20 Years of Community Foundations in Germany
30 Sep 2016
A current snapshot of the movement in Germany reveals a total of 307 community foundations with the Association of German Foundations’ Seal of Approval, more than 29,000 community foundation donors, and EUR 334 million in capital. Since the start of the movement in Germany 20 years ago, community foundations have grown to be a strong pillar of civic engagement. On 30 September 2016, the eve of the European Day of Foundations and Donors, the German community foundations celebrated their 20th anniversary in Berlin.
Celebrations in Berlin on 30 September 2016
In 1996, excited about the work of community foundations on the other side of the Atlantic, the entrepreneur and donor Reinhard Mohn and the criminologist Prof. Christian Pfeiffer brought the idea of participatory foundations for everyone to Gütersloh and Hannover. Today the 29,000 German community foundation donors represent the largest group of donors in Germany. They help to shape the common good at a local level in an innovative and sustainable way. In 2016 alone, more than 1,600 new donors joined community foundations.
“The secret of the community foundations’ success is: anyone can participate – with money, time or ideas”, says Ulrike Reichart, head of the Community Foundation Initiative in the Association of German Foundations. “Community foundations can respond in a flexible and non-bureaucratic way to new challenges and needs at a local level.”
One million hours, according to projections, is the time German citizens performed volunteer work during the past year. Many of them manage the foundation business, and others work as local consultants and moderators. They help young people make career choices, preserve monuments, give children a better understanding of culture, and sponsor refugees. In Frankfurt they keep a children’s choir alive, in Freiburg they provide healthy snack food for preschool children, on the island of Borkum they maintain an emergency guidance system and in Wasserburg the Medieval Spectacle.
A total of approximately EUR 18 million in subsidies was spent on not-for-profit causes by German community foundations in 2015. Their engagement is highly diverse. Most of them are actively involved on behalf of young people, education and training, social causes, arts and culture, and cross-generational bonding. Half of the surveyed community foundations moreover champion charitable causes, international understanding and promote the environment as well as heritage and local history preservation.
In the comparison between the federal states, North Rhine-Westphalia is ranked first with 83 Seal of Approval community foundations, followed by Baden-Württemberg (71) and Lower Saxony (55). Community foundations which have been awarded the Association of German Foundations’ Seal of Approval meet the 10 characteristics of a community foundation. They are independent community foundations of citizens for citizens in which all members of a city, municipality or region can become involved.
For more information, contact Franziska Rötzsch