What We Do

 

The Trusted Elections Fund (TEF), a nonpartisan pooled fund, supports efforts to prepare for and respond to high-risk threats to U.S. elections. Since its founding in 2019, TEF has focused on election crises – including illegitimate disputes over election results, interference with vote tallies, political violence, and candidate refusal to accept legitimate results. To meet these challenges, TEF invests in organizations that seek to prevent election-related political violence, anticipate challenges to election administration, and develop infrastructure that protects our elections and reinforces the public’s confidence in their results.

 

TEF ADVANCES WORK ACROSS THREE CORE STRATEGIES TO COUNTER EMERGENT THREATS THAT UNDERMINE AMERICAN DEMOCRACY:

  • Counter election sabotage: The threats facing U.S. elections could disrupt the administration of elections at the local, statewide, and national levels. TEF supports organizations that identify and mitigate evolving threats facing voters and election officials, ensure that the results of free and fair elections are respected, and that those who wish to erode public confidence in those results are held accountable.

  • Build resilience to election-related political violence: Our resilience work seeks to stop harmful acts before they occur, and positively influence societal norms to reject violence in favor of civic practices. TEF supports warning systems and early response preparations to prevent or mitigate potential political violence (use of threat or force intended to impact a political outcome).

  • Build field infrastructure to prepare for crises: TEF convenes and supports pro-democracy stakeholders, to hone state and national infrastructure to adapt to the ever-changing nature of the threats to our elections.

TEF is a critical resource for donors and field alike, complementing more traditional and longer-term civic engagement, voter registration, and promising government approaches. The organization's investment in crucial grantee initiatives and strategies made a critical difference in the 2020 and 2022 elections and is working to fill similar gaps—with increasing sharpness, focus, and impact—between now and 2024.