About openPetition

Start a petition and find supporters

openPetition supports petitioners in creating their petition, collecting signatures and submitting the petition to the appropriate recipient. In addition, openPetition solicits statements from parliamentarians regardless of the formal petition process. Whether it is about the preservation of a youth club, the shutdown of nuclear power plants, changes in the law or the construction of wind turbines: every day, users start petitions on our platform and bring about change - locally, regionally, nationally and little by little across Europe as well. More than 10 million people use openPetition and are thus part of digital democracy.

The openPetition team

Jörg Mitzlaff - studied computer science in Berlin and worked as a software developer and IT manager at Infoseek, eBay and idealo, among others. During a break in 2009, he set up the openPetition platform. Since 2012 he has been the managing director and co-partner, and since 2020 the sole partner of openPetition non-profit GmbH.

Jessica Seip - Heads the editorial department and is an expert in campaign strategies. As a cultural scientist, she was active in the radio landscape for several years before her employment at openPetition. In addition to our users, she also looks after NGOs and advocates equal rights at all levels.

Conner Defosse - was initially a federal volunteer at openPetition and now works in the editorial office. He is interested in the means by which citizens can make themselves heard and become more active. Therefore, he makes participation opportunities as simple, attractive and effective as possible.

Anna Frey - is an editor specializing in public relations. It supports users and users in gaining through public relations and social media campaigns attention to their concerns.

Cai Schultz - studied political science in Würzburg, Potsdam and Lisbon and works as an editor at openPetition. He wants to use the profit potential of digitization within the meaning of democracy.

Tra My Lisa Nguyen - studied American Studies and Cultural Studies and became part of the openPetition editorial team after graduating. She has been involved in cultural exchange since childhood and believes that democracy must above all be inclusive - created by all, for all.

Dóra Simon - is an editor at openPetition. As a political scientist, she wants to work to the citizens and to contribute to strengthening direct democratic elements and promote civic engagement.

Jacqueline Neuwerth - studied culture-language-media and worked in public relations for cultural institutions at home and abroad. As an editor at openPetition, she wants to motivate people to get actively involved in political events and thus shape the common future of Europe.

Hangzhi Yu - has been a federal volunteer service worker at openPetition since September 2021. He has been committed to low-threshold (youth) participation for several years and is particularly enthusiastic about the enormous variety of opinions and topics that he comes across openPetition

Leon Meyer - is studying “ Political and Social Studies ” in Würzburg and has been supporting the editorial staff of openPetition as an intern since May 2022. Democracy is Leons heart issue. It has to be fair and for everyone. At openPetition he finds the contact with many different opinions and worldviews particularly interesting.

Jonas Hantelmann - is a software developer at openPetition. Prior to that, he trained as an application development IT specialist and taught ICT at a school in Ghana.

Steven von Roden - After studying Business Information Systems in Dresden, the software developer moved to Berlin. Here he prefers to work with open source software and is impressed by the (musical) diversity of the city.

Hannah Schwarz - trained as an IT specialist for application development and has been working as a web developer at openPetition since August 2020. She volunteers for a non-partisan pro-European association and wishes to make Europe easier to understand. Hannah is currently on parental leave.

Jochen Taeschner - studied computer science at Humboldt University in Berlin. He is convinced that social participation should not fail due to digital obstacles. At openPetition he works on improving social participation in a sustainable way.

Karina Taubert - studied English and computer science at Humboldt University of Berlin. She focuses on user experience and tidy code in software that really helps people. Since November 2020 she is a web developer in the openPetition team.

Ralf Engelmann - is an honorary system administrator for openPetition. He is particularly committed to privacy and data economy. Full-time, he works at an Internet Preisvergleichsportal.

Many thanks to our former Colleagues from openPetition.

The openPetition mission and how we want to achieve our goals

Make politics simpler - We advise and support petitioners so that each openPetition achieves maximum effect, i.e. reaches the relevant parliament and is processed there.

making policies more visible - We make sure that politicians know what moves citizens in their constituencies. For this purpose we have developed the Wahlkreisradar.

making policies more comprehensible - If a petition reaches the openPetition-quorum, we ask the respective parliament, i.e. all elected representatives of the region, for a statement.

Strengthening the right to petition - We are politically committed to a more effective petitions system. To this end, we talk to politicians and administration in the petitions committees in Germany at federal, state and European level.

Bringing petitions to parliaments across Europe - We want to open up the possibilities of the right of petition online in other European countries and help citizens to address their concerns to their political representatives through online participation.

Modernising parliamentary democracy - We want a modern online right of initiative and demand the right to be consulted and consulted on new, urgent citizens' concerns in parliaments and specialist committees.

To achieve these goals, openPetition engages in various Networks, alliances and initiatives ,

Values & principles

Neutrality and democratic values - openPetition is politically neutral: We do not intend to influence political opinion or support political parties unilaterally. All petition requests as well as recommendations for partner NGOs do not reflect our point of view, but show a colourful mixture of opinions - no matter where you come from or what you believe in. Because we want to promote constructive political debate, we pay attention to respecting our Terms of Use: Racism, misanthropy and discrimination have no place with us. We invite everyone to interfere under fair conditions. We see diversity of opinion as an enrichment for common, democratic discourses.

Privacy - Digital democracy can only work if personal data is safe from uncontrolled government access and selfish economic interests. If algorithms influence political opinion-forming, then they must be made transparent and easy to understand for everyone. Citizens must retain control of their data and the algorithms for processing the data at all times. The right to oblivion must be taken into account as early as the collection of data. As a non-governmental organisation for citizens' concerns, we want to support the idea of a digital democracy and protect your political footprint on our platform. Please read our Privacy Policy.

diversity - At openPetition, diversity management goes beyond pure equality and anti-discrimination policies: diversity for us it also means looking at people with odd résumés. The most important thing for us is whether future employees share our values and our democracy mission. This is the prerequisite for everyone to be able to get involved on our platform, regardless of gender, level of education, age, nationality and their political opinion, within the framework of our democratic order.

We are non-profit.

openPetition is the result of a voluntary initiative by Jörg Mitzlaff and online since April of 2010. In July 2012, the openPetition profit company by the shareholders Jörg Mitzlaff and Campact eV was founded. Since 2020 is the founder Jörg Mitzlaff sole shareholder of openPetition gGmbH. For 2021, we plan to convert the gGmbH in profit responsibility property . By the tax office for corporations Berlin I the openPetition gGmbH is serving recognized for promoting education, promoting democratic government and promotion of civic engagement, according to the latest available exemption decision of 24.01.2019 as charitable.

We are independent

• openPetition is politically neutral. The topics on the platform span the entire democratic political spectrum. OpenPetition does not adopt the demands and statements of the petitions as its own - this also applies to petition recommendations.
• In terms of acceptable content on our platform we are committed to our terms of use only. Our terms of use are based on democratic rights and values and are permanently being developed further in dialog with our users.
• Our independence form our associates is stipulated in the Articles of Association.
• Financial independence is important to us. Therefore state funds or party donations are out of the question for us. We thank the campact. eV for the financial support in the early years of openPetition. Selected NGOs can advertise their petition concerns on openPetition using an advertising model. The ad model will expire in 2024 at the latest.
• More than 100,000 committed citizens already support the work of openPetition with a one-off donation or a regular grant.