Our supporters
openDemocracy Ltd is a not-for-profit enterprise.
We are supported by the generosity of ordinary readers. At the end of June 2019, more than 700 people were making regular donations of less than £1000 a year each. We had also received more than 3,000 one-off donations since the beginning of the year. This support is really important to us – you can find more information on donating here.
The development of openDemocracy has also been funded by almost 100 trusts, foundations and individuals making larger donations since 2001. We also raise revenue from editorial partnerships (see below).
To see a comprehensive overview of our accounts for 2018 please read our annual accounts.
Our independent sections raise their own funding in parallel to the funding of the main site and contribute to our core running costs via the platform fee (see below).
We receive support from openTrust, a registered UK charity (number 1086404). openTrust has no direct stake in openDemocracy but conducts regular oversight to be sure that we are operating in conformity with openTrust's charitable purpose. We also work with Neo Philanthropy (a registered 501(c)3 organisation) as a US-based fiscal sponsor. In the role of fiscal sponsor, Neo acts as an umbrella organisation for a project and accepts and administers funds on its behalf.
Our supporters
We are extremely grateful for the generous support of foundations, editorial partners and individuals for both the Main Site and the Sections. See below for a list of our supporters and editorial partners covering the period 2017-2018.
Grant funding 2017-2018
£1,000 - £10,000
University of Bristol (BTS)
Hopewell Fund (BTS)
European Cultural Foundation (Main Site, CEMI)
Rockefeller Brothers Fund (Main Site / Website)
Wemove.eu (Main Site)
openGlobalRight (Main Site)
World Forum for Democracy (Main Site)
TNI (Main Site)
Friends Provident Foundation (oD-UK)
Anglo American Charitable Trust (Main Site)
£10,000 - £15,000
Avaaz Foundation (openDemocracy UK)
European Cultural Foundation (Can Europe Make It?)
Heinrich Boll Stiftung (Can Europe Make It?)
Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust (ourNHS)
Laura Kinsella Foundation (ourNHS)
Mulberry Trust (NAWA)
Network for Social Change (ourNHS)
Rockefeller Brothers Fund (Main Site)
The Andrew Wainwright Reform Trust (openDemocracy UK)
University of Bristol (Beyond Trafficking & Slavery)
£10,000 - £15,000
Laura Kinsella Foundation (oD-uk DUP investigation)
PERT (oD-UK)
Network for Social Change (openJustice)
£15,000 - £20,000
Ford Foundation (BTS)
Mulberry Trust (Arab Awakening)
Laura Kinsella Foundation (ourNHS)
Fritt Ord (Arab Awakening)
Rockefeller Brothers Fund (Arab Awakening)
£20,000 - £25,000
Avaaz Foundation (Main Site)
£25,000 - £30,000
Wallace Global Fund (50.50)
Tinsley Foundation (Main Site / oD-UK)
£30,000 - £40,000
ESRC / Europpean Social Research Council (Beyond Traffic and Slavery)
David and Elaine Potter Foundation (Main Site / oD-UK)
Polden-Puckham Charitable Foundation (oD-UK)
Cobalt Trust (Main Site)
£40,000 - £60,000
National Endowment for Democracy (Arab Awakening)
Democracy and Media Foundation (openMedia)
Bertha Foundation (Shine A Light)
Hidden Leaf Foundation (Transformation)
£60,000 - £80,000
Hauser Raspe Foundation (Main Site)
Friends Provident foundation (oD-UK)
Ford Foundation (openGlobalRights)
£80,000 - £100,000
Charles Stewart Mott Foundation (oDR)
Open Society Foundations (democraciaAbierta)
Open Society Foundations (Main Site)
Open Society Foundations (oDR)
£100,000+
Civil Society (Civil Society Futures enquiry)
Open Society Foundation (Main Site, website, democraciaAbierta, oDR)
Fritt Ord (Arab Awakening)
Luminate, part of the Omidyar Group (oD-UK)
Mott Foundation (oDR)
Stitching Adessium (openMedia)
Novo / Tides Foundation (Transformation)
Ford Foundation (BTS)
Individual Donors
Anne Lapping; John Mills; David Elstein; Marianna Falconer; Ken Baldry; Ken Baldry; Robin Lough; Jane Gabriel; David Owen; Charles Chadwyck-Healey; Clive and Sue Hollick; David and Elaine Potter; Lord Stevenson; Greg Nasmith; Ed Ross.
Partnerships 2017-2018
openDemocracy Main Site
Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS) & International Network of Civil Liberties Organisations (INCLO) (Main Site - 'Social Protest', July 2017 - Dec 2017)
Goldsmiths, University of London (Main Site - 'Human Rights and the Internet', April 2016 - present)
London School of Economics and Political Science (Main Site - 'The Politics of Plunder East & West', May 2016 - August 2016)
United Nations University-GCM (Main Site - 'Cities of Welcome / Cities of Transit', May 2016 - July 2016)
United Nations University-GCM (Main Site - 'Mediterranean Journeys of Hope', April 2016 - March 2017)
University College London, European Institute (Main Site - 'Brexit divisions', January 2016 - December 2016)
Westminster Foundation For Democracy (Main Site - 'Shaping democractic parliaments', January 2016 - January 2017)
World Forum for Democracy 2016 (Main Site - 'Education and Democracy', September 2016 - March 2017)
World Forum for Democracy 2017 (Main Site - 'Populism', July 2017 -December 2017)
Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS) & International Network of Civil Liberties Organisations (INCLO) (Main Site - 'The Human Cost of Global Drug Policy', 2016)
PLAAS, University of the Western Cape (Main Site - 'Emancipatory Rural Politics Initiative', May-July 2018)
Transnational Institute (TNI) (Main Site - 'Transformative Cities', Jan-June 2018)
World Forum for Democracy 2016 (Main Site and 50.50 - 'Gender equality and women's rights', October 2018 - March 2019)
openDemocracy Sections
AWID & Mama Cash (oD 50.50 - 'Advancing Women's Rights in Media', July 2017 - October 2017)"
Barcelona Institute of Global Health (democraciaAbierta - 'Global Health in Latin America')
Fundacion Avina (democraciaAbierta - 'Democratizar el poder: voces desde la praxis en América Latina', August 2017 - October 2017)
Goldsmiths, University of London (openDemocracy UK)
Insitut Barcelona D'Estudis Internacionals (democraciaAbierta - 'Development in the Face of Global Inequalities', May 2017)
Kings College London (Beyond Trafficking & Slavery)
Network for Social change (openJustice, March 2018 - February 2019)
Royal Holloway University of London (oD 50.50 - 'Migration and the Humanities', October 2016 - September 2017)
University of Minnesota (openGlobalRights, ongoing)
To see details of our grant funding for 2012-2015, please follow this link.
To see details of our editorial partnerships for this period, please follow this link.