Supporting civic participation to create vibrant, engaged democracies between elections.

A Democratic Action Fund is a grant-making fund established by governments to invest in citizen deliberation and dialogue. Democratic Action Funds help to ensure strong public participation in the work of governments and public agencies between elections.

A Democratic Action Fund is administered by an arm’s length trust which each year receives five percent of the cost of running a national, regional or municipal election. Government departments, public agencies and sub-national governments apply to the fund to receive grants in support of high-quality deliberative initiatives like citizens’ assemblies and reference panels which involve residents in policy-making.

Democratic Action Funds provide the resources to help ensure sustained, high quality public participation in policy-making across government.

Democratic Action Funds are an important response to the challenges faced by democracies around the world. They create more seats at more tables and provide the resources necessary to engage residents in shaping the policies that shape their lives. By tapping into the capabilities of people we can ensure public institutions are more responsive to public concerns and rebuild trust.

Here’s how this might work using Canada as an example where the cost of running the 2021 national election was approximately $600 million. With a Democratic Action Fund in place, $30 million would be allocated to the Fund each year. This would make it possible to make approximately 140 $200,000 grants each year while retaining $2 million to fund research and administration. 140 Citizens’ Assemblies, with on average 48 members, would reach 1.4 million households and create service opportunities for almost 7,000 Canadians, returning 268,000 hours of voluntary time dedicated to public sector problem solving.

Yes. Any jurisdiction that holds regular elections can establish a Democratic Action Fund and use the funds resource to invest in civic dialogue and deliberation.

Democratic Action Fund grants are made to government departments and public agencies to principally support deliberative initiatives like Citizens’ Assemblies and Reference Panels but they may also be used to support public dialogues, participatory budgeting, or other initiatives that seek to advise governments by helping residents to share their perspectives, learn from one another and find common ground.

You can help spread the word about Democratic Action Funds by talking with local, regional or national politicians, writing an opinion piece in your local newspaper or promoting the concept using our social media tools.

You can reach the DAF team by sending an email to outreach@demafund.org. We are always happy to speak with democracy organizations, researchers as well as public officials and elected officials who are interested in learning more about the DAF concept.