MESSAGE FROM NED’s PRESIDENT and Chief executive Officer
As America’s Foundation for Freedom, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) has the privilege to support courageous people who are on the frontlines of building safer, freer, and more prosperous societies. Under often extraordinarily challenging conditions, these individuals are taking a leap of faith for freedom.
In 2024, democracy faced strong headwinds. Yet people around the world demanded greater freedoms. In many places, they achieved stunning political openings and democratic advances. During a “year of elections,” one in which millions of voters across the world cast ballots, we saw the power of democracy in action. Even in the toughest places, where standing up for individual rights can carry great peril, NED and its core institutes—the International Republican Institute (IRI), the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), and the Solidarity Center—supported remarkable people help themselves in pursuit of dignity and justice.
NED’s grantmaking advances fundamental democratic freedoms—speech, religious belief, association, and thought—by supporting grassroots movements, promoting free elections, combating authoritarian censorship, reinforcing the rule of law, and ensuring transparency and accountability.
Our entrepreneurial approach enables NED to do what big bureaucracies and private donors are often hard pressed to do. Distinct from many funders, NED’s grantmaking reflects the bottom-up spirit of democracy. We demonstrate what venture capital for democracy truly means—making modest, often early-stage investments to empower those who take the initiative in their own nations. The goal is simple: fuel liberty.
Authoritarian regimes are no longer content to repress dissent only within their borders. They are exporting repression, leveraging technology to surveil and silence, manipulating global institutions, and eroding the rule of law across the international system. From Beijing to Moscow to Tehran to Caracas to Pyongyang to Havana, autocrats are coordinating more aggressively and effectively than ever before to entrench authoritarianism and undermine democratic values worldwide.
However, the power and example of freedom in today’s world are strong. NED partners are at the cutting edge of the fight for democratic principles. In 2024, NED made over 1,900 grants across 91 countries, totaling $286 million, demonstrating our ability to deliver powerful, targeted support where it’s needed most—so that every dollar we invest is maximizing impact.
NED advances long-term U.S. interests and Administration priorities by helping to nurture democracy and freedom around the world. Throughout the year, we acted quickly to help trusted democratic partners on the ground take advantage of openings. We delivered grants to help grassroots actors achieve significant results. And we ensured that support reached those in the most repressive societies. We demonstrated the power of the support of the American people for those at the forefront of the struggle for freedom.
This annual report spotlights some of these game-changing investments. We invite you to join us to work in common cause for a more peaceful, prosperous, and democratic world.
Damon Wilson
President and CEO
2024 Year in Review
In 2024, NED reaffirmed its commitment to courageous partners, who are working in common cause for a more secure and prosperous future. NED continued to support fundamental democratic freedoms—speech, religious belief, association, and thought—by supporting grassroots movements, promoting free elections, combating censorship, and reinforcing the rule of law.
In 2024, NED’s Board of Directors approved $286 million for 1,905 projects in over 90 countries.
As part of its comprehensive approach to advancing democracy, NED maintained strong support for the NED family core institutes including NDI, IRI, CIPE, and the Solidarity Center.
Read more about NED’s grantmaking
NED 2024 Grant Listings
2024 Game-Changing Grants Deliver Impact
In 2024, our partners broke through censorship, exposed corruption, galvanized mass movements, and helped deliver international accountability—all with limited resources but unmatched courage, credibility, and local insight. These 10 examples show how targeted support to trusted, talented grantees can deliver transformational impact.
REad Examples of Game-Changing Grants
Democracy is more than an ideal—it delivers tangible benefits to individuals and societies. NED empowers those championing freedom in the face of authoritarianism. This essay explores how NED stands with courageous people struggling for freedom and democracy around the world.
REad Freedom’s Framework: The Case for Democracy
2024 Highlights
Kara-Murza Freed, but the Fight Continues
In a powerful 2024 milestone, Vladimir Kara-Murza’s release from Russian prison spotlighted the impact of global solidarity—uniting Congress, civil society, and NED to renew momentum in the effort to free all political prisoners in Russia and Belarus.
WATCH THE EVENT
Ukraine’s Fight, Democracy’s Future
At the 2024 Lipset Lecture, historian Serhii Plokhii explored Ukraine’s fight for freedom as a defining battle for democracy’s future. His powerful framing of the Russo-Ukrainian war as a modern David vs. Goliath resonated across borders and generations.
WATCH HERE
Young Defectors Lead Bold Call for Rights
In a powerful stand for freedom, young North Korean defectors signed the Washington Declaration, uniting behind a bold call to defend human rights. Their voices, rooted in lived experience and hope, are reinvigorating the global fight for change in North Korea.
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Securing Democracy in a Digital Future
NED and global partners highlighted the next generation's role in shaping digital governance. From high-level panels to youth-led workshops, the summit amplified bold ideas to secure democratic values in a rapidly evolving tech landscape.
READ MORE
Democracy Advocates Gather in South Africa
25 years after the first Global Assembly in Delhi, India in 1999, the World Movement for Democracy convened civil society leaders and thinkers from nearly 100 countries in Johannesburg, South Africa to celebrate democratic resilience while building greater unity.
READ MORE
Democracy Makes Progress in Bosnia and Herzegovina
In Sarajevo and Srebrenica, NED staff met with courageous civil society leaders, youth, and officials advancing democracy in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Amid rising regional threats, their work offers hope for reconciliation and justice.
READ MORE
30 Years Advancing Ideas That Power Democracy
Through cutting-edge research, international exchange, and thought leadership, the International Forum for Democratic Studies shapes the global conversation about democratic renewal and equips democratic actors to confront authoritarian threats worldwide.
READ MORE
2024 Democracy Awards
On June 13, the 2024 Democracy Awards paid tribute to the courage and achievements of NED partners from Ukraine, Tibet, and Sudan, as well as extraordinary champions of democracy around the world. NED also presented the Democracy Service Medal to Evgenia Kara-Murza and Vladimir Kara-Murza, Sikyong Penpa Tsering, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi.
Watch The Event Highlights
Regional Center for Human Rights
The Regional Center for Human Rights is an association of professional lawyers, advocates, human rights defenders, and activists. NED honored the Regional Center for Human Rights for ground-breaking work seeking accountability for forcibly abducted Ukrainian children.
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Tibet Action Institute
The Tibet Action Institute (TAI) provides training on strategic nonviolent action and promotes effective use of new information and communication technologies to help Tibetans in and outside Tibet. NED honored TAI for documenting the Chinese Communist Party’s attempts to erase Tibetan children’s identity.
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Waey Organization
The Waey Organization works to strengthen the capabilities of Sudanese citizens and empower young leaders in Sudan through diverse networks, dynamic training, and a commitment to dialogue. NED honored Waey Organization for empowering young Sudanese leaders to advance peace and democracy amidst violent conflict.
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Vladimir Kara-Murza and Evgenia Kara-Murza
Evgenia Kara-Murza received the Democracy Service Medal for her advocacy on behalf of all Russian political prisoners. Vladimir Kara-Murza was presented with the medal for his support for truth and democracy in Russia in September 2024 after his release from prison.
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Sikyong Penpa Tsering
NED honored Sikyong Penpa Tsering, President of the Central Tibetan Administration, with the Democracy Service Medal for his leadership defending democracy and human rights on behalf of all Tibetans.
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Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya
NED honored Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the leader of Free Belarus, with the Democracy Service Medal for her leadership and personal sacrifice to defend democracy over authoritarianism.
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Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell
NED honored Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell for his distinguished leadership in support of freedom and defense of democracy champions from Burma to Ukraine.
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Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi
NED honored Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi with the Democracy Service Medal for her outspoken support for democracy advocates around the world and for democratic allies including Taiwan and Ukraine.
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Impact Stories
Around the world, courageous people are challenging authoritarian regimes, fighting corruption, and defending human rights—often at great personal risk. NED is proud to stand with these activists, providing the critical support they need to expose injustice and build freer societies. Their efforts are strengthening democracies, ensuring fair economies, and making the world more stable and secure.
Read on to see how NED partners are making a real difference.
Venezuela: Courageous Leadership Amid Crackdown
In one of 2024’s most striking moments for democracy, Venezuela’s opposition won the presidential election, but the regime refused to accept the result. Through rapid action and resilient local partners, NED is helping sustain Venezuela’s democracy movement in a time of extraordinary repression.
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Syria: Building a Democratic Future After Assad
In December 2024, the Assad regime collapsed—the most significant opening for potential democratic change in Syria since 1971. As Syria navigates this critical juncture, NED is strengthening independent media and supporting democracy advocates as they work to tip the balance in favor of freedom.
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Bangladesh: Independent Journalism Driving Democratic Reform
Following the Hasina government’s collapse in Bangladesh in 2024, NED grantees served as courageous independent voices helping to inform the public, delivering independent, real-time coverage to both Bangladeshi citizens and international audiences.
READ MORE
Leaders from Nigeria, Uganda, and Niger: Women's Leadership in Africa
Three civil society leaders—Abosede George-Ogan from Nigeria; Becky Juna from Uganda; and Mariama Mamoudou from Niger—explain the importance of women’s political representation and the power of women’s collective action in Africa.
WATCH HERE
Supporting Democracy
NED’s democracy support activities, which effectively serve as an organizational R & D role, act as force multipliers for NED’s mission. The International Forum for Democratic Studies, the Center for International Media Assistance, the World Movement for Democracy, and the Reagan-Fascell Fellows Program complement NED’s grantmaking.
By systematically combining factors and leveraging resources, these R & D-oriented units help enable the organization to accomplish greater feats than without. This amplifies and grows the power of a given dollar. The research and development undertaken by the democracy support work contributes to the cause in the following ways:
- Stimulate new lines of effort and level up the work of NED partners by accelerating learning and delivering more systemic responses to complex challenges.
- Help NED’s grantees do more collectively by connecting NED’s extensive and unique network of activists, experts, journalists, opinion leaders, and others—and aligning them with common cause and strategic purpose.
- Bring new allies and resources into the movement in support of freedom, and inspire them to support the goals of NED’s grantees and partners.
Leveraging AI for Democracy
This essay series from the International Forum for Democratic Studies outlines possible paths toward a prodemocratic vision for artificial intelligence, offering insights on the critical questions that confront organizations seeking to deploy AI tools, how AI creates opportunities for citizens, and how AI could enable new forms of civic deliberation.
Read the Report
Exposing Global Authoritarian Narratives
A report from the International Forum for Democratic Studies analyzes how top-order authoritarian narratives serve as a vital tool to amplify autocrats’ influence. Narratives are a potent, asymmetric instrument of power and useful to authoritarians, to reframe events in a way that conforms to and propagates a particular worldview.
Read The Report
Fighting Kleptocracy in an Era of Geopolitics
This International Forum report analyzes how the counter-kleptocracy agenda has been shaped by, and is at times superseded by, geopolitical concerns including great power confrontation with Russia, the superpower challenge from China, and the competition for influence in the Global South, particularly in Africa.
Read the Report
Coalitions for Information Integrity
This International Forum for Democratic Studies report explores how sweeping changes in the information environment are advancing the efforts of authoritarians to weaken democratic values, and how civil society organizations are developing local coalitions as a powerful way to fight back.
Read the Report
Center for International Media Assistance
Despite greater global awareness of media freedom as a cornerstone of democratic development, a report from the Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) found that support for independent media has languished and is not meeting the needs of a sector in danger of extinction.
Read the Report
Journal of Democracy
The Journal of Democracy is the world’s leading publication on the theory and practice of democracy. The Journal's top essays of 2024 covered NATO's 75th anniversary, Bitcoin, and elections in nearly eighty countries around the world—including stolen victories and sham contests, but also democratic triumphs.
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Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program
The 2023–2024 Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows included human rights defenders, journalists, civil society leaders, and artists from 12 different countries. They expanded their networks and developed new ideas and plans for impact in the struggle for democracy.
LEARN MORE
World Movement for Democracy: #SetThemFree
The World Movement for Democracy aims to bring awareness to those living behind bars, and build international solidarity with political prisoners. In October, the #SetThemFree campaign celebrated recently released prisoners and advocated for the release of those still unjustly imprisoned.
Learn More
Audited Financial Statements
The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) has received a clean (unqualified) audit opinion on its financial statements for Fiscal Year 2024, continuing a record of more than ten years of clean audits.
The audit, conducted by Grant Thornton, found no material misstatements or significant deficiencies. Additionally, the Uniform Guidance (UG) report recorded no findings and classified NED as a “low-risk” entity. These results affirm NED’s commitment to financial integrity, accountability, and adherence to regulatory standards.
Key highlights from the audit include:
- No material misstatements or significant deficiencies identified.
- Financial statements present a true and fair view of NED’s position.
- Full compliance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and Uniform Guidance.
