National Endowment for Democracy
Founded in 1983, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is a private, bipartisan, nonprofit foundation that is committed to the growth and strengthening of democratic institutions around the world. NED’s nongovernmental character allows it to work in some of the world’s most challenging circumstances—and to respond quickly. NED is committed to nurturing the expansion of a wide range of democratic institutions abroad, including trade unions, political parties, free markets, and other organizations, as well as civil society. The Endowment is guided by the belief that freedom is a universal human right and can only be realized through the development of democratic institutions. In 2003, NED was awarded the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation’s Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom.
