ICONIQ Impact and Lever for Change have announced the three recipients of the $22 million Stronger Democracy Award competition.

Designed to address systemic barriers and advance structural reforms in three key areas—voting and elections, policy making, and civic engagement—the competition awarded $10 million to the Ballot Freedom Project: Building a Movement for Multiparty Democracy in America, $10 million to the Documenters Network: Civic Infrastructure for Connected Communities, and $2 million to Civic Revolution: Building a Diverse Democracy. Sponsored by Additional Ventures, the Patchwork Collective, and philanthropists Cipora and Vlado Herman, the Stronger Democracy Awards are the second in a series of grant competitions managed by Lever for Change in collaboration with ICONIQ Impact. Launched in 2019, ICONIQ Impact is ICONIQ Capital’s global platform for collaborative philanthropy.

“Having a functioning, representative, and equitable democracy is a prerequisite for moving the needle in any policy area—whether that be climate change, gender equity, criminal justice reform, or health care,” said ICONIQ Impact director Matti Navellou. “Yet, too often, funding for these organizations comes only reactively, during moments of crisis and turmoil. The Stronger Democracy Award was created to proactively uncover and fund innovative, scale-ready solutions for protecting our democracy year-round.”

“We need the ingenuity of these problem solvers now more than ever,” said Cecilia Conrad, CEO of Lever for Change. “The crisis of democracy and representation that we face presents an opportunity to reimagine our systems and help our government more effectively represent all of its citizens. We look forward to following the work of the Stronger Democracy Award recipients and hope to find more funding for all of the outstanding projects in this competition.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Lucky Photographer)