Fonds Demokratie verteidigen

The “Defend Democracy” donation fund by Effektiv Spenden supports particularly promising organizations that protect democratic institutions, civil rights, and the rule of law. The fund was initially launched with a focus on Germany and has since expanded internationally.¹

The responsibilities are clearly divided:

• Power for Democracies, or P4D, analyzes which countries face particularly serious threats to democratic institutions, which countermeasures appear most promising, and which organizations could use additional funding most effectively.
• Effektiv Spenden pools donations through the “Defend Democracy” fund.
• For donations from Germany, the Common Good Fund Germany, or CGFG, carries out the legal and tax-related review of international grants. It makes its funding decisions independently while taking P4D’s recommendations into account.¹

This structure keeps scientific evaluation, fundraising, and the legally compliant administration of international grants organizationally separate.

Why defending democracy matters

Democracy has been in decline around the world for several years. According to the V-Dem Democracy Report 2026, the level of democracy experienced by the average person worldwide has fallen back to the level of 1978.²

• Around 74 percent of the global population, approximately 6 billion people, live in autocracies.
• Only 7 percent, around 600 million people, live in liberal democracies.
• Worldwide, there are now 92 autocracies and 87 democracies.²

The following map shows the global distribution of closed autocracies, electoral autocracies, electoral democracies, and liberal democracies:

Political regimes worldwide according to the Regimes of the World classification. Data from V-Dem, processed by Our World in Data.³

The long-term development of the share of the global population living in democracies and autocracies also illustrates the negative trend:

Share of the global population by political regime. Data from V-Dem, processed by Our World in Data.⁴

Democracy cannot be taken for granted. It must be actively protected, renewed, and made more resilient to authoritarian developments.

How the fund selects organizations

Power for Democracies first analyzes which countries face particularly serious democratic threats and where civil society has a realistic chance of countering authoritarian developments.

P4D then examines, among other things:

• which democratic institutions and rights are most at risk,
• which countermeasures are likely to have the greatest impact,
• which organizations can implement these measures effectively,
• where funding gaps exist,
• whether additional donations would enable further high-impact work.⁵

The fund focuses in particular on approaches such as strategic litigation, the protection of press freedom and freedom of expression, support for threatened individuals and organizations, public education, research, and policy advocacy.

Funds are not allocated according to a fixed geographic formula. Support goes where the need is greatest and where additional funding is expected to achieve the most.

Funding Power for Democracies

Power for Democracies provides the analysis that underpins the fund’s evidence-based grantmaking. As a relatively new evaluator, however, P4D does not yet have a secure long-term funding base.

A limited share of the fund’s resources may therefore also be used to support P4D’s own work. This enables the organization to systematically analyze additional countries, democratic threats, countermeasures, and organizations.¹

Impact and transparency

Funding decisions are not based solely on the general importance of an organization or country. The decisive question is whether additional funding is likely to make a concrete difference.

The criteria considered include:

• the scale and urgency of the democratic threat,
• the expected effectiveness of the relevant measures,
• the quality and experience of the organization,
• existing funding gaps,
• the additional impact of further donations,
• legal eligibility for funding.

Effektiv Spenden regularly reports on how the fund’s resources are used. Power for Democracies publishes detailed analyses of the countries, interventions, and organizations it recommends.¹⁵

Current developments and funding decisions

We regularly publish separate articles on new analyses by Power for Democracies, current developments, and specific funding decisions made by the fund.

The latest articles about the “Defend Democracy” fund are displayed automatically below this page.

Cooperation with Geld für die Welt

Geld für die Welt supports the “Defend Democracy” fund because the rule of law, freedom of expression, independent media, and a strong civil society are important foundations for long-term social progress.

When democratic checks and balances are weakened, human rights, climate action, development cooperation, and efforts to reduce poverty often come under pressure as well.

By including the fund as a donation partner, we aim to help provide long-term funding for particularly effective approaches to protecting democratic institutions. Through the Geld für die Welt Impact Portal, donors can select the fund as the recipient of their share of the annual distributions.

Further information is available on the “Defend Democracy” fund website and from Power for Democracies.

Footnotes

1. Effektiv Spenden, “Demokratie verteidigen”. effektiv-spenden.org ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

2. V-Dem Institute, “Democracy Report 2026: Unraveling the Democratic Era?”. v-dem.net ↩ ↩²

3. Our World in Data, “Democracy”. ourworldindata.org ↩

4. Our World in Data, “People living in democracies and autocracies”. ourworldindata.org ↩

5. Power for Democracies, “Our recommendations”. powerfordemocracies.org ↩ ↩²