Most of us want to help build a healthier democracy. We want our communities to thrive, our institutions to be resilient, and everyone to have a seat at the table. We want to contribute to a future that's more connected, more representative, and more hopeful than the one we inherited.
But knowing how to help isn't easy.
Whether you're an individual making your first gift or a foundation stewarding millions of dollars, understanding the democracy landscape takes time, expertise, and relationships. There are thousands of organizations doing extraordinary work, each strengthening democracy in different ways. Figuring out which ones to support, and how they fit together, is difficult, even for experienced funders.
We started asking a different question:
What if Democracy Portfolios could do for democracy giving what index funds did for investing?
Instead of every donor needing to research hundreds of organizations, we build thoughtfully curated portfolios that make it easy to support an entire ecosystem working toward a common democratic goal.
For individuals, that means making one gift that supports a portfolio of vetted organizations working on a place, issue, or community they care about—receiving one tax receipt, one set of updates, and the confidence that their contribution is strengthening complementary strategies rather than relying on a single organization.
For foundations, philanthropic advisors, and other institutions, the same idea works at a different scale. We create research-backed portfolios aligned with your geographic, strategic, or community priorities, making it easier to move resources thoughtfully without needing to build deep in-house expertise on every corner of the democracy ecosystem.
Today we're building portfolios around priorities like defending the vote, strengthening rural civic infrastructure, supporting immigrant and undocumented communities, building power in the South, and investing in long-term democratic renewal. We're also partnering with organizations and funders to create custom portfolios that reflect their own priorities and networks.
Ultimately, we're trying to make supporting democracy feel less overwhelming—and more strategic, more accessible, and more impactful.
Adrienne Evans, Kat Calvin, and Meg Busse bring deep expertise and experience across philanthropy, democracy, civic participation, nonprofit leadership, and community organizing. They've known each other for nearly ten years, and came together around a shared belief that supporting democracy should be simpler, more strategic, and more accessible—and that thoughtful curation can help more people invest in the full ecosystem our democracy needs to thrive.
Adrienne Evans is a nationally recognized democracy organizer and strategist with more than fifteen years of experience building durable civic power in rural and working-class communities. Through her leadership of United Vision for Idaho and the United Vision Project, she has pioneered innovative approaches to organizing across difference, demonstrating how local relationships and broad coalitions create lasting democratic resilience.
Kat Calvin is a nationally recognized leader in civic participation and voting access. As founder of Spread The Vote and Project ID, she helped thousands of Americans secure the identification they need to vote and access essential services. Her deep expertise in voting rights, civic engagement, and removing barriers to participation grounds our portfolios in the realities of how democracy works—and what people need to take part.
Meg is a philanthropic strategist and community builder with nearly two decades of experience helping foundations, nonprofits, and networks address complex social challenges. As former COO of The Roddenberry Foundation, she stewarded more than $50 million in philanthropic investments, shaped large-scale funding initiatives, and cultivated communities of social innovators around the world. Across her work, she designs tools and environments that help people navigate complexity, see possibility more clearly, and take meaningful action together.
Our Theory of Change
Healthy democracies aren't built by individual organizations acting alone. They're built by ecosystems of organizations working across different strategies, geographies, and communities.
Some defend voting rights. Others organize locally. Others support civic participation, independent journalism, legal advocacy, mutual aid, or long-term movement building.
Each plays a different role.
Together, they create resilience.
Democracy Portfolios make it easier for individuals and institutions to support these complementary strategies together, strengthening the ecosystem rather than relying on any single organization.
Explore curated portfolios built by experts and give with confidence.
Abby Lab designs practical tools that help people navigate complexity and take meaningful action on society's biggest challenges. We believe many of today's most important problems aren't caused by a lack of caring—they're caused by fragmented information, overwhelming choices, and systems that make participation harder than it needs to be. Our work focuses on creating trusted, research-backed tools that make complex decisions simpler, strengthen civic participation, and help people act with greater confidence.
