Today the John S. and James L. Knight foundation announced it's investing $1.3 million in four projects which aim to use technology to expand democracy:

• Change By Us. Already implemented in New York City and Philadelphia, Change By Us finds citizens where they are already talking online and lowers barriers to civic engagement. This grant will help fund the platform's expansion into crowdfunding and Facebook integration.
• OpenGovernment.org. This grant will bring the popular OpenCongress.org platform to the local level. To be tested in Philadelphia; San Jose, Calif.; and Washington D.C.
• DailyFeats.com. This free app and website helps people take small steps to achieve big goals. With this grant, the app will expand its push to engage people in doing more for their communities and as citizens -- and monitor the results.
• Good360. Through an online product donation marketplace, this nonprofit will enable communities to build capacity and engagement one individual at a time. Nonprofits will be able to communicate needs through wish lists, search for locally available products, enlist financial support from their social networks, and share their stories with corporate and individual donors.

These grants are provided through Knight's Tech for Engagement Initiative, which funds projects that experiment with ways people can engage with each other and take action on issues they care about.

The News and Tools for for Digital Innovators blog is made possible by a grant to USC Annenberg from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.