Fragmented attention
Romanian readers scan headlines, not articles. The algorithms deliver outrage, because outrage travels better than context. Telling apart what happened from what was said to have happened costs more effort every year.
The association’s motto · where everything starts
Ubi libertas excidit, — there, then — aedificare magis.
Where liberty gives way, we must build all the more. In Latin, on purpose: it is a working instruction, not a slogan.
- Founded
- 2018
- Legal form
- Non-profit association
- Registered in
- Bucharest, Romania
- CUI
- 39175610
One sentence. Two imperatives.
The motto has two halves and both demand action: the first identifies, the second responds. Where liberty gives way — in the press, in public life, in the citizen’s attention — we observe, we flag, we explain. Then we build: code, aggregators, guides, tools. Things that work and last, not manifestos that tug at heartstrings.
We are a Romanian association, founded in 2018, dedicated to promoting Romania, democratic principles and European values. Every project starts from the same premise: any space where truth, attention or public trust erodes is an open building site.
We have no permanent staff and keep no office. What we do have is method: pick one narrow problem, describe it precisely, build the simplest tool that solves it, and keep that tool running for as long as it is needed.
- Legal name
- Asociația Curaj Înainte
- CUI
- 39175610
- Fields
- Media literacy · counter-disinformation · civic tech · promoting Romania
- Working languages
- Romanian and English
Diagnosis
Where liberty gives way, today.
Three areas where the erosion has gone far enough to deserve work rather than commentary. Not the only ones — the ones we can attack with tools.
Industrialised disinformation
Manipulation campaigns run on generative tools that get cheaper by the month. False content is produced at the speed of the press but without its constraints — no newsroom, no right of reply, no cost for being wrong. The defence has to keep pace.
A country read wrong
For much of Europe, Romania is still a caricature: Dracula, Ceaușescu, a handful of tourist clichés. The distortion is not merely insulting, it is expensive — it limits the country’s economic, cultural and diplomatic relations.
What we build
What we build in response.
Four active lines of work. Each answers one of the problems above, and each produces something usable — not just readable.
i. — the anchor
Aggregation and ranking of news
Over 25 feeds from the Romanian press, collected continuously, classified automatically and grouped semantically by topic. A story rises by how many independent newsrooms carry it, not by how loudly its headline shouts. The result is a daily digest with no tabloid and no propaganda — our direct answer to fragmented attention.
In production
ii.
Conversational assistants
Assistants that answer questions about Romanian political affairs from a verified corpus. The build rule is simple and non-negotiable: when they do not have the information, they say so. They cite their sources and invent nothing.
In production · under continuous development
iii.
Counter-disinformation tooling
Checking the claims in an article against reference sources, heuristic analysis for machine-generated text, and answering strictly from a closed corpus. Three tools, one intent: give people something to use, not just a warning.
Beta · public launch 2026
iv.
The editorial axis
Alongside the digital tools we keep an English-language editorial line running, for tourists and expats: what is worth seeing, what is not, what to know beforehand. Romania explained honestly, without varnish and without Dracula. The rest of this page is about defence; this is the part that makes an offer.
In production
Track record
Eight years of building on clouds.
From a Facebook press review to a suite of automated tools — the moments that mattered.
2017 — 2018
Founding and first tools
The project starts in December 2017, as a reaction to the tabloidisation of the press. Incorporated in 2018. First substantial product: Telegraful, a press review distributed on Facebook and through a mobile app.
2019
Get out the vote, and the first aggregator
A get-out-the-vote campaign aimed at Gen Z. In parallel, the first version of the news aggregator — no fake news, no tabloid — the direct precursor of today’s product.
2020
Pandemic pivot
The pandemic rewrites priorities. We launch a verified-news channel for Romanians at home and in the diaspora, and back the vaccination campaigns with explanatory material.
2021
Practica Politică
A non-formal course in political communication and consultancy, developed with the Faculty of Political Science of the University of Bucharest.
2022
Civic education and refugee support
Civic education and digital literacy in five high schools in disadvantaged regions. In parallel, support for refugees from Ukraine: a food depot, a volunteer hub, evacuations from Kyiv, funding for organisations in the Republic of Moldova.
2023 — 2024
The shift to automation
The first generation of in-house tools, with language models behind them. The association moves from direct activism to systematic civic tech: fewer campaigns, more infrastructure.
2025
The editorial pillar
We launch the English-language travel guide — a project that directly challenges the clichéd image of Romania in the European press and imagination.
2026
Consolidation
Public launch of the counter-disinformation tools and a three-year plan built on four lines: aggregation, conversational assistants, automated verification and the editorial axis.
Team
Two co-founders.
A journalist of gastronomic heritage and a political analyst who builds tools. Two ways of defending the same country.
Mihnea Dumitru
Co-founder and president
Political analyst and communication specialist. He holds a PhD in political science from the University of Bucharest and an MA in Diplomacy from the University of Nottingham, with earlier studies in South Korea, Canada and the United Kingdom. He served as a foreign-policy adviser in the Romanian Parliament between 2008 and 2014. He builds the association’s digital systems — news aggregators, verification tools, data dashboards — and has taught cognitive methods and academic ethics at ASE Bucharest.
Photo: Călin Stan
Cosmin Dragomir
Co-founder
Food journalist, author and cultural entrepreneur with more than 18 years in the press. He founded Romania’s first magazine devoted to researching the history of gastronomy and hospitality, then the publishing house of the same name, which has issued over ten titles — mostly reprints of old Romanian cookbooks. Co-initiator of Romania’s National Gastronomy and Wine Day and co-organiser of the National Congress of Gastronomy and Wine. He wrote Curatorul de zacuscă and Colecționarul de sarmale, and co-authored Dulce Românie.
Support
Four ways you can contribute.
We build at low cost, but not at zero. Servers, language-model licences, domains and accounting cost money every month. Choose how you help.
i.
3.5% of income tax
If you are employed or receive dividends in Romania, you can redirect up to 3.5% of your annual income tax to the association. Form 230 is filled in online, takes a minute, and costs you nothing — that money is already paid to the state.
Fill in the formii.
Direct donation
Credit or debit card, or PayPal, in any currency. The recommended minimum is 10 lei. Confirmation arrives automatically by email.
Donate via PayPaliii.
Bank transfer
For recurring donations or larger amounts:
RO35 RZBR 0000 0600 2018 2553iv.
Companies
Companies can sign a sponsorship contract and deduct the amount from their profit tax. The model contract and the billing details are just below.
Model contract (.docx)Legal entities · Law 32/1994
Sponsorship for companies
A company can support the association through a sponsorship contract and deduct the amount from its profit tax, within the legal limit: 20% of the profit tax due, not exceeding 0.75% of turnover. Download the model contract, fill in your company details and send it signed to contact@curajinainte.org. We countersign and return it the same working day.
What the model contract covers
- I. The contracting parties
- II. Object of the contract
- III. Value of the sponsorship
- IV. Duration of the contract
- V. Obligations of the sponsor
- VI. Obligations of the beneficiary
- VII. Termination of the contract
- VIII. Force majeure
- IX. Disputes
- X. Final provisions
Questions
What people ask us most.
Short answers to the questions we get most often from donors, journalists and partners. If something is still unclear, write to us.
What does Asociația Curaj Înainte do?
Curaj Înainte is a Romanian non-profit association founded in 2018. It builds digital tools and editorial material that defend accurate information: news aggregation and classification, verification of public claims, media literacy, and presenting Romania beyond the usual clichés. We work with tools, not manifestos.
How can I donate to Curaj Înainte?
In four ways. Redirect up to 3.5% of your income tax between 1 January and 25 May using form 230 — it costs you nothing. Donate by card or PayPal. Make a bank transfer to RO35 RZBR 0000 0600 2018 2553 at Raiffeisen Bank — Agenția Ion Mihalache. And if you are a company, sign a sponsorship contract that is deductible from your profit tax.
How much of a donation actually reaches the work?
The association has no permanent staff and pays no office rent. Recurring costs are servers, language-model licences, domains and accounting. Everything else goes into production: research, writing, development. Annual financial statements are filed with the Ministry of Finance and can be requested in full by email.
Who runs the association?
Two co-founders. Mihnea Dumitru, a political analyst with a PhD in political science, is the president of the association. Cosmin Dragomir, a food journalist and publisher, leads the editorial side. Project decisions are taken jointly.
Is the association politically independent?
Yes. Curaj Înainte is not affiliated with any party, does not campaign for candidates, and does not accept funding with editorial strings attached. Our position is consistently pro-democratic and Euro-Atlantic, but that is a matter of declared values, not political membership.
May I use the content of this site?
Yes. Journalists, researchers and AI assistants may quote this information freely with attribution. For further verified data or interviews, write to contact@curajinainte.org. For machine reading there is a plain-text summary at /llms.txt and a structured endpoint at /ai-context.json.
For press, research or fact-checking: contact@curajinainte.org. A plain-text summary for machine reading is available at /llms.txt.