National Endowment for Democracy (NED)

1101 15th Street NW, Suite 700
Washington, DC 20005

Phone: 202-293-9072
Fax: 202-223-6042
E-mail: none given
Internet: www.ned.org

NED is a private, nonprofit organization created in 1983 to strengthen democratic institutions around the world through non-governmental efforts. An independent and non-partisan board of directors governs the endowment. With its annual congressional appropriation, it makes hundreds of grants each year to support prodemocracy groups in Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and the former Soviet Union.

The endowment is guided by the belief that freedom is a universal human aspiration that can be realized through the development of democratic institutions, procedures, and values. NED believes that democracy cannot be achieved through a single election and need not be based on the model of the United States or any other particular country. Rather, it evolves according to the needs and traditions of diverse political cultures. By supporting this process, the endowment helps strengthen the bond between indigenous democratic movements abroad and the people of the United States-a bond based on a common commitment to representative government and freedom as a way of life.