About us

About us

The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) is the oldest political foundation in Germany with a rich tradition in social democracy dating back to its foundation in 1925. The foundation owes its formation and its mission to the political legacy of its namesake Friedrich Ebert, the first democratically elected German President.

The work of our political foundation focuses on the core ideas and values of social democracy – freedom, justice and solidarity. This connects us to social democracy and free trade unions. As a non-profit institution, we organise our work autonomously and independently.

Our goals

We promote

• a free society, based on the values of solidarity, which offers all its citizens the same opportunities to participate on political, economic, social and cultural levels, regardless of their origin, sex or religion.
• a lively and strong democracy; sustainable economic growth with decent work for all, commited to a socially just economy that serves people and where every member of society benefits from the digital transformation.
• a nation that fights against parochialism and inequality and works for social progress that strengthens workers' right and safeguards and ensures decent work and justice. 
• a welfare state that provides more education and improved healthcare, but at the same time combats poverty and provides protection against the challenges that life throws at citizens.
• a country that is responsible for peace, social progress and global solidarity and policies in Europe and in the world.

What we do

We support and strengthen social democracy in particular by means of:

• Political educational work to strengthen the civil society. Our political education programs in Germany motivate, enable, inform and qualify citizens to successfully engage in political, trade union and civil spheres. We improve citizens’ participation in social discussions and decision-making processes.
• Think Tanks: We develop strategies on the core issues of economic, social and educational policies as well as on key issues that advance democracy. At the crossroad where think tanks, academia and political practitioners meet, we create a public discourse for a just and sustainable economic and social order on a national, European and worldwide level
• International cooperation: With our international network of offices in more than 100 countries, we support a policy for peaceful cooperation and human rights, promote the establishment and consolidation of democratic, social and constitutional structures and are pioneers for free trade unions and a strong civil society. We are actively involved in promoting a social, democratic and competitive Europe in the European integration process.
• Support for talented young people with scholarship programs, in particular for students and doctoral candidates from low-income families or with a migrant background. This is our contribution to increasing educational democracy.
• The collective memory of social democracy: Our archive, library and contemporary history projects keep the historical roots of social democracy and the trade unions alive and provide support for sociopolitical and historical research.

Staff

A total of 1,589 employees in the offices in Bonn and the eighteen State and regional offices and abroad (2023).

Budget

Approx. 202 million Euro, mainly public funding (2023).

Events

In Germany alone more than 157,079 persons took part in educational courses, discussion forums and special-subject conferences (2023).

International Cooperation

Activities in 104 countries (2023).

Scholarships

2,723 students received a scholarship, 279 of them from abroad (2023).

Library

Largest specialized library on the German and international labour movement with over 1,100,000 volumes. Largest collection of documents on the history of the labour movement in Germany.