Federation protocols allow us to decentralize the way the internet works, but it doesn't necessarily decentralize control. For the fediverse to truly have distributed control, larger instances have to establish a democratic foundation, alongside the peer-to-peer nature of individual single-user instances. The aim of this federation is to encourage dialogue and cooperation between the democratic corner of the wider fediverse, and to create an example of alternate power structures within the shell of the old.
Members of FeDI are those instances that have completed a democratization process and operate as a cooperative democracy.
Associates of FeDI are those who have expressed interest in, or are in the active process of democratization.