Parties' main sources of income, though these vary in proportion, are donations, state support, and membership dues, with the first of these making up the largest component for most parties.

State support is issued to political parties that poll above 2 percent in a Riigikogu election and, if a party polls above 5 percent and wins seats, in proportion to the number of seats the party has.

Membership dues make up a negligible proportion of most parties' income, and many parties do not strictly enforce payment.

Isamaa's donations total €141,000, mostly from Pruunsild

Opposition party Isamaa received €141,323 in donations in the first quarter, the bulk of this (€100,000) coming from BigBank owner Parvel Pruunsild. Other significant donors were businesspeople Jüri Tiidermann (who gave €18,000 in Q1 2025), Jüri Taal (€5,000), and Mark Orav (€5,000).

Isamaa collected €5,975 in membership dues, paid by 179 party members. As of April 11, Isamaa had 7,235 registered members, meaning only about 2.5 percent of members actually paid the fee.

Isamaa received €96,446 in state support in the first quarter.

The party's Q1 2025 revenues came to €243,973, while expenditures were €88,889, leaving the party €155,084 in the black.

Since 2016, Pruunsild, a long-term Isamaa member, has donated a total of €2.178 million to the party.

Pruunsild was linked to recent controversy after portal Delfi reported a criminal investigation underway against Isamaa, over suspicions of illicit party funding.

Pruunsild told ERR that he has not been contacted in connection with any alleged criminal case.

Pruunsild also noted the allegations relate to the period when a breakaway faction, which ultimately formed the nucleus of the Parempoolsed party, had tried to hijack Isamaa and that he had aided the party financially in staving off this takeover bid.

Entrepreneur Margus Vanaselja madelargest donation to SDE

Meanwhile, the Social Democratic Party (SDE), now in opposition but in office at the start of Q1 2025, raised €60,453 in financial donations over the same period.
€10,000 was donated by Margus Vanaselja, owner of the Saaremaa company Baltic Workboats (BWB), itself subject to an investigation over finances.

According to the ERJK, 62 people donated to SDE in Q1 2025.

Larger donations were also made by former Nõmme district elder Lauri Paeveer (who gave €8,000), MPs Anti Allas (€3,700) and Ester Karuse (€2,700), Tartu Deputy Mayor Lemmit Kaplinski (€2,584), architect Elo Kiivet (€2,127), former minister and current MP Riina Sikkut (€2,000), and MEP Sven Mikser (€2,000).

SDE took in a total of €7,825 in membership dues, paid by 225 party members.

The party has 4,619 members in total, meaning that nearly 5 percent paid their dues in the last quarter.

SDE received €108,501 in state support.

The party's total revenues were €176,780, while expenses were €109,505, meaning a budget surplus of €67,275.

Center's donation drive bearing fruit

The Center Party, also in opposition, collected €85,540 in donations in the first quarter of this year, double the figure for the whole of 2024.

The reason for this is the party, not for the first time in recent years, appealed to all members to donate to help it pay off a million-euro fine relating to a Supreme Court ruling that the party had taken in illicit donations.

Center's donation fortunes have fluctuated greatly down the years: Whereas in 2024, €40,225 was donated, in 2019, the year then-Center leader and now Isamaa MEP Jüri Ratas became prime minister, the party took in €845,521 in donations.

As for Q1 2025, 1,057 people, mostly party members as noted, made monetary donations to Center, meaning an average donation of €81.

This also meant Center's donation landscape is more even than that of Isamaa, for instance – the largest donation, from MEP Jaak Madison, was €2,500, a fraction of Isamaa's largest single donation.

MP Andrei Korobeinik (€2,005) and party leader Mihhail Kõlvart (€1,324) were other significant donors.

Center collected €6,291 in membership fees, from 198 party members.

The party received €192,891 in state support.

Center's revenues in the first quarter were €284,764; expenses were €235,575 (of which €133,459 constituted operating costs), meaning the party ended up €49,189 despite its fines.

Raul Kirjanen gives €30,000 to Parempoolsed

The non-parliamentary Parempoolsed party raised €93,161 in Q1 2025, with €30,000 of this coming from timber magnate Raul Kirjanen.

Kirjanen is a standing donor to the party, founded in 2022; in 2024 he gave Parempoolsed a total of €120,000, and €200,000 in 2023.

Other significant Q1 2025 donations to Parempoolsed came from businesspeople Kaspar Prik (€10,000), Heldur Meerits (€7,500), Almar Proos (€6,000), Peeter Mänd (€5,000), Toomas Lepp (€5,000), and Jaan Pillesaar (€4,000).

Parempoolsed took in €7,500 in state support, bringing the party's total revenues to €100,661. At the same time, the party's expenses were €81,431, leaving a surplus of €19,230.

Eesti 200 takes in a little under €6,000 in donations

Eesti 200's donations were more modest for Q1 2025 and the party received €5,894 in donations. The party also finished the quarter in the red, by over €140,000.

The largest of these, at €1,224, came from Tallinn Deputy Mayor Margot Roose, a party member, and a total of 36 people made donations to Eesti 200 (or an average of a little over €133 per person, excluding Roose).

This means that Eesti 200 not only relies primarily on state support, which came to €168,780 in Q1 2025 (94 percent of its total income), but also that the party has seen a massive drying up in donations from its peak year of 2023, when it won its first (14) Riigikogu seats and took in €815,518.

This had already started last year, when Eesti 200 took in €16,094 all year in donations, and following several scandals which rocked the party, including that an MP who had run at the 2023 elections on a platform highlighting her efforts to raise funds for Ukraine had been involved in embezzlement of those funds.

Eesti 200 collected €4,603 in membership fees, from a little under 100 members, in Q1 2025.

Eesti 200's total income was €179,277, while expenses were €37,140, meaning the party was in the red, to the tune of €142,136.

Reform also took donation from BWB's Margus Vanaselja

Prime Minister Kristen Michal's Reform Party reported €48,914 in donations in Q1 2025.

Like SDE, Reform received a €10,000 sum from Margus Vanaselja, owner of the Saaremaa-based boatbuilders Baltic Workboats (BWB).

Alek Kirs, a South Estonia-based businessman, made a similarly sized donation to Reform, while other significant donors were: Businessman Mark Aivo Takis (who donated €5,000), former prime minister and former European Commissioner Siim Kallas (€3,000) and Tallinn City Council Deputy Chair Viljar Jaamu (€2,500).

135 people donated to Reform all told.

The party collected €4,210 in membership dues, paid by 225 party members, or just 2.4 percent of the party's 9,412 membership.

Reform received €446,061 in state support, the largest sum of any party, owing to the fact it has by far the largest number of Riigikogu seats (37).

Reform reported income of €502,488 in Q1 2025 and outgoings of €406,193, meaning the party was in the red to the tune of €96,296.

Reform also took donation from BWB's Margus Vanaselja

Prime Minister Kristen Michal's Reform Party reported €48,914 in donations in Q1 2025.

Like SDE, Reform received a €10,000 sum from Margus Vanaselja, owner of the Saaremaa-based boatbuilders Baltic Workboats (BWB).

Alek Kirs, a South Estonia-based businessman, made a similarly sized donation to Reform, while other significant donors were: Businessman Mark Aivo Takis (who donated €5,000), former prime minister and former European Commissioner Siim Kallas (€3,000) and Tallinn City Council Deputy Chair Viljar Jaamu (€2,500).

135 people donated to Reform all told.

The party collected €4,210 in membership dues, paid by 225 party members, or just 2.4 percent of the party's 9,412 membership.

Reform received €446,061 in state support, the largest sum of any party, owing to the fact it has by far the largest number of Riigikogu seats (37).

Reform reported income of €502,488 in Q1 2025 and outgoings of €406,193, meaning the party was in the red to the tune of €96,296.

Editor's note: This article was updated to include Reform's and Eesti 200's results.

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