Annual Report 2023
Transforming Through Our Values
2023 marked a turning point for the Digital Freedom Fund. Six years after our founding, we had moved beyond the teething stage. It was the right moment for us to reflect upon our values and ensure that we were living them both in our programmatic work and internal operations. We were thrilled to hit a phenomenal milestone by making our 100th grant in 2023. We also completed the design phase of the decolonising programme which we co-led along with European Digital Rights (EDRi). Internally, we reflected on our values and began working on a new leadership model to align with our commitment to social justice. We are very excited with how rewarding 2023 was for our organisation and how it prepared us to better serve the digital rights community in 2024.
Highlights from the year 2023
Shifts in organisational culture and structure
Last year, we at DFF focused on improving our internal operations to create a fairer and more supportive work environment. By integrating anti-oppressive principles within DFF, we have prioritised our staff’s well-being, fostering greater stability, resilience and team cohesion. We collaboratively designed a more transparent salary model, introduced a childcare policy for working parents, and expanded our home office allowance, wellness stipends, and time-off policies. After a successful six-month trial, we transitioned permanently to a four-day working week. We also began designing a new leadership model, set for implementation in 2024. These efforts increased staff retention, strengthened trust, and solidified our transition to being a fully remote organisation.
Strategic Litigation Support Programme
2023 was our most popular year for grant applications so far with 70 applications received. We also achieved a major milestone, approving our 100th grant. This year we approved 23 grants supporting activities across 14 countries: Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Croatia, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Poland, Serbia, Spain, and the United Kingdom. In 2023, responding to regular requests over recent years, we started supporting “post-litigation” activities, such as workshops to share lessons and advocacy to push for enforcement of decisions.
Community Strengthening and Support Programme
In 2023, we organised a wide range of events and created a range of resources aimed at supporting work on digital rights topics, as part of a range of different projects. Recognising the importance of emerging European laws, such as the Collective Redress Directive, the Digital Services Act, and the Digital Markets Act, we made these a focal point at our Community Strengthening and Support events. This approach ensured that our civil society partners across Europe had the chance to upskill and collaborate, using these tools to enhance digital rights protections.
Decolonising the Digital Rights Field in Europe
Since 2020, together with European Digital Rights (EDRi), we have co-led an ongoing effort to decolonise the digital rights field in Europe. Throughout this process, we have remained actively engaged in shaping a more inclusive approach. In 2023, we completed the design phase, during which we consulted over 30 people from around 24 organisations and invited them to collaborate and co-create the decolonising programme called “A vision for Digital Justice Organising in Europe”. A Blueprint of the process was also produced, sharing lessons from the design phase process with the intent of supporting other similar initiatives in their journey.
To support the implementation of the programme, a new entity named “Weaving Liberation” will be established in 2024. Weaving Liberation is intended to be a collective structure better suited to supporting a decentralised and coordinated implementation of the decolonising digital rights field programme.
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