The European Democracy Consulting Stiftung is a non-profit association advancing the study of European institutions and democracy.
History and purpose
In July 2023, European Democracy Consulting set up the European Democracy Consulting Stiftung, a non-profit association. With this, European Democracy Consulting sought to separate its pro bono projects from paid consulting activities, establishing a clearer distinction between the two.
The purpose of the association, detailed in its statutes, is to advance the science and research related to European institutions and democracy. Its projects are therefore geared, first and foremost, towards the academic community, and seek to support political scientists in their work relating to the European Union.
Following the founding of the association, the European Party Funding Observatory, which had been worked on by European Democracy Consulting since March 2022, was donated to the European Democracy Consulting Stiftung, now in charge of its development and growth.
European Party Funding Observatory
Since 2019, European Democracy Consulting had produced a wide array of outputs and made contributions to the discussion on European political parties. In particular, European Democracy Consulting had focused on party financing and on transparency — proposing numerous recommendations for both — and on the nexus between the two. This had led to yearly visualisations of donations and contributions, using data from the Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations (APPF).
The next step in this effort was the development of stand-alone, permanent observatory of the funding of European political parties, which European public institutions had declined to build.
In March 2022, European Democracy Consulting started compiling data with a view to developing an online platform providing up-to-date data and visualisations on the funding of European parties since the advent of public funding for European parties in 2004. This observatory would provide answers about the funding and expenses of European parties (thereby increasing transparency), and generate interest in these little-known parties that seek to represent us all (thereby enhancing democracy).
In July 2023, the draft Observatory, along with associated domain names, was officially transferred to the European Democracy Consulting Stiftung, which took over its development and update.
The European Party Funding Observatory (EPFO) was officially launched in December 2023 — read more in our op-ed published by Euractiv.
Statutory information
The European Democracy Consulting Stiftung is registered as a non-profit association in Austria. Its association registry number is 1456952063.
The statutes of the European Democracy Consulting Stiftung can be found here:
- EDCS – Statuten (DE, official)
- EDCS – Statutes (EN, translated)
Financial information
The European Democracy Consulting Stiftung is still a very recent non-profit. Following the end of its first financial year, financial information will be made available here.
Donations
The European Democracy Consulting Stiftung is a non-profit association and relies on donations for its work, in particular to pay technical contractors and run IT services. We therefore need your support for our projects.
If you can afford to do so, please consider donating to the European Democracy Consulting Stiftung. Your donation will go directly to our projects.
Alternatively, you can donate with an ordinary bank transfer using the banking details below.
- IBAN: AT55 1200 0100 4082 2651
- BIC: BKAUATWW
- Bank: UniCredit Bank Austria AG
Finally, you can make a project-specific donation to the European Party Funding Observatory using our dedicated crowdfunding page.
Contact
For more information about the European Democracy Consulting Stiftung and its projects, email us at contact@stiftung.eudemocracy.eu or use the form below.
