Transparency & Governance reporting

This page presents our compliance with initiatives that seek to establish new norms and standards in the fields of governance and accountability.

Initiative for a Transparent Civil Society

“Whenever there is a commitment to the community, transparency towards the community should naturally follow.”

AlgorithmWatch adheres to the governance reporting framework of Transparency International Germany’s „Initiative Transparente Zivilgesellschaft“ (Initiative for a Transparent Civil Society), whose voluntary commitment (PDF 6.1 MB) we have signed.

More information about the initiative can be found here: Initiative Transparente Zivilgesellschaft (in German only)

As per its commitment, AW AlgorithmWatch gGmbH has agreed to make the following information publicly available:

1. Name, registered office, address, year established

AW AlgorithmWatch gGmbH, Boyenstraße 41, 10115 Berlin, Germany, established 2017

2. Complete charter and the organisation’s mission

• Charter (PDF, 119 KB)
• AlgorithmWatch’s Vision, Mission, Values statement

3. Tax exempt status

AW AlgorithmWatch gGmbH is registered with the tax number 27/640/02364 and is recognised by the authorities in Germany, where it is based, as a charitable organization. The latest certificate (PDF, 3 MB) received from the tax authorities (Finanzamt für Körperschaften I), dated March 26, 2026, confirms AW AlgorithmWatch gGmbH’s non-profit status; it is exempted from corporate income tax (Körperschaftssteuer) and business tax (Gewerbesteuer) until 31.12.2029.

4. Name and function of main decision-making bodies

• Shareholders: Christina Elmer, Angela Mülller and Matthias Spielkamp.
• Executive Director: Matthias Spielkamp.
• Supervisory board: Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, Katharina de la Durantaye and Steffen Wenzel

5. Annual reports

• Annual Report 2018
• Annual Report 2019
• Annual Report 2020
• Annual Report 2021
• Annual Report 2022
• Annual Report 2023
• Annual Report 2024
• Annual Report 2025

6. Organization

• AlgorithmWatch - Team
• Personnel structure (as of June 2026)
  • Employees (full-time/part-time) and interns: 26

7. Funding

• Annual financial statement 2023 (GER)
• Annual financial statement 2023 (EN)
• Annual financial statement 2024 (GER)
• Annual financial statement 2024 (EN)
• Annual financial statement 2025 (GER)
• Annual financial statement 2025 (EN)

8. Allocation of Resources

• Annual report, incl. Finances (2018)
• Auditor's statement 2018 (GER, incl. Financial Report)
• Auditor's statement 2018 (EN)
• Annual financial statement 2019 (GER)
• Annual financial statement 2019 (EN)
• Annual financial statement 2020 (EN)
• Annual financial statement 2021 (EN)
• Annual financial statement 2022 (EN)
• Annual financial statement 2023 (EN)
• Annual financial statement 2024 (GER)
• Annual financial statement 2024 (EN)
• Annual financial statement 2025 (GER)
• Annual financial statement 2025 (EN)

9. Institutional Relationships

• There is no membership in any other
  organization.
• We have no legal links with any organizations and
  do not hold any shares in other organizations.

10. Name of legal entities, contributing with more than 10 per cent to the organization’s budget (2025)

• Alfred Landecker Foundation
• Stiftung Mercator
• Schöpflin Stiftung
• Federal Ministry for Education, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMBFSFJ)

11. Natural persons whose annual contributions account for more than ten percent of our total annual income (2025):

• None.

12. Usage of generative AI:

• We have established our own guidelines for the use of generative AI in our work, which can be viewed here. As a general transparency note, we declare that we occasionally use AI-based translation tools to translate our texts. However, before publication, every translated text is reviewed for accuracy by a staff member with expertise in the subject matter and language skills, and revised if necessary.

We confirm that the decision-making bodies meet regularly and that the meetings are recorded in minutes. Questions to our organization are answered within a reasonable period of time. The financial reports are signed by name by one of our organization's decision-makers.

When auditing our annual financial report, compliance with this commitment is monitored by our internal accountant bodies or the auditor.

Matthias Spielkamp
Executive Director