What is Stiftung Mitarbeit (Foundation for Participation) and its Förderfonds Demokratie (Democracy Promotion Fund)?

Through its work, the Stiftung Mitarbeit – or Foundation for Participation – supports the development of democracy using the bottom-up principle.  It encourages citizens to become politically active and supports the civic involvement of everyone living in Germany.  The Foundation is a supporter of the joint initiative known as ‘Förderfonds Demokratie’ (the Democracy Promotion Fund), which is made up of a total of 8 German foundations, including the Schöpflin Foundation.

Why have we awarded a grant to Förderfonds Demokratie?

The contempt that we see for democratic values today; the hostile marginalisation of minorities; the manipulation of expert findings and reports; democratic fatigue; and historical amnesia – all of these issues are giving cause for alarm to many of Germany’s foundations and to people whose work is affected by them.  As a concrete expression of our concern about the development of democracy – but primarily as a sign of solidarity with and encouragement to all those people who, day in day out, shape democracy in the civil society sphere – we co-founded the Förderfonds Demokratie – or Democracy Promotion Fund.  The idea is to strengthen initiatives, associations and other stakeholders in the work they do shaping and strengthening democracy in Germany.

What have we achieved together?

In addition to the recognition that should flow from the awarding of this grant, the aim of this project is to raise the profile of the broad involvement – apparently often taken for granted – of many people in democracy.  We expect to see greater momentum and new ideas leading to the further development and revitalisation of democracy.