Democracy Forward Foundation (DFF) is a left-of-center litigation and advocacy nonprofit created in early 2017 by high-level Democratic Party operatives. The organization was aggressive in targeting the first Trump administration.¹ Examples include an ethics complaint against the president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, alleging she was illegally promoting her clothing apparel line by wearing its products at official government functions,² and a lawsuit claiming the Trump administration was violating the U.S. Constitution by cutting the Obamacare advertising budget and permitting the sale of additional health coverage plans.³

The DFF board is chaired by Marc Elias, general counsel for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and head of the political law practice at Perkins Coie that represents almost all of the nation’s most powerful Democratic Party and left-leaning political advocacy organizations.⁴ Anne Harkavy, a legal counsel to the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and John Kerry, is the group’s former executive director.⁵ The rest of the DFF board and most of the other senior staffers have similar partisan work histories.¹

Mainstream media accounts of DFF’s campaigns in publications such as Newsweek ⁶ , the Washington Post⁷, and the Chicago Sun-Times ⁸ frequently fail to note the ideological agenda of DFF, often neutrally identifying it as a nonprofit “watchdog” organization.

Democracy Forward

Also see Democracy Forward

Democracy Forward (DF) is the 501(c)(4) advocacy affiliate of the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Democracy Forward Foundation. The two organizations appear to share the same website, board and employees. As of late 2018 the DFF/DF website showed 27 employees, including a ten-lawyer legal team. ¹

Democracy 2025

Democracy Forward and Democracy Forward Foundation operate a fiscally sponsored project called Democracy 2025. Founded in 2022, Democracy 2025 was created to develop and produce research reports and legal strategies that push back against policies both organizations consider to be “threats to our democracy.” In addition, Democracy 2025 acts as a coalition group including more than 280 organizations and 800 active individual participants. ⁹

According to its website, Democracy 2025 claims to have produced a “multimillion-dollar war chest” meant to “counter harmful, illegal, anti-democratic actions from the Trump-Vance administration.”  ⁹ The project also claims to take action against the Heritage Foundation-led Project 2025. ⁹ The project has also created a “Threat Matrix” of 221 policy issues to address and counter in regard to future policy from the second Trump administration. ¹⁰

In September 2024, the project released a report which claimed “far-right extremists” were already enacting “unpopular proposals” as according to Project 2025. Several examples it listed included Utah Governor Spencer Cox (R) signing the “Utah Constitutional Sovereignty Act, ” Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) pushing state-level border policies, and Missouri Governor Mike Parson (R) signing the “Second Amendment Preservation Act” into law. ¹¹

In October 2024, the project released a fact sheet regarding Project 2025 what it claims is the project’s aim to “target immigrants and expand executive power.”  ¹² The document also claims to highlight specific immigration policies that will be impacted such as changes to asylum protection law, changing migrants’ legal status, using the Insurrection Act to enforce immigration laws, using the Alien Enemies Act to deport minors, and allegedly reinstating a Muslim ban. ¹²

As of November 2024, its member organizations included: Accountable.US, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), American Oversight, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Brennan Center for Justice, Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington (CREW), Demand Justice, Lambda Legal, National Education Association (NEA), National Employment Law Project (NELP), National Health Law Program, National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), Public Citizen, Public Rights Project (PRP), State Democracy Defenders Action, Student Borrower Protection Center (SBPC), Alliance for Justice (AFJ), American Atheists, Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, Bend the Arc Jewish Action, Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), Center for Progressive Reform, Civic Engagement Beyond Voting (CEBV), Constitutional Accountability Center (CAC), the Council for Global Equality, Courage for America, Court Accountability, Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action, Detention Watch Network (DWN), Education Law Center (ELC), Educators for Excellence, Equal Rights Advocate, Equality California, Fair Wisconsin, Faith Commons, GenDemocracy, Honesty for Ohio Education, Human Rights First, Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC), Interfaith Alliance, International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), Just Solutions, Lawyers for Good Government, Movement Advancement Project (MAP), Muslim Advocates, National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC), National Center for Law and Economic Justice (NCLEJ), National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), National Immigration Law Center, National Immigration Litigation Alliance, National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund, National Partnership for Women and Families (NPWF), People for the American Way (PFAW) Foundation, Public Counsel, Public Funds Public Schools, Red Wine and Blue, Revolving Door Project, RISE Economy, Rural Progress, Silver State Equality, Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC), the Advocates for Human Rights, the Lawyering Project (TLP), Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), and Vera Institute of Justice (VIJ). ⁹

Funding

In 2017, Democracy Forward Foundation received $1,000,000 from the Center for American Progress (CAP) to support its “charitable educational activities.” ¹³

From 2018 to 2023, Democracy Forward Foundation received $16,000,000 from the Sandler Foundation. ^{14 15 16 17 18 19}

From 2021 to 2023, Democracy Forward Foundation received $4,155,785 from the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation. ^{20 21 22}

In 2022, Democracy Forward Foundation received $200,000 from the Democracy Fund. ²³

1. “Our Mission.” Democracy Forward. Accessed December 11, 2018. https://democracyforward.org/about/#.XBB3EGhKjIU
2. Kwong, Jessica. “IVANKA TRUMP SHOULD ‘KNOW BETTER’: WATCHDOG DEMANDS INVESTIGATION ON FIRST DAUGHTER WEARING HER COMPANY’S CLOTHES.” Newsweek. January 24, 2018. Accessed December 11, 2018. https://www.newsweek.com/ivanka-trump-should-know-better-watchdog-demands-investigation-first-daughter-789808
3. “City of Columbus v. Trump.” Democracy Forward. Accessed December 11, 2018. https://democracyforward.org/work/trump-sabotage-aca/#.XBCXJWhKjIU
4. “Marc E. Elias, Partner.” Perkins Coie. Accessed December 11, 2018. https://www.perkinscoie.com/en/professionals/marc-e-elias.html
5. “Anne Harkavy.” Democracy Forward. Accessed December 11, 2018. https://democracyforward.org/staff/anne-harkavy/#.XBCHImhKjIU
6. Kwong, Jessica. “IVANKA TRUMP WAS MORE THAN COMPLICIT IN OBAMA EQUAL PAY ROLLBACK—SHE HAD A HAND IN IT, WATCHDOG ALLEGES.” Newsweek. August 29, 2018. Accessed December 11, 2018. https://www.newsweek.com/ivanka-trump-equal-pay-complicit-obama-1093833
7. Portnoy, Jenna. “Paddlers sue Coast Guard for kicking them off the Potomac when Trump is golfing.” Washington Post. September 20, 2018. Accessed December 11, 2018. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/paddlers-sue-coast-guard-for-kicking-boats-off-potomac-when-trump-is-golfing/2018/09/20/dac363e8-bcbe-11e8-be70-52bd11fe18af_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.6dc15af13630
8. Spielman, Fran. “Chicago joins lawsuit accusing Trump of ‘sabotaging’ Obamacare.” Chicago Sun-Times. August 2, 2018. Accessed December 11, 2018. https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/chicago-lawsuit-accusing-trump-sabotaging-obamacare-affordable-care-act-sanctuary-cities/
9. “About.” Democracy 2025. Accessed November 24, 2024. https://www.democracy2025.org/about.
10. Graham-Caso, David. “280-Organization Coalition Launches Multimillion-Dollar Legal Effort To Combat Threats to People, Democracy Expected in Trump-Vance Administration.” Democracy 2025, November 13, 2024. Accessed November 25, 2024. https://www.democracy2025.org/blog/democracy-2025-launches.
11. “REPORT: Exposing How Project 2025 is Already Underway in the the [sic] States.” Democracy Forward, September 2024. Accessed November 25, 2024. https://democracyforward.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/DF-_-Project-2025-in-the-States-Fact-Sheet-%E2%80%94-Final.pdf.
12. “FACT SHEET: Exposing Project 2025’s Day One Plans to Target Immigrants, Expand Executive Power.” Democracy Forward, October 2024. Accessed November 25, 2024. https://democracyforward.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/FINAL-PRESS_-Project-2025-Fact-Sheet-on-Immigration.pdf.
13. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Center for American Progress. 2017. Schedule I, Part II – Grants and Other Assistance to Domestic Organizations and Domestic Governments.
14. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Sandler Foundation. 2018. Schedule I, Part II – Grants and Other Assistance to Domestic Organizations and Domestic Governments.
15. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Sandler Foundation. 2019. Schedule I, Part II – Grants and Other Assistance to Domestic Organizations and Domestic Governments.
16. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Sandler Foundation. 2020. Schedule I, Part II – Grants and Other Assistance to Domestic Organizations and Domestic Governments.
17. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Sandler Foundation. 2021. Schedule I, Part II – Grants and Other Assistance to Domestic Organizations and Domestic Governments.
18. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Sandler Foundation. 2022. Schedule I, Part II – Grants and Other Assistance to Domestic Organizations and Domestic Governments.
19. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Sandler Foundation. 2023. Schedule I, Part II – Grants and Other Assistance to Domestic Organizations and Domestic Governments.
20. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation. 2021. Schedule I, Part II – Grants and Other Assistance to Domestic Organizations and Domestic Governments.
21. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation. 2022. Schedule I, Part II – Grants and Other Assistance to Domestic Organizations and Domestic Governments.
22. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation. 2023. Schedule I, Part II – Grants and Other Assistance to Domestic Organizations and Domestic Governments.
23. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Democracy Fund. 2022. Schedule I, Part II – Grants and Other Assistance to Domestic Organizations and Domestic Governments.