Civitates is a consortium of 16 foundations committed to upholding democratic values in Europe. It believes in European democracies, where all citizens have the opportunity to access information, make their voices heard, organise, mobilise and engage fully in the democratic processes.

To achieve this vision, Civitates strengthens the capacity of civil society to play its indispensable role in shaping vibrant and open European democracies that work for all.

Civitates is hosted by the Brussels-based Network of European Foundations (NEF) in Philanthropy House and works on two sub funds, focussing on EU member states and EFTA countries:

• The first aims at strengthening civil society by empowering its actors to respond to challenges related to the shrinking space for civil society, collectively and more effectively.
• The second aims at empowering civil society to address digital disinformation and the characteristics of the digital information ecosystem that enable the manipulation of public discourse, including the lack of gatekeepers, transparency and accountability.

Civitates was created as a result of the European Foundation Centre’s 2017 ‘Warsaw Declaration’ which was supported by a number of foundations who decided to join forces.