Körber Foundation

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Körber Foundation
logo
legal form charitable foundation
founding 1959
founder Kurt A. Koerber
Seat Hamburg
purpose Understanding between peoples and between social groups in Germany, enlightenment and reflection through science, education and culture as well as for dealing with historical origins and identity
Chair Lothar Dittmer, Tatjana König, Thomas Paulsen
sales 22,381,000 euros (2018)
Foundation capital 345,000,000 euros (2018)
Employees 129 (2018)
Website koerber-stiftung.de

The Körber Foundation is a charitable foundation established in 1959 by the entrepreneur and founder Kurt A. Körber . The operational work is organized in seven thematic areas: “Age and Demography”, “Education”, “Democracy, Engagement and Cohesion”, “History and Politics”, “International Politics”, “Culture” and “Science”. The foundation is active nationally and internationally with its own projects and events from its Hamburg and Berlin locations .

The foundation is one of the corporate participation foundations: It is the sole shareholder of Körber AG , the strategic holding company of the Körber Group. She receives an annual dividend from her participation, which she uses exclusively for charitable purposes. The foundation's assets amount to around 570 million euros, of which 345 million euros are endowment capital.

Bodies

The foundation has a board of directors, a foundation council and a board of trustees. As the executive, the board of directors is responsible for fulfilling the purposes of the statutes through operational work and promotion. Lothar Dittmer, Tatjana König and Thomas Paulsen are members of the Board of Directors. The board of trustees has the task of monitoring the charitable activities of the board. The Board of Trustees monitors the foundation's asset management and decides on the exercise of rights in companies in whose capital the institution has a stake of over 20 percent.

activities

Around 19 million euros are available for operational project work each year.

The foundation deals with the fields of activity of a living civil society, innovation and international understanding. Organizationally, it is divided into eleven areas:

  • Age and Demographics
  • education
  • Democracy, engagement and cohesion
  • History and politics
  • International politics
  • Culture
  • science
  • communication
  • Events
  • Assets, administration and IT
  • staff

Operational work is carried out in more than 40 programs and projects. These are arranged according to fields of activity:

Lively civil society

  • Committed city : The Engaged Stadt network , which is supported by five foundations, a company and the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs and is part of the foundation, aims to strengthen the municipal infrastructure for engagement.
  • Haus im Park: As the third location of the foundation, the Haus im Park with its theater is also an important cultural and event center for the east of Hamburg. Since 1977 the generations 50plus have been offered opportunities to meet and participate in society.
  • Körber Demography Symposia: The symposia are intended to invite you to be inspired by national and international thought leaders and proven good practice projects for new ideas.
  • KörberHaus : In the historic port district of Hamburg-Bergedorf, the KörberHaus is a new meeting point for the entire district. Five partners will cooperate under one roof: Theater, Körber Foundation, Bergedorf District Office, the AWO and the Hamburg Public Book Hall. There are also projects and initiatives that promote commitment to Bergedorf.
  • City laboratory for demographic future opportunities The workshop series is aimed at mayors or key demographic persons in local administration who are interested in breaking new ground in terms of content and method in an exclusive group.
  • Network of local authorities with a strong demography : At annual meetings, the local demography officers are given the opportunity to get to know local practice and new research and to exchange ideas.
  • Days of Exile The Days of Exile are a public-oriented program of events and encounters in Hamburg. It gives people in exile a platform, bridges the gap between the present and the past and stimulates dialogue and understanding between old and new citizens in order to contribute to better cohesion in the city.
  • Add-on price The add-on price is awarded to social founders aged 60 and over who have found solutions to the social challenges of our time with an entrepreneurial spirit and have built an organization for them. The award promotes a new approach to old age and shows the variety of possibilities in and after middle of life.   

innovation

  • German Study Prize : Dissertations are awarded in Germany that are not only technically excellent, but also of outstanding social importance.
  • Digital Skills: The Körber Foundation works with the Stifterverband to promote digital skills acquisition through regional networks. As part of the »Digital Skills. Learning in regional networks «the best and most creative concepts are awarded. The winners will receive funding of up to 25,000 euros as well as free support and advice.
  • Global University Leaders Council Hamburg: At the Global University Leaders Council Hamburg (GUC Hamburg), formerly the Hamburg Transnational University Leaders Council (HTULC), university presidents from all over the world debate a global understanding of the university. The central concern of the conference is to consciously shape the process of global university development, which has so far been driven by global competition.
  • Hamburger Horizonte: “Hamburger Horizonte” is a series of conferences with the aim of promoting interdisciplinary discourse and open exchange between science and society
  • Körber Prize for European Science : This prize has been awarded to excellent top scientists working in Europe since 1984. Research approaches with high application potential on the way to global recognition are awarded.
  • MINT forums Hamburg and Bremen : The Joachim Herz Foundation , the Körber Foundation, the state authorities for schools and science and the Nordmetall Foundation combine the local MINT initiatives and network the actors in MINT education.
  • MINT young talent barometer: As a nationwide trend report, the MINT barometer records the interest in natural sciences and technology among children and young people and examines the motives for their choice of study and career.
  • MINT regions : As regional networks, the MINT regions are dedicated to strengthening MINT education by coordinating and developing the various actors with their activities to promote young talent and secure skilled workers.
  • Initiative NaT : This alliance of companies, schools and universities promotes the next generation of scientists and engineers in Hamburg through application-oriented teaching.
  • Student Research Center Hamburg : Since 2017, the Student Research Center has offered students space and support for their own research projects with a scientific and / or technical focus.
  • TechnikRadar: What Germans think about technology - that is what the TechnikRadar from acatech - German Academy of Science and Engineering and the Körber Foundation - examines. The annual analysis provides well-founded impulses for the public debate about the importance, design and regulation of technical innovations.   

International understanding

  • Bergedorf Round Table: Since 1961, high-ranking international politicians and experts have been discussing basic issues of European foreign policy in a small, confidential group.
  • Berlin Foreign Policy Forum : Once a year, an international group of around 250 high-ranking politicians, experts and journalists discuss key issues of German foreign policy in cooperation with the Foreign Office .
  • "A Peace of Westphalia for the Middle East?" : Together with the Forum on Geopolitics at Cambridge University , this project examines the historical inspiration for new approaches to conflict resolution.
  • EUSTORY : The EUSTORY network connects civil society organizations in 25 European countries and aims to encourage young Europeans to deal with the central issues of their history together.
  • German-Russian International Dialogue (GRID): Twice a year, experts discuss confidential issues of European security and relations between Russia and the EU.
  • History competition of the Federal President : In Germany's largest historical research competition, children and young people independently research history on site.
  • History Campus : As an alumni project for the EUSTORY network, people from Europe are given the opportunity to discuss current issues relating to the culture of remembrance and to exchange ideas about values ​​in the past and present.
  • Körber Global Leaders Dialogue : The foundation invites high-ranking politicians to give a speech on current developments in their country during their visit to Berlin.
  • Körber History Forum : This international conference takes place annually in Berlin and deals with current conflicts and political challenges with a view to their historical background.
  • Körber Foreign Policy Network : A solid group of younger foreign policy-makers speaks regularly to international decision-makers and gets to know the hot spots of international politics on site.
  • Körber Network History Education: The network strengthens practice-oriented history teacher training in Germany through cooperation projects for joint research-based learning between universities and schools.
  • Körber Policy Game : In a fictitious scenario, a small group of international politicians, government representatives and experts analyze and discuss the interests and options for action of several foreign policy actors.
  • Munich Young Leaders : In the joint project of the Munich Security Conference and the Körber Foundation, tomorrow's decision-makers discuss current issues of foreign and security policy with high-ranking politicians
  • Paris Peace Forum : Networking actors across borders, promoting concrete initiatives and thus strengthening the multilateral order - these are the goals of the annual Paris Peace Forum. The forum provides a platform for more than 5,000 participants from politics, business and society who are committed to overcoming international challenges.   
  • Political breakfasts

Cultural impulses for Hamburg

  • Boy Gobert Prize : Since 1981, the foundation has awarded the Boy Gobert Prize, endowed with 10,000 euros, annually to young actors at Hamburg theaters in order to further promote the stage culture of the Hanseatic city.
  • European Photo Exhibition Award (epea) : Together with the Fondazione Banca del Monte di Lucca, the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian and the Institusjonen Fritt Ord, the foundation has been inviting young photographers from Europe to work on a European topic and to participate in a traveling exhibition present in Italy, France, Norway and Germany.
  • International opera studio at the Hamburg State Opera : Since 1994, the opera studio has been promoting young singers who can thus complete their training under the conditions of a theater company.
  • KörberFonds Zukunftsmusik : Through this donation , the Körber Foundation has been linked to the Elbphilharmonie since 2006. The cooperation in the field of music education is supplemented by the support of individual projects.
  • Körber Studio Junge Regie : Together with the Thalia Theater Hamburg and the Theaterakademie Hamburg , the foundation has been organizing a festival for young German-speaking directors since 2003.
  • My view: The project should give citizens the opportunity to take part in museum work.
  • »Art of course!«: This is the motto of the foundation's activities that aim to meet the inclusive requirements of today's cultural institutions through low-barrier access to art and culture.
  • opera stable - a living lab : Since 2015, the foundation has been promoting the studio stage of the Hamburg State Opera as an experimental field for up-and-coming artists and contemporary music theater. Music education plays a central role here.
  • Ear to the World is the title of a series that aims to “listen to” the connecting lines between traditional music and the present.
  • The Art of Music Education : Since 2008, an international symposium has been held every two years in cooperation with the European Concert Hall Organization on the role of concert institutions in today's society.
  • Listen twice : The series of events invites you to reduce “fear of contact” with regard to new music . The music education format has been offered regularly in the KörberForum since 2006.

communication

In order to bring the impulses and suggestions of the foundation's work to the public, the foundation presents around 8 new non-fiction books annually in its own book publisher, Edition Körber.

Brochures and studies are also published in the Körber Topics series.

In the KörberForum, the foundation invites the public to around 100 events per year at its Hamburg location. Nationwide, debates and discussions of the Körber Forum on current social issues can be listened to or viewed retrospectively in the form of streams and podcasts .

criticism

The proximity of politics to the Foundation, as manifested, for example, in the Federal President's history competition organized by the Foundation, is the subject of criticism. The critics cite guidelines of the World Health Organization , according to which partnerships between politics and the tobacco industry should be rejected.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The founder. In: koerber-stiftung.de. Retrieved December 21, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Board and committees. In: koerber-stiftung.de. Retrieved December 21, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Balance sheet 2018. (PDF) In: koerber-stiftung.de. Retrieved December 21, 2019 .
  4. ^ Report Mainz: Proximity of politicians to tobacco companies violates WHO rules. Criticism of the cooperation between Federal President Horst Köhler and the Körber Foundation. In: "swr.de" - SWR online. August 24, 2009, accessed May 31, 2016 .
  5. ^ Report Mainz: Questionable sponsoring: The cigarette industry generously supports the popular parties. In: "swr.de" - SWR online. July 17, 2009, accessed May 31, 2016 .