100 years of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung: Shaping social democracy since 1925!

Democracy can only work if all people are given the opportunity to participate in social life and help shape society

On 2 March 2025, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) will celebrate its 100^th birthday. As the oldest political foundation in Germany, it stands in the tradition of the labour movement and is committed to the values of social democracy. Its non-profit mission is to promote democracy and to make it strong, combative and capable of defence. We are convinced that democracy can only work if all people are given the opportunity to participate in social life and help shape society, regardless of their social background, gender, skin colour or disability/impairment.

We promote democratic awareness, fair politics and participation by:

• offering political education in the form of events and publications that are accessible to all interested parties;
• providing policy advice with the aim of informing and connecting progressive decision-makers from academia, civil society, politics, trade unions and business;
• supporting socially committed young people in their studies and training;
• connecting politics, culture, science and democratic civil society in more than 100 locations worldwide for the purpose of international understanding;
• conducting academic research on the history of German democratic history and the development and provision of the collective memory of Social Democracy.

Democracy needs strong democrats

The founding of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation 100 years ago goes back to the legacy of the first democratically elected President of the German Reich, from whom it takes its name. Friedrich Ebert came from humble beginnings. As a journeyman craftsman, he fought for better working conditions from a young age. He came into contact with the social democracy movement and, as a politician, made it to the top of the first German democracy, the Weimar Republic. His experiences in the Weimar period, when forces on the extreme right and extreme left attacked the young democracy after the end of the First World War, led him to recognise that democracy needs strong democrats.

It is this conviction that characterises the work of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung to this day. Democratic institutions, such as free elections, independent courts, and constitutional procedures alone are not enough to guarantee a stable democracy. It needs informed, committed, democratically-minded citizens who are prepared to shape democracy in a sustainable and socially responsible way. This also applies today, when democracy in Germany and worldwide is under more pressure than it has been for a long time.

The 100th anniversary of our foundation is also the 100th anniversary of the FES's student support programme. Our work has its roots in supporting talented young people. For this reason, special attention will be put on student support in the anniversary year. In an art exhibition entitled ‘Do you have something to fight for? 100 years of supporting and shaping’, we are exhibiting artworks from our archives and contemporary works by our former and current art scholarship holders. The selected works reflect social democratic values from a cultural perspective. Through the dialogue created by the juxtaposition of old and new works, the art exhibition builds a temporal bridge between the past and present of the foundation's work.

For us, the anniversary also provides an opportunity to look at our work today. We are currently observing increasing polarisation in society, as well as growing social inequality. At the same time, democracy is increasingly being openly questioned by extreme social groups – in Germany and among our alliance partners worldwide. This makes our commitment to a strong democracy, a society based on solidarity, and global alliances for peace all the more important.

FES new corporate design: concise, identity-creating, and unifying

The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung is constantly evolving. Hence, the FES will present itself in a new ‘guise’ for its anniversary. In order to adapt its communication to the changing media world and make it more inclusive, the FES is adopting a new corporate design. We remain bold, open-minded and forward-looking. In the future, we will bundle our strengths under a new, strong umbrella brand as a fresh, accessible, barrier-free symbol for all FES locations, topics, and organisational areas - concise, identity-creating, and unifying.

For more info (in German), vist our German website: https://www.fes.de/100-jahre