seed and sustain feminist technology infrastructure for movement organizing, understanding that digital technologies to be an important part of movement infrastructure.
Women's Legal Centre
$50,000
This is a public interest litigation non-profit that works to create a South Africa in which women and people identifying as women are free from violence, empowered to ensure their own reproductive and health rights, free to own their own share of property, have a safe place to stay, and are empowered to work in a safe and equitable environment.
World Federation of United Nations Associations
$150,000
To hire two coordinators to influence the SDG process in its final year before the 15-year goals are set.
World Press Freedom Day
$200,000
To support the Center for International Media Assistance. This is a Washington DC-based organization leading the organizing committee for World Press Freedom Day, celebrated with a series of events in DC from May 1-3, 2011.
World Wide Web Foundation
$3,250,000
The World Wide Web Foundation was established in 2009 by Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee to advance the open Web as a public good and a basic right.
XYZ Show
$930,000
To support Buni Media, which is a Kenyan non-profit producing creative digital content challenging the country's socio-political status quo.
Yaaj Mexico
$210,000
To enhance the political and civic participation of the LGBTI+ community in Mexico.
Yar'Adua
$330,000
To protect human rights defenders such as journalists, media houses and civil society partners in Nigeria who are victims of the shrinking civic space in Nigeria. To sponsor a conference on new media and governance, organized by the Shehu Musa Yar'adua Foundation and Enough is Enough.
Yiaga Africa
$350,000
To support youth and women's civic participation in Nigeria. To support operations and activities of its Centre for Legislative Engagements during Covid-19.
Yo Propongo
$130,000
To develop an online platform that will enable citizens in Mexico City to monitor the city's progress in achieving its operational and impact metrics.
Zenysis
For-profit figures not reported
This is a technology company dedicated to building the powerful, collaborative software that governments and international organizations need to confront the greatest challenges facing humanity.