We work to make society more participative and fair

The Good Lobby is a non-profit civic start-up committed to equalizing access to power for a more plural, inclusive and democratic society. We believe that every citizen can make a difference in their community. To this end, we inspire, train and help citizens to influence major policy decisions, hold their political representatives accountable and share new solutions with these officials.

To drive our impact, we build unconventional collaborations and alliances with and among NGOs, progressive companies, consultancies, and philanthropic organizations. Ultimately, our mission is to help citizens and other organizations to set up ‘good lobbies’, enabling them to balance the undue influence of special interest groups.

For this purpose, The Good Lobby popularises and democratises the various channels of participatory democracy existing at local, national and EU level.

By embracing lobbying, everyone can gain a seat at the table and make their political system more responsive to societal needs. It’s time to be heard wherever you are and change society for the better, through many more voices.

Read about Our Impact Journey since 2015 here.

What We do

The Good Lobby fosters bottom-up citizen participation experiences to induce long-term social changes. We demystify and promote lobbying as a legitimate practice of participatory democracy.

We strive to democratize access to lobbying and foster its daily practice. We upskill citizen-driven projects and campaigns, by matching them with our skilled-volunteers, coming from law firms, consulting firms, progressive companies, and philanthropies.

We promote and build unconventional alliances among those actors when their interests align. Through these multiple activities, we influence major policy decisions, hold our political representatives accountable, and share new solutions with them to protect the common good.

THE SCHOOL

We offer various educational opportunities to citizens, NGO advocates, grassroots movements, social entrepreneurs and progressive companies. These trainings and resources are powered by our community of skilled volunteers, which include public affairs consultants, lawyers, other business professionals and academics. Learn more about this here.

INCUBATOR

We run an incubator for the most promising citizen-driven projects as well as unconventional coalitions to provide them with the resources and expertise they need to effectively engage with policymakers.

CAMPAIGNING

We campaign for causes that enhance social and environmental justice, counter corruption and inequality when nobody else is. See all of our campaigns and make a difference with us here.

COMMUNITY

We foster a community of like-minded individuals and organisations across Europe and beyond, who are ready to embrace lobbying for change as a legitimate and responsible practice of participatory democracy.

Why we do it

Many of us feel powerless today. Political power is increasingly unequally distributed, civil society is too often ignored and underrepresented, and there is a general disengagement from the policy process, especially among young people.

As citizens, we deserve a stronger voice in the policy processes affecting our lives. Due to growing polarisation, our society is missing out on many collaborations that could emerge between citizens, progressive companies and their employees.

So, what can we do to eradicate the feelings of powerlessness and bridge the gap between us and our representatives?

We believe that change can be created by ordinary people possessing strong ideas… and a plan. We want these ideas to be brought to fruition, for a society that is more participative, inclusive and fair.

Our story

We began in 2015 as a volunteer-based civic startup, with the mission to address the escalating crisis of our representative democracies. We’ve come a long way from those days. As of 2020, we have a permanent staff of young and diverse professionals based in Brussels supporting our mission and engaging with citizens passionate about having their voices heard.

We have also established an office in Milan, thanks to the partnership we formed with the Italian leading campaigning organisation Riparte il Futuro. We are seeking new and additional partners to continue extending our reach.

Today, we are busy reinventing our local and transnational presence in communities across Europe and beyond through the creation of many more citizen-powered ‘good lobbies’. To learn more about our victories, check here.