The European Center for Not-for-Profit Law Stichting (ECNL) is a non-governmental organisation based in The Hague, the Netherlands working on empowering civil society through creating enabling legal and policy frameworks.
ECNL is recognised as Public Benefit Organisation, Algemeen Nut Beogende Instelling (ANBI status). ECNL also holds the Equivalency Determination Certification.
We aim to create legal and policy environments that enable individuals, movements and organisations to exercise and protect their civic freedoms and to put into action transformational ideas that address national and global challenges. We envision a space in which everyone can exercise their rights freely, work in solidarity and shape their societies.
Our objectives:
- protect human rights, including the freedoms of association, assembly, expression and privacy;
- support the development of civil society and public participation at the local, national, and international levels;
- promote the democratic legal order;
- support the development of appropriate policies and laws affecting civil society, philanthropy, impact investing, social enterprise, international development cooperation, and the impact of new technologies on human rights and civil society;
- provide support to other organisations and to undertake research and educational initiatives to advance the foregoing objects.
ECNL team has long experience in building frameworks and advocating for better legal and policy environments. ECNL was initially established in Hungary as a branch office of the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL), with a mission to support the creation of laws on CSO registration and operation in the emerging democracies of Central and Eastern Europe. We contributed to the creation of the first CSO laws in almost all countries in the region. As organisations and movements grew and took a more active role in their societies, ECNL’s role also grew. To address the needs more effectively, ECNL became a separate, European organisation in 2003 continuing its operation from Budapest. In 2018 we moved the offices to The Hague, the Netherlands.
Over 20 years ECNL has grown to become an established expert and convener on civil society law and policy globally and in Europe. We work with groups across the world, and we target global multilateral bodies. At the same time, we leverage our location to influence European bodies, whose policies (e.g., on data protection, technology) shape country approaches across the globe and impact civic freedoms. We target European states to gain support for civic space protections in foreign policy and in multilateral bodies. ECNL is the only regional organisation in Europe focused entirely on the policy and legal environment for CSOs and ensuring that organisations, activists and movements have the legal and practical knowledge, skills and capacity to defend their spaces and freedoms.
ECNL’s approach is to empower local advocates, organisations and movements, but also where possible, national authorities to understand the trends and their impact, to have the knowledge and tools to create and defend their own spaces.
Goal 1. Defending civic freedoms through knowledge, strategies and tools.
Goal 2. Empowering activists and organisations to protect and expand civic freedoms through joint action.
Goal 3. Strengthening standards and opening avenues to safeguard civic freedoms.
ECNL’s strategic goals and actions as well as challenges and opportunities are reflected in our 2020-2023 Strategy.