List of Orgs Financed by NED – US’s National Endowment for Democracy

The National Endowment for Democracy

Published: December 2019

The following list shows the more than 1600 NGOs that between 2016 and 2019 received grants from the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy (NED). The names of the NGOs have been extracted from the official NED grant database and have been grouped by region.

The NED was founded in 1983 by U.S. Congress as a “private nonprofit foundation dedicated to the growth and strengthening of democratic institutions around the world.” With a budget of $160 million per year, the NED supports projects and NGOs in more than 90 countries.

Some of these NGOs may serve multiple purposes. As NED co-founder Allen Weinstein famously explained in 1991: “A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA.” Such activities may include information operations, subversion, and regime change campaigns.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: About the NED
2. The four main NED partner organizations
3. United States and Western Europe (50+)
4. Eastern Europe, Balkans, Caucasus (200+)
5. Middle East and Central Asia (150+)
6. East and Southeast Asia (100+)
7. Latin America (200+)
8. Africa (300+)
9. Other NGOs (700)

General notes: NGOs marked with a bold (M) have attracted special media attention. NGOs marked with an asterisk (*) have been drawn from official sources other than the NED grant database. The (sub-)regional grouping of NGOs is tentative.

1. Introduction: About the NED

A collection of articles about the NED and its role in US foreign policy:

1. Innocence abroad: the new world of spyless coups (WaPo, 1991)
2. The NED: The Legal Window of the CIA (Global Research, 2016)
3. The Role of the NED in Color Revolutions (Global Research, 2017)
4. Inside America’s Meddling Machine (The GrayZone, 2018)
5. The NED Board of Directors (NED Official Website)

Some of the NED-funded organizations are also supported by other US institutions, such as George Soros’ Open Society Foundation (see OSF grant database), Pierre Omidyar’s Omidyar Group (see here), or the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

2. The four main NED partner organizations

Acting as intermediaries, four US organizations receive about half of the annual NED funding:

3. United States and Western Europe

• Focus: NGOs in the US and Western Europe mostly have an international focus.
• Number of organizations: About 50 NGOs and some universities

Universities

4. Eastern Europe, Balkans, Caucasus

• Focus: Ukraine, Moldova, former Yugoslavia, Georgia, Armenia

• EuroMaidan in Kiev, Ukraine (2014)
• Focus: Ukraine, Moldova, former Yugoslavia, Georgia, Armenia
• Number of NGOs: 200+
• See also: Russia and the NED (NEO, 2015)
• Ukraine
• See also: Ukraine and the NED (ICH, 2014)
• Moldova
• The Balkans
• Georgia and Armenia
• Others
• NGOs in other Eastern European countries or NGOs not readily assignable.

5. Middle East and Central Asia

• Focus: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen.
• Number of NGOs: 150+

6. East and Southeast Asia

• Focus: China (Tibet, Hong Kong, Xinjiang), Thailand, North Korea, the Philippines.
• Number of NGOs: 100+

China

• See also: Chinese Organizations Funded by NED (VoC, 2019)
• See also: Hong Kong and the NED (MPN, 2019)

North Korea

Thailand

• See also: Thailand and the NED (NEO, 2018)

Philippines

• See also: The Philippines and the NED (NEO, 2019)

Others

NGOs in other Asian countries or NGOs not readily assignable.

7. Latin America

• Focus: Central and South America and the Caribbean
• Number of NGOs: 200+
• See also: Latin America and the NED (TeleSur, 2019)

8. Africa

• Focus: All parts of Africa.
• Number of NGOs: 300+

9. Other organizations

• Includes: NGOs mostly in Eastern Europe, Africa, Eurasia, and Latin America
• Number of NGOs: About 700 (not yet assigned to a region)