---
title: Citizens Foundation
type: platform
status: active
country: IS
website: https://citizens.is
logo: /assets/org-logos/citizens-foundation.png
contact:
  checked: 2026-07-30
  email: citizens@citizens.is
  source: https://citizens.is/contact
summary: An Icelandic non-profit developing Your Priorities, an open-source deliberation
  platform used in 45+ countries — best known for Better Reykjavík, which engaged
  over half of Iceland's eligible citizens.
concepts:
- democracy-tools
- direct-democracy
- deliberative-democracy
- e-government
- isegoria
location:
  latitude: 64.1355
  longitude: -21.8954
  name: Reykjavík, Iceland
rss_feed: https://citizens.is/feed
events:
- date: '2008-01-01'
  title: Founded by Robert Bjarnason and Gunnar Grimsson
  url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_Foundation
  quote: The Citizens Foundation is a non-profit organization based in Reykjavík,
    Iceland, and founded under Icelandic law to promote electronic collaborative democracy
    around the globe and to develop the software needed for that purpose.
  proof_level: high
  url_checked: '2026-08-10'
  notable: true
- date: '2010-02-01'
  title: Launched Shadow Parliament, importing real Icelandic Parliament proposals
    for citizens to vote on
  url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_Foundation
  quote: Shadow Parliament (Skuggaþing) opened formally in February 2010
  proof_level: high
  url_checked: '2026-08-10'
  notable: false
- date: '2010-05-25'
  title: Launched Better Reykjavík (originally "Shadow City"); nearly 3,000 users
    and 400+ ideas within three days
  url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_Foundation
  quote: on 25 May 2010, the website Shadow City (Skuggaborg) opened
  proof_level: high
  url_checked: '2026-08-10'
  notable: true
activity:
  manual:
    checked: 2026-06-07
    date: 2026-06-07
    note: Unsure how to read the blog section for year last posted. However https://github.com/CitizensFoundation/your-priorities-app
      has activity 3 weeks ago.
    url: https://github.com/CitizensFoundation/your-priorities-app
  rss:
    checked: 2026-06-07
    date: 2023-10-01
    note: 'Latest post: The Power of Citizen Engagement: Why “Your Priorities” is
      the World’s Leading Pl'
    url: https://citizens.is/2023/10/01/the-power-of-citizen-engagement-why-your-priorities-is-the-worlds-leading-platform/
last_checked: '2026-06-15'
---

The Citizens Foundation is an Icelandic non-profit founded in 2008 that develops **Your Priorities**, an open-source platform for idea generation, deliberation, and citizen–government engagement. The platform surfaces the most broadly supported ideas rather than amplifying the loudest voices — closer in spirit to consensus mapping than to open comment threads.

Its flagship deployment, **Better Reykjavík**, allowed residents to propose and vote on ideas for city improvements. By 2022 it had engaged 70,000 of Iceland's approximately 120,000 eligible citizens, making it one of the most cited participatory democracy case studies globally. The platform has since been deployed in 45+ countries, reaching over 2 million people.

## Links

- Website: [citizens.is](https://citizens.is)
- Source code: [github.com/CitizensFoundation/your-priorities-app](https://github.com/CitizensFoundation/your-priorities-app)
- Wikipedia: [Citizens Foundation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_Foundation)

## See also

- [Direct Democracy](../concepts/direct-democracy.md)
- [E-Government](../concepts/e-government.md)
- [Isegoria](../concepts/isegoria.md)
- [Consensus Mapping](../concepts/consensus-mapping.md)
- [Pol.is](polis.md)