Financial Transparency

The list of our funders and financial data for the year 2023 will be updated by July 2024 once we have completed our financial audit. For a list of who funds our work in the current year, please see here.

We are an independent non-profit organisation and not affiliated with any public or private institution to fund our work. We have intentionally diversified our portfolio of funders to help us ensure we can work in line with our values - we are independent – critical – and promote the open sharing of expertise.  

The majority of our funding comes from grants and voluntary contributions from charitable foundations as well as public sector institutions, which fund individual programmes or projects as well as our core and organisational development.  

In 2022, 97 percent of our funding came from grants from trusts and foundations or other non-profit organizations as well as from public institutions. Three percent of our funding was made up of corporate donations. We do not fund specific research projects through corporate funds. Furthermore, we limit the amount we accept as individual donations from companies to five percent of our total budget. Generally, we do not accept corporate donations from companies directly affected by our work.  

In the fiscal year 2022, our overall budget was 2 million euros. A total of 29 funders from the non-profit, public and corporate sector supported our work. Our five largest funders in 2022 were Stiftung Mercator, supporting our programmes Chips & Geopolitics (now Global Chips Dynamics), Platform Regulation (now Digital Public Sphere) and the work of our cross-organisational Data Science Unit. From Luminate Foundation we received core organisational support. The Bundesbeauftragte für Kultur und Medien (Germany’s Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media) supported our programme Strengthening the Digital Public Sphere (now Digital Public Sphere). The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation supported the programme Cybersecurity and Resilience as well as our organisational development. The Auswärtige Amt (Germany’s Office for Foreign Affairs) funded the projects ‘Positioning of China in the semiconductor value chain’ as well as the ‘Roles of governments in the area of cyber norms’. 

The list below provides a outline of all of our supporters in the financial year 2022, detailing the project supported and the amount of funding received. 

Financial support from foundations, public institutions & non-profit organizations (2022)

Corporate Donors

interface – Technology analysis and policy ideas for Europe e.V. is exempt from paying corporate income tax. In line with our bylaws we a) promote science and research by generating ideas and delevoping solutions addressing crucial societal challenges, b) promote democracy, c) promote civic engagement and political education.  

Our tax-exempt status was confirmed, most recently, by the notice of exemption dated 06.06.2024 for the last fiscal year 2022, issued by the Tax Office for Corporations I Berlin (Finanzamt für Körperschaften I Berlin) in accordance with §5 Para.1 No.9 of the Corporation Tax Act. 

Our organization upholds a strict policy of editorial independence. This means our funders have no influence over the topics we choose, the methodologies our experts use, the proposals they develop, or the positions they advocate in public debates. Financial contributions do not equate to content control or any form of influence. 

Independence from political and business interests is a cornerstone of our work. Our ability to generate innovative ideas hinges on the support of leading experts from diverse fields, including academia, politics, civil society, and business. We maintain this support by ensuring our environment is one where no single viewpoint prevails, allowing us to address problems from multiple perspectives without external pressures. 

We identify new issue areas we want to focus on through our projects and collaboration with experts across various sectors, including academia, business, civil society and government.