NED is governed by a bipartisan board of Directors of not fewer than thirteen and not more than twenty-five members reflecting the diversity of American society. The officers of the corporation are Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Board, who shall be members of the Board, a President, Secretary and Treasurer, and such other officers as the Board of Directors may from time to time appoint. Meetings of the Board of Directors are held at times determined by the Board, but in no event fewer than four times each year. A current list of members of the Board of Directors and a schedule of upcoming meetings is available from NED's office at 1101 15th Street, NW; Suite 700, Washington, DC 20005-5000.

All major policy and funding decisions are made by the Board of Directors. The primary statement of NED's operating philosophy, general principles and priorities is contained in the National Endowment for Democracy's Statement of Principles and Objectives, adopted by the Board of Directors in December 1984. Copies of this statement as well as other general information concerning the organization are available from NED on request.

As a grantmaking organization, NED does not carry out programs directly. All grants made by the corporation shall be by a two-thirds vote of those voting at a meeting at which a quorum is present. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Board may from time to time adopt, upon a two-thirds vote of those voting at a meeting at which a quorum is present, procedures to address emergency funding requests between meetings of the Board. In addition, “[a]ny Board member who is an officer or director of an organization seeking to receive grants from the Corporation must abstain from consideration of and any vote on such grant” (Article VI, Section 6). Copies of the bylaws are available from NED's offices.