ABOUT THE BLISS SUMMIT

The BLISS Summit is an invitation-only global gathering in Costa Rica, founded by Demo Lab Foundation (Demo Lab) and co-hosted with The Reynolds Foundation.

BLISS convenes visionary philanthropists, artists, technologists, leaders, activists and family office principles, to invest in freedom and democracy.

This is the strategic table for freedom. The question is no longer why to act, but how and with whom.

bliss manifesto

WHY IS BLISS SUMMIT IMPORTANT?

THE PROBLEM

73% of the world lives under non-democratic rule (V-Dem Democracy Report, 2024).

Authoritarian regimes coordinate repression across borders with financial, technological, and narrative tools.

Yet less than 1% of global philanthropic capital supports freedom, democracy, and human rights (Democracy Fund, 2024).

This is not just a freedom and democracy crisis. It’s a funding crisis. Without freedom, every other philanthropic ambition: education, health, climate, innovation, stands on fragile ground.

THE SOLUTION

BLISS is a capital flywheel: coordinated investments flow into high-leverage projects, generating compounding impact and attracting more resources. This is how freedom becomes investible and scalable.

WHY COSTA RICA:
A SAFE HAVEN FOR FREEDOM

In a region marked by tyranny, Costa Rica offers freedom, peace, and liberal democracy. Hosting BLISS in Costa Rica’s Blue Zone isn’t just symbolic, it’s strategic. It provides a rare safe haven to think boldly, build freely, and act without fear.

Demo Lab Foundation is the host of the BLISS Summit. Based in Costa Rica, Demo Lab Foundation is a civic laboratory advancing freedom through education, innovation, and ecosystem building. It trains emerging leaders, develops civic technology, and convenes networks to defend freedom and democracy across Latin America and beyond.

THE TRUTH WE SPEAK

The 2027 theme, “The Truth We Speak”, will focus on freedom technology and how these tools are reshaping the frontline of democratic resistance.

view 2026 recap

“This movement’s mission is to make freedom investible, measurable, irresistible. Philanthropy is not charity, it is citizenship at scale. It is a moral imperative to fight tyranny”

DR. ÁLVARO SALAS CASTRO
President and CEO, The Reynolds Foundation; Founder, Demo Lab Foundation & BLISS Summit

BLISS IMPACT

Each year, the BLISS Ecosystem deploys capital, resources, and partnerships into freedom and democracy projects.

90+

Organizations have received funding

40+

Freedom advocates from autocratic countries hosted

70+

Countries represented

12

Award-winning scholars in the field of freedom and democracy

20+

Cross-sector collaborations

  • “Our time here is finite. What matters is what we choose to do with it.”
    In his BLISS 2024 talk, Open Source, Open Societies: Freedom, Technology, with Dr. Álvaro Salas-Castro.

    JACK DORSEY
    FOUNDER, CHAIRMAN, AND CEO, BLOCK INC.

  • “BLISS connects philanthropists, family offices, and innovative minds in a music-uplifted setting where vision, capital, and creativity align: underscoring freedom’s vital role in fostering independent thinking, meaningful bonds, and lasting progress.”


    CARLOS VIVES
    LATIN AMERICAN GRAMMYS PERSON OF THE YEAR 2024 AND FOUNDER, TRAS LA PERLA FOUNDATION
    Interviewed at BLISS Summit 2025.

  • “As a former President of Costa Rica, participating in the BLISS Summit was an honor. The summit fostered critical dialogue and collaboration, driving meaningful progress in defending democracy and empowering communities across Latin America.”
    After giving the Laura Chinchilla Prize for Civic Participation at BLISS Summit 2024.

    PRESIDENT LAURA CHINCHILLA

    FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF COSTA RICA (2010-2014)

  • “We get to do this.”

    In conversation with Dr. Álvaro Salas-Castro and Alex Gladstein, walking on a Costa Rican beach and talking about making freedom investible.

    ROSS STEVENS

    FOUNDER AND CEO, STONE RIDGE HOLDINGS GROUP

  • “We are not here to debate freedom. We are here to defend it. To scale it. To fund it, like our future depends on it. Because it does.”

    While co-creating the BLISS Manifesto.

    NIA DEMMING

    CEO, DEMO LAB FOUNDATION; PRESIDENT, BLISS SUMMIT

  • “Philanthropy can play a transformative role in the expansion of individual liberty worldwide by supporting freedom technologies like privacy-protecting AI tools, Bitcoin, and encrypted messaging applications. Many of these tools are open protocols with no immediate profit model, and so the impact opportunity for charities to boost freedom by expediting their development is massive.”

    Discussing freedom technologies in preparation for BLISS Summit 2026.

    ALEX GLADSTEIN

    CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER, HUMAN RIGHTS FOUNDATION

  • “The question is: what are the sources of strength and support for these regimes, and how do we isolate them from those sources? This requires coordination, imagination, and persistence.”

    In his Panel on “Global Security & Freedom” at BLISS Summit 2025.

    GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER

    SENIOR FELLOW, HOOVER INSTITUTION, STANFORD UNIVERSITY

  • “The question is not whether freedom is worth investing in. It’s whether we’re bold enough to do it now.”

    In his presentation of the Freedom Fund at BLISS Summit 2025. 

    DAMON WILSON

    PRESIDENT AND CEO, NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR DEMOCRACY (NED)

  • “We change our own story in the presence of people who see the world differently.”

    In her talk on “The Human Ties That Bind” with Noemi Boyer-Salas at BLISS Summit 2025.

    ESTHER PEREL

    CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOTHERAPIST, AUTHOR, AND EXPERT IN RELATIONAL INTELLIGENCE

  • “Capital deployed strategically can change the course of history.”

    In his keynote speech at BLISS Summit 2025.

    THOR HALVORSSEN

    CEO, HUMAN RIGHTS FOUNDATION