The UK Democracy Fund (the Fund) is a pooled Fund initially set up by the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust (JRRT) in 2019 and supported by a group of committed funders, including a number of charitable trusts.
The UK Democracy Fund is now hosted by the JRSST Charitable Trust.
Independent and non-partisan, the Fund is helping build a healthy democracy – one in which everyone can participate and where political power is shared fairly.
The Fund has four broad goals:
1. Enabling everyone to vote:
Building support for reforms to ensure a simple, seamless and accessible voting system fit for the 21st century.
2. Extending the right to vote:
Advocating in support of expanding the franchise for 16- and 17-year-olds and settled UK residents from overseas.
3. Increasing participation of everyone in our elections:
Making an effort to raise the turnout of low-propensity voters to improve fairness in our democracy.
4. Securing quality democratic education for young people:
Advocating for all young people to have access to meaningful democratic education.
More about our goals:
1. Enabling everyone to vote: Advocating for AVR
The UK Democracy Fund advocates for the introduction of automatic voter registration (AVR), through commissioned research and grant making, such as support for the ongoing campaign from Unlock Democracy.
In 2025, the Fund published a new report by Professor Toby S. James and Professor Paul Bernal, University of East Anglia, and Ellen Berry, the UK Democracy Fund: Improving Voter Registration: A Guide to Introducing Automatic Voter Registration
The new report adds to earlier commissioned research by James & Bernal (2020) which asked, “Is it time for Automatic Voter Registration in the UK?”
The Fund has also supported research into improving the UK’s electoral data deficit, making the case for a better approach to electoral data to enable a fairer and more inclusive democracy.
2. Extending the right to vote: Votes at 16 and for settled migrants
Recent grants from the Fund to My Life My Say and Politics in Action (in Northern Ireland) are supporting the campaign for Votes at 16. A new report commissioned by the UK Democracy Fund, Evidence and Good Practice on Lowering the Voting Age to 16 was published in January 2025.
In 2024, the Fund awarded a grant to the Migrant Democracy Project for their Our Home Our Vote campaign for residence-based voting rights.
3. Increasing participation: 2024 General Election
Ahead of the General Election in July 2024, the Fund focused its efforts on supporting voter registration and turnout of low-voting demographics: young people, people from communities that experience racial inequity, those who move house frequently and those with lower incomes.
4. Democratic education: Curriculum reform
Our focus is on supporting advocacy and campaigning that puts pressure on the government to implement curriculum reform so that all young people receive good quality democratic education, especially those 16- and 17-year-olds who will be voting for the first time at the next general election.
Find out more
You can find out more about what we have funded here.
And read about our learning so far here.
If you are interested in applying for a grant, please see our Funding Guide.
What we will not fund
- Partisan activities
- Work outside the UK
- Individual campaigners or researchers without a host organisation
- Work that has already taken place
- Legal fees or costs
- Personal support for individuals in need
- Educational bursaries
- General appeals
We will not support by-election or local election activities or small-scale campaigns or outreach work unless they are testing something new or they seek to generate new learning on how to reach a specific audience, or clearly demonstrate how they will contribute new evidence to support our goals.
We are unlikely to fund academic research without clear learning or campaign impact.
How does the UK Democracy Fund operate?
The Fund operates on an independent and strictly non-partisan basis. It does not seek to influence the outcome of elections.
The Fund is now operated and managed by JRSST-CT.
JRSST-CT trustees make decisions on which applications contribute most effectively to the Fund’s desired outcomes.
The Fund is open to contributions from a range of sources, charitable and non-charitable. JRSST-CT ensures that charitable funds are used for charitable purposes, and that all funds are allocated in line with electoral law.
We recognise that there are others working to improve the health of our democracy, and aim to contribute to an ecosystem of donors, activists and others keen to engage everyone in the voting system.
If you would like to support the work of the UK Democracy Fund, please contact: DemocracyFund@jrsst-ct.org.uk
Contributors to the UK Democracy Fund
The following funders have contributed to the UK Democracy Fund: Barrow Cadbury Trust Ltd (Registered Charity: 1115476.); Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (Registered Charity: 210037); John Ellerman Foundation (Registered Charity: 263207); Scurrah Wainwright Charity (Registered Charity: 1002755); Andrew Wainwright Reform Trust (Company No. 2608087); The Tinsley Charitable Trust (Registered Charity: 1020294); The Blagrave Trust (Registered Charity: 1164021); Unbound Philanthropy and the Family Office (Company No. OC384120); Paul Hamlyn Foundation (Registered Charity: 1102927); Porticus UK (Registered Charity: 1069245); The Symondson Foundation, a giving fund within the Master Charitable Trust (Registered Charity: 1139904)