Defending Democracy Together Institute

The democracy innovation fund (dif) incubates and accelerates pro-democracy infrastructure on the center-right. Dif grants to nascent organizations to put these organizations on a path to independent growth and sustainability. During 2024, dif saw significant progress by its grantees and made grants to new organizations.

In 2024, pillars of the community continued as a nonpartisan civic initiative dedicated to strengthening public confidence in election administration. The program convened community leaders and election officials through both virtual and in-person events, highlighting the essential role of trusted local institutions in supporting democratic processes. These efforts emphasized transparency, public education, and constructive dialogue around election systems.

The lyceum labs project undertook three main activities in 2024: (1) continuing to form and convene the leading to govern network. The biggest and most important activity in 2024 was engaging leaders of more than two dozen 501(c) organizations in the leading to govern network through quarterly calls and our first ever 2-day in-person convening in washington, dc. All of these organizations share a belief in and commitment to providing support to pragmatic, solutions-oriented elected officials at the state and local levels through nonpartisan research, analysis, and educational activities. (2) orchestrating the "leading to govern" symposium in democracy journal. Lyceum labs curated a symposium on "revitalizing political leadership" for the summer 2024 issue of democracy: a journal of ideas. In the symposium, leaders of seven network partners published essays on the opportunities that they are pursuing through their organizations' respective missions and what they have learned through their work. Lyceum labs worked with michael tomasky, editor of the journal, to envision this symposium, select the themes, and solicit the essays. Lyceum labs also sub-granted to the democracy journal to support its editorial work on this effort. This special issue served in effect as a public debut for the network. (3) continuing to conduct research for a forthcoming publication. Throughout 2024, emily cherniack of the new politics leadership academy and daniel stid of lyceum labs continued to conduct in-depth field interviews with local and state elected officials. These interviews marked the second phase of a two-year research project that will inform and inspire millennial and gen z americans who have leadership potential but right now see politics as the last place they can make a difference to consider running for office.in 2024, the presidential reform project advanced public understanding of executive branch accountability by publishing research and educational materials on issues such as the expanded role of the presidency, the insurrection act, ethics reform, domestic troop deployment, and emergency powers. These topics took on heightened importance as new challenges emerged to traditional understandings of executive power and as court rulings reshaped long-standing precedents. The project served as a trusted expert resource for policymakers and the public, highlighting the importance of safeguarding democratic norms and the rule of law.in 2024, the political emails program continued to collect, organize, and make public large volumes of email communications from political campaigns, legislators, ngos, and other groups engaged in advocacy and civic debate. The program's analysis has been used extensively in the media and provided educational resources to help audiences understand the role of online communication in shaping political discourse.