Berlin - City of Foundations
Foundations are playing an increasingly important role in our free, democratic society: providing the impetus for new projects as well as managing and funding such projects. In Berlin, too, foundations are engaged in a whole range of societal tasks. A large number of prominent foundations are domiciled in Berlin or have an office here. Our Berlin – City of Foundations initiative is seeking to make Berlin more attractive to foundations and to ensure that their engagement here translates into added value for the city.
Foundations Roundtable in Berlin
The Berlin Foundations Roundtable – launched by the Association of German Foundations and the Stiftung Zukunft Berlin – is a forum at which German national foundations that are represented in the capital and selected Berlin foundations meet every two to three months. The Berlin Foundations Roundtable is an informal discussion group promoting exchange on the work of the foundations and helping to launch joint projects. The Foundations Roundtable’s first joint project is the Berlin Foundations Week, of which it is the initiator.
Berlin Foundations Week from 1 to 10 June 2010
There are 690 foundations in Berlin. They address a broad range of issues and use a wide variety of approaches to achieve their goals. Whether their work is in the public eye or behind the scenes, it has a great many tales to tell. And these tales are to be told during the first Berlin Foundations Week from 1 to 10 June 2010 – in a suitable form for a highly diverse interested public. The Berlin Foundations Week presents an opportunity to showcase the diversity of the foundations’ work in Berlin and highlight its importance for society.
The Berlin Foundations Week is open to all foundations that have their headquarters or an office in Berlin. They are all invited to participate by presenting their own events or projects.
The idea for the Foundations Week was developed at the Berlin Foundations Roundtable, which is providing the basic funding and acting as the event’s initiator and facilitator. The other initiators include the Allianz Cultural Foundation, the Allianz Environmental Foundation, the Bertelsmann Foundation, the Björn Schulz Foundation, the BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt, the Association of German Foundations, the Bürgerstiftung Berlin (Citizens’ Foundation Berlin), the German Central Institute for Social Issues, the Deutsche Bank Foundation, the German Children and Youth Foundation, the German Foundation for Monument Protection, the Deutsche Telekom Foundation, the Körber Foundation, the PARITÄTISCHER Wohlfahrtsverband (German Social Welfare Federation), the Robert Bosch Foundation, the Schering Foundation, the Brandenburg Gate Foundation, the Mercator Foundation and the Stiftung Zukunft Berlin.
Discussion Events on the Work of the Foundations
The Berlin Foundations Week will feature three or four discussion evenings on topics relating to the foundations’ work. Divided into a number of selected thematic areas, the discussions will take a critical look at the foundations’ activities while at the same time achieving a strategic effect. Tentative discussion topics are “Citizens for Europe”, “How Do Foundations Gain Legitimacy?” and “Foundations in Civil Society”.
