It has been very exciting to see the great level of activity on digital rights in Europe over the past months. Not only was there a great victory to be celebrated in defeating the proposed EU Copyright Directive in its current form, the entry into force of the GDPR has given impetus to multiple efforts, including litigation and campaigns.

We look forward to reinforcing the excellent work being done and are pleased to announce that, as of 19 July, DFF is open for grant applications for strategic cases that seek to advance digital rights in Europe.

Concept notes can be submitted through our website here and the application process is explained here.

We especially welcome applications for projects that

1. advance individuals’ ability to exercise their right to privacy;
2. protect and promote the free flow of information online; or
3. ensure accountability, transparency and the adherence to human rights standards in the use and design of technology.

We are also happy to receive applications for projects that fall outside these general thematic focus areas if they can contribute to advancing the respect for human rights in the digital sphere. You can find a full overview of our grants and criteria on the grantmaking pages on our website.

Our grantmaking process and criteria were developed in dialogue with the digital rights field. Twenty organisations and individuals from our network reviewed previous drafts and shared with us what thematic issues should be priorities for DFF to support. We are deeply grateful to Access Now, EDRi, GFF, Mozilla, BEUC, Digitale Gesellschaft, Liberties, HCLU, Polish Helsinki Committee, XNet, Stiftung Neue Verantwortung, Privacy First, MLDI, PILP, SHARE Foundation, epicenter.works, Liberty, Ot van Daalen, and DFF Board members Fieke Jansen and Nicole Nieman for their valuable input, feedback and recommendations. This dialogue, which started at the outset of our strategy process in 2017 and continued throughout our meetings around Europe and strategy meeting in February of this year, resulted in a grantmaking process we hope will meet the needs of litigators around the continent and support them in their important work.

For DFF, this is a continuing learning process and we welcome your feedback and input as we further develop our grantmaking. More than anything, we look forward to receiving your proposals for using strategic litigation in your digital right campaigns!