Civitates is a philanthropic initiative for democracy and solidarity in Europe. It provides funding for civil society actors to come together, revitalize public discourse, and ensure that all voices are heard. After all, we need a strong civil society to shape vibrant and open European democracies that work for all.

The fund supports:

• civil society coalitions that strengthen the resilience of the civil society sector in their respective countries, collectively and more effectively.
• civil society groups that push for a strong and free digital public sphere in which public and democratic values are safeguarded.

The consortium was ‘born’ in 2017 in Warsaw, at the European Foundation Centre conference “Courage to re-embrace solidarity in Europe”, out of concern for the state of democracy in Europe. The fund, which is hosted by the Network of European Foundations, became operational in 2018 thanks to the support from 16 diverse foundations, which provided a starting budget of 4.1 million euro (for 2018-2020).