• Website (english): www.fes.de/intro_en.html
  • Head offices located in Bonn and Berlin, with regional offices around the world
  • Founded in 1925 as a political legacy of Germany's first democratically elected president, Friedrich Ebert.
  • Stated goals are "furthering political and social education of individuals from all walks of life in the spirit of democracy and pluralism, facilitating access to university education and research for gifted young people by providing scholarships," and "contributing to international understanding and cooperation."
  • Total annual budget is over 100 million Euros, mainly from public funding. Over half of this annual budget is spent on international activities. Funding is by law assured out of the German federal budget, in direct proportion to the representation in the Bundestag of the German Social Democratic Party, with whom FES is closely linked.
  • While many of FES's activities are consistent with its mandate, other projects involve politicized NGOs, including the Palestinian Diaspora and Refugee Center (SHAML), Gisha, Center on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), and the Health Development Information and Policy Institute (HDIP), which focus their activities on ideological attacks against Israel
  • FES sponsors research and publications which demonize Israel and call for the "Right of Return"
  • FES funded the 2004 Beirut International Conference on The Islamic World and Europe, jointly organized with Hezbollah's "Research Department".