Focusing on Personal Connection

When you talk to our project managers, they often mention “connecting” to a project. This sense of connection describes what is important to our foundation when we fund a project: the quality of the interaction between human beings. This means a sense of equal collaboration not only between the foundation and our project partners, but also in the way that the people in the funded projects treat one another and their intended audience. It is important to us that grant applicants consider how their projects will affect the wider social realm and the common good. This is why we are always pleased when, for example, a project has multiple sources of support: for us, that is a sign that the project is needed and desirable in the world. These specific qualities cannot be read from between the lines of a purely paper-based grant application. That is why, in most cases, we arrange an on-site visit that lets us form a more personal picture. By getting to know the projects and the people involved, we can know them authentically and understand them deeply. As a result, we see every grant application as a unique case and are able to limit the amount of paperwork required for a grant application.

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Flexible and Individual

At our foundation, there are no hard deadlines or fixed budgets. Applications can be submitted at any time. We endeavour to process applications both promptly and carefully. We are interested in new ideas and unusual solutions, which is why we strive for flexibility in our ideas and approach. We work in teams so that every grant application is reviewed by several colleagues.

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Support and Consulting

We take the word “support” literally: we offer our project partners not only financial support, but also our complete attention. That is why we are, in individual cases, also available to provide advice and practical support or to assist in shaping a project. We are happy to share the experiences and insights that we have gleaned in a quarter-century of foundation work. In this spirit, our foundation also often serves as a platform to bring various individuals, initiatives and interests together.

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Acting on Conviction, Enabling Development

We are, in the best sense of the word, “systematically unpredictable”: we don’t act according to some pre-determined schema. If constant development and change are the foundational constants of an unstable world, then our foundation must be agile and must constantly cast a fresh perspective – a beginner’s eye – on projects. This agility is based on the conviction that we want to intentionally support projects whose perspectives are not limited to the reigning promise of salvation through materialism. Instead, we support initiatives and projects that strive to act on knowledge and conviction.