Democracy is losing—for now!

91 autocracies, 88 democracies. For the first time in decades, more people are living under authoritarian rule than in free societies. The good news is that this trend can be reversed—South Korea, Poland and Brazil have led the way.

And the stakes could hardly be higher. After all, democracy is not just about free elections and freedom of expression. Societies that are governed democratically are also wealthier, more innovative and better educated. They protect their environment better and are less corrupt. In short, democracy is not just a value in itself—it is the foundation on which almost everything else that is important to us is built.

The good news is that we can all play a part in protecting democracy. Civil society has the power to protect and expand democracy—if it knows the right levers.

Maximum impact for democracy

As our resources are limited, the question arises as to where each euro spent can have the greatest impact.

We know from other areas that the most effective organizations achieve many times more with each euro than average ones. There is no reason to assume that this is any different in the field of democracy promotion. However, no one has yet systematically investigated this question.

To change this Power for Democracies was founded. What began as a project with the working title “GiveWell for Democracies” has grown into a globally unique research initiative with the support of Effektiv Spenden. Power for Democracies has a clear goal: to find out where donations for democracy have the greatest impact. 

What Power for Democracies has achieved in its first year

Power for Democracies has carried out important basic research and delivered initial, tangible results:

• developed a framework: for systematically categorizing and evaluating different civil society tactics
• created analysis tools: for the well-founded prioritization of countries and the evaluation of organizations
• comprehensive database: a detailed analysis of authoritarian attacks in 147 countries was carried out
• established a network: an international team of experts from Berlin to Nairobi was brought together
• generated impact: first giving recommendations with accompanying country reports (for Turkey, Argentina and the USA) have been published
• raised funds: partners such as Effektiv Spenden have already raised over 1.3 million euros for the organizations we recommend

Our roadmap for 2026

Now we want to increase the leverage. This year, we are focusing on the following research priorities:

• More countries, more recommendations: Italy, Indonesia and other strategically important countries are to be analyzed in the coming months.
• Artificial intelligence and democracy: Which AI-supported threats are the most dangerous ones—and which counter-strategies really work?
• Protecting US democracy: Which tactics and organizations have the greatest leverage in one of the world’s most important democracies?

In addition, our goal is to work with international partners to mobilize significant sums for the top organizations identified and evaluated by Power for Democracies.

Your donation as a multiplier

In contrast to established institutes such as GiveWell, Power for Democracies does not (yet) have an established base of private and institutional donors. So you have the chance to make a real difference with your support. Because you are enabling the research that will ensure that future donations go exactly where they will be most effective in protecting democracy.

Help us to provide committed people around the world with the knowledge and tools they need to act as effectively as possible.