# Mission, vision and values

Here we lay out the principles of association of the Democratic Tech Fund. These are further developed in the DTF social contract.  [Social Contract](/doc/244be8a9-bfb1-4f16-91a6-296401e130ff)

## Mission

Our mission is to facilitate transition towards **digital autonomy**, in support of **deeper capacity in civil society**. Therefore, we build and sustain an organisation that facilitates *initiatives* which *incubate, fund, scale and federate* digital infrastructure as a sustainable alternative to BigTech platforms, creating resilient, transparent infrastructures and *economies in the commons* across cities and regions in Europe and beyond, and deepening the capability of civil society communities in *resistance to authoritarian institutions* in the digital sphere.

## Vision

By 2030, we envision a European domain of democratically-stewarded and operated, inter-operable digital platforms where communities control their own technology, data sovereignty is the norm, and the wealth and capability generated from digital services remains within local communities rather than flowing to distant shareholders, owners and actors. Platform cooperatives and co-operative clouds are established with sufficient scale to meaningfully challenge Big Tech dominance, while also supporting climate resilience and social justice. A diverse and medium-term viable economy of contributions is assembled, partly in the digital services sector (paid work), partly in the gift economy of committed voluntary contribution in civil society and partly in the municipal and charitable grant-funding sectors.

## Core Values & Principles

The Democratic Tech Fund (DTF) operates according to the internationally recognised cooperative values of **self-help**, **self-responsibility**, **democracy**, **equality**, **equity** and **solidarity**. In the tradition of their founders, cooperative members uphold the **ethical values** of *honesty*, *openness*, *social responsibility* and *caring for others*. Thus, our practices enact the seven cooperative principles:

* Voluntary and Open Membership
* Democratic Control by Members
* Economic Participation by Members
* Autonomy and Independence
* Education, Training and Information
* Cooperation among Co-operatives
* Concern for Community

These principles are embodied in the social contract that all members subscribe to.  [Social Contract](/doc/244be8a9-bfb1-4f16-91a6-296401e130ff)

We oppose surveillance capitalism, extractivism and enclosure, supremacies of all kinds (colonialism, patriarchy etc), algorithmic discrimination and harm, and concentrations of wealth and power achieved by digital means. We promote resistance to the concentration of power that we observe in infrastructure giants, tech monopolies included, which underpins systematic abuse and profound harm to people and planet. 

We champion, promote and mobilise free/libre and open source technologies and open organisation (including open-value systems of exchange), digitally mediated spaces in the commons, commons-based peer production, economic democracy and literacy, civil-society capability, and the holding of means of subsistence and wellbeing in the commons, as legacy for the grandchildren’s grandchildren.