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Transparency report 3rd quarter 2026: Our income and expenses and pressure in the boiler
The pointer on the political pressure gauge is steadily climbing upwards. As is well known, pressure creates counterpressure. Young people in particular want a change. We stand on the side of civil society
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The pointer on the political pressure gauge is steadily climbing upwards. As is well known, pressure creates counterpressure. Young people in particular want a change. We stand alongside civil society and are looking for 300 fire protection assistants.
In order to finance our journalistic work, we regularly ask you for donations. This is the only way we can research and defend everyone's basic rights and freedoms.
Looking back, our fundraising campaigns are like the scale on a pressure gauge: in 2023 we called forhttps://netzpolitik.org/bullshit-busters/"target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fight against bullshiton. It happened in 2024https://netzpolitik.org/vollehaerte/"target="_blank" rel="noopener">full force against the authoritarian turn. And in 2025 we warned that democracyhttps://netzpolitik.org/2025/digital-fights-wir-stand-an-eine-kipppunkt/"target="_blank" rel="noopener">at a tipping pointstands.
The pressure in the boiler is currently increasing. In many places in Europe, things are simmering in the face of rising living costs and increasingly authoritarian politics. This is shown by the protests in France, Italy, Belgium, Spain, Portugal and Albania.
In Germany too, resistance is growing, especially among young people. You havehttps://genz-regelt.de/"target="_blank" rel="noopener">apparently enough of thatthat life is becoming more and more expensive, the climate is becoming hotter and fundamental rights are becoming more and more restricted.
Instead of addressing these existential problems, the federal government is heating up the situation further: it is arming the surveillance state, restricting transparency and cutting off civil society's air.
And very currenthttps://www.swr.de/swraktuell/baden-wuerttemberg/protest-innenminister-h...target="_blank" rel="noopener">demandRepresentatives of the CDU called for tough action against “this violent mob” in advance of the announced Gen Z protests; the police unionhttps://www.n-tv.de/der_tag/Polizei-warnt-vor-Krawall-Protesten-Duerfen-...target="_blank" rel="noopener">warnsMeanwhile, from “riot migrants” who could not expect any mercy.
We are looking for 300 fire protection assistants
In this difficult situation, a strong civil society is needed. And a medium that fights for our basic rights and freedoms.
Our current fundraising campaignhttps://netzpolitik.org/2026/fuer-deine-grundrechte-die-huette-brennt-wi...target="_blank" rel="noopener">runs under the title"The hut is on fire. We're going in." We want to show how we fight for a free, open and solidarity-based society:
- We sound the alarm when dangerous developments occur.
- We examine legislative proposals and show where the risk of fire increases.
- We liberate and publish documents so that readers can form their own opinion.
- We make people visible whose basic rights are threatened - and build networks.
All of this is only possible with your support! Currenthttps://netzpolitik.org/2026/wir-suche-300-brandschutzhelferinnen-in-30...we300 new fire protection helpers who support our work with a monthly donation. Even amounts starting from 5 euros help us.
2026-10-16
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Will now until November 15th.Fire protection assistantfor netzpolitik.org: Support our fight for fundamental and civil rights with a monthly donation.
Join now
The hard numbers
Fortunately, the pressure in our household at the beginning of the year has regulated. In September we received a large donation of 15,000 euros. This extra breeze of support, longed for in the last transparency report, gave us a hand's breadth of firefighting water under our keel at the end of the 3rd quarter. We are thrilled – thank you very much! At the end of the third quarter, we are now just 0.04 percent above our annual expectations up to that point.
Our donation income
In the third quarter we received 218,843 euros in donations from you. Thanks to the large donation, this is a very good result and is just over 15 percent above our plan. Because the beginning of the year fell well below our expectations, we still only ended up with an increase of 222 euros in donations as of September 30th. Having achieved this balance calms us down immensely.
Our income
In total, our income in the third quarter amounts to 228,638 euros. Donation income amounts to almost 96 percent of total income. The remaining 4 percent consists of regular income and other revenue.
We generate regular income through sales in the web shop, through the use of our publications in the press review and through the subsidy for space as part of voluntary service. In other revenue we present reimbursements for downtime due to illness and interest income.
Our expenses
We spent 232,571 euros on personnel costs in the third quarter, which is around 5,000 euros below the estimated costs according to our staffing plan. The savings are due, among other things, to a scholarship from Network Research for our volunteer.
We spent 64,482 euros on material costs for the third quarter, which is around 13,300 euros less than we had calculated. This is mainly due to the monthly calculation of expenses, which do not occur regularly but rather at certain points throughout the year, as well as consulting and training costs that have not yet been spent.
In total, we had personnel and material costs of 297,053 euros in the second quarter of 2026.
We presented our Reach project in the last two quarterly reports for 2025. The project duration is three years until autumn 2027. We will take the financing of 200,000 euros from our reserves. In 2025 we spent a total of 38,000 euros on the project, mainly on the relaunch of our website and a place to distribute our content on social media. In the first quarter of 2026, we only spent personnel costs of just under 7,600 euros. With expenses in the second quarter of 38,100 euros, we were able to complete the relaunch of our website and start work on installing and configuring the new software to manage donation data.
In the third quarter we went live with the software for managing donation data. We spent 15,900 euros on the final work and personnel costs. This leaves just under 97,800 euros in the project pot, which is planned until the end of 2027 primarily for personnel costs in the area of social media and donation management as well as for advice on fundraising.
The preliminary result
We are ending the 3rd quarter with a result of -68,400 euros. According to the plan, we expected a result of -112,400 euros. Due to the good income situation and the low expenditure on personnel and material costs, the loss was 44,000 euros lower. A loss in the first three quarters doesn't particularly worry us, as long as it stays within our expectations. Based on our experience so far, we will compensate for this in the fourth quarter with the year-end campaign.
In our current fundraising campaign, we are looking for fire protection workers to support us in the heated fight for basic rights and freedom. More permanent donations also help us to have to finance less in advance during the year. This would free up retained funds that we could use for our work.
Thank you for your past and future support!
If you want to support us, you will find ithttps://netzpolitik.org/spenden/">hereall possibilities. A standing order or direct debit is best. This has the lowest fees compared to other payment methods.
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We are lucky to have the best supporters.
Our transparency report with the figures for the second quarter of 2026https://netzpolitik.org/2026/transparenzbericht-2-quartal-2026-unsere-ei...you here.
Thank you all!
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