A party political foundation (german: Parteinahe Stiftung or ''Parteistiftung'') in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
is a state-subsidised political foundation that's affiliated to a
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...
. There are seven foundations at the federal level: one for each party represented in the federal parliament (''
Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...
''). The major characteristics of all such organizations is that they do party related work like general information about the ideological cause, training of volunteers, publication of pamphlets and international aid for democracy building (in co-operation with partners around the world).
The party political foundations receive 95% of their funding from government grants, thus blurring the definition of '
non-governmental organisation
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from g ...
'. Most do not even have the legal status of 'foundation'.
Similar institutions have also been organized in the Netherlands, Austria, France and Greece. In the U.K. and the U.S. the general setup differs because institutions like the
Westminster Foundation for Democracy
The Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) is a United Kingdom non-departmental public body set up to support democratic institutions overseas. It was established on 26 February 1992 and registered as a company limited by guarantee in the U ...
, the
National Democratic Institute
The National Democratic Institute (NDI), or National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, is a non-profit American NGO that works with partners in developing countries to increase the effectiveness of democratic institutions. The NDI's ...
(NDI) or the
International Republican Institute
The International Republican Institute (IRI) is an American nonprofit organization. Most of its board is drawn from the Republican Party. It is committed to advancing freedom and democracy worldwide by helping political parties to become more iss ...
(IRI) are limited to responsibilities in international aid. The same applies for the
Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy
The Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD; Dutch: ''Nederlands Instituut voor Meerpartijendemocratie'') works to promote peaceful, just and inclusive politics worldwide. NIMD's approach is characterized by dialogue, which it facilit ...
(NIMD).
List of foundations
Literature
* Pinto-Duschinsky, Michael, The Party Foundations and Political Finance in Germany. In: Seidle, Leslie F. (ed.), ''Comparative Issues in Party and Election Finance''. Toronto, ON: Dundurn Press, 1991, pp. 179–250.
* Lucardie, Paul/ Voerman, Gerrit, 'Party Foundations in the Netherlands', in: Nassmacher, Karl-Heinz (ed.), ''Foundations for Democracy. Approaches to Comparative Political Finance'', Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2001, pp. 321–337.
See also
*
Political foundation at European level
A European political foundation, formally a political foundation at European level, informally a Eurofoundation, is a research and advocacy organization close to, but independent from a Europarty. They are funded by the European Parliament. Th ...
*
Party finance in Germany
Party finance in Germany is the subject of statutory reports, which up to 35 parties file annually with the administration of the German parliament. Important questions pertaining to political party funding can be answered by analysing the data g ...
*
Party funding in Austria
Party funding in Austria has been subject to public regulation and public subsidies since 1975. Although the demarcation between campaign financing and routine activities due to overlapping election cycles and "permanent campaigning" is quite diff ...
*
Party funding in the Netherlands By and large political finance in the Netherlands is a party matter. Compared to other nations the spending level is quite moderate, annually about €2,40 per voter.
Sources of funds
Quite contrary to most other democracies the major source of pol ...
Footnotes
{{Authority control
Political parties in Germany
Political funding