Hanns Lilje Foundation

Hanns Lilje Foundation
Legal form:	Legal foundation under civil law and a church foundation within the meaning of Section 20 of the Lower Saxony Foundation Act
Purpose:	Dialogue between church and theology with science, technology, economy, art and politics in evangelical responsibility
Chair:	Chair of the Board of Trustees: Carola Schwennsen, since 2016
Managing directors:	Managing director / secretary: Pastor Christoph Dahling-Sander, since 2008
Consist:	since 1989
Founder:	Evangelical Lutheran regional church of Hanover
Foundation capital:	14.59 million euros (December 31, 2017)
Seat:	Hanover
Website:	www.lilje-stiftung.de

The Hanns-Lilje-Foundation promotes the dialogue between church and theology with science, technology, economy, art and politics. It is a foundation under civil law with legal capacity and an ecclesiastical foundation within the meaning of Section 20 of the Lower Saxony Foundation Act. It was named after the former Hanoverian regional bishop Hanns Lilje . The foundation's office is located in the Hanns-Lilje-Haus in Hanover's old town.

Emergence

In 1989 the Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Regional Church of Hanover decided to establish the Hanns Lilje Foundation and provided it with a capital of 20 million DM. The foundation's task is "... to promote the constant dialogue between church and theology with science, technology, business, art and politics in evangelical responsibility", according to the statutes.

Since 1990, over 1,650 projects have been funded with a funding volume of almost 13.51 million euros. The Hanns-Lilje-Foundation is one of the ten percent of the largest sponsoring foundations in Germany, among the church sponsoring foundations it is one of the five largest in Germany.

Funding priorities

The Hanns-Lilje-Foundation supports the dialogue between church and theology with all areas of social life in evangelical responsibility. To this end, it develops its own priorities and initiatives in cooperation with the office and the Board of Trustees. The main focuses are:

The future of politics and society
The importance of science, technology and economy for life
The forming power of art and culture

The focus of the foundation should open up opportunities for the respective dialogue partners and encourage them to gain experience, insights and knowledge within the framework of their projects, which will have a fruitful effect on their own living and working contexts. Future-oriented topics, questions and solution approaches are of particular interest because the projects sharpen perceptions, put perspectives and assessments to the test, or focus on new options for action. In addition, with the projects it supports, as well as its own projects, the foundation aims to initiate public debates and influence developments in politics, culture and society. The focal points denote fields in which the contribution of church and theology as partners in the dialogue appears to be particularly required and urgent. These areas are not isolated from one another. Rather, they overlap in a variety of ways and are to be understood as a framework for observation, analysis and action within which related or even identical objects and problems can be discussed from different perspectives.

organization

The Board of Trustees is the body of the Hanns Lilje Foundation. It is the board of directors of the foundation within the meaning of Section 86 in conjunction with Section 26 of the Civil Code . The board of trustees consists of twelve public figures. They are appointed by the church senate of the regional church. It works on a voluntary basis and decides on the allocation of funds. The board of trustees meets three times a year, shapes the profile and orientation of the foundation, decides on the allocation of project funds and decides on the annual business plan and the annual accounts. The management of the foundation is appointed by the secretary (managing director), who is appointed by the board of trustees. The Hanns-Lilje-Foundation has been run by Christoph Dahling-Sander, honorary professor at the TU Braunschweig, since 2008. The Foundation's office prepares and implements the decisions of the Board of Trustees. Their tasks also include the implementation of the Foundation's own projects, the preparation and organization of special funding programs, the processing of applications for funding, the obtaining of external reports, the information and advice of applicants and the support of approved projects. The house of ecclesiastical services of the Hanoverian regional church takes on administrative tasks (staff etc.) for the foundation. The Hanns Lilje Foundation is a member of the Federal Association of German Foundations and works according to the principles of good ecclesiastical foundation practice. She has signed the voluntary commitment of the "Transparent Civil Society Initiative" and a. the origin and allocation of their funds as well as the decision-making structures are public.

Foundation activities

The Hanns-Lilje-Foundation supports in a variety of ways.

She realizes her own projects, such as the Hanns-Lilje-Forum, which addresses current issues of the time, and the Loccumer Talks, in which questions of professional ethics are dealt with. The Hanns-Lilje-Foundation takes the initiative and suggests projects that are implemented in cooperation with other sponsors. One of them is the state competition Protestant Religion for pupils of the SEK II in cooperation with the Religious Education Institute Loccum .

The Hanns-Lilje-Foundation also supports third-party projects that correspond to the purpose of the foundation and that are organized, responsible and carried out by a wide variety of institutions and people. One example is the exhibition project “Living in Hidden”, in which people without passports or papers can speak for themselves. Another example is the student short film competition “What do we believe in?” Which was announced by the Hanover Monastery Chamber and the Hanns Lilje Foundation. More than 300 schoolchildren from Lower Saxony took part.

The Hanns Lilje Foundation Prize

On the occasion of its 20th anniversary in 2009, the Hanns Lilje Foundation awarded the Hanns Lilje Foundation Prize “Freedom and Responsibility”, endowed with a total of 20,000 euros, to outstanding scientists and pioneering initiatives. Since then, the Hanns Lilje Foundation Prize has been advertised every two years with changing topics.

Funding conditions

The Hanns Lilje Foundation is particularly interested in multidisciplinary and cooperative projects that focus on the dialogue between gospel and modernity. As a rule, the projects should be able to be assigned to the funding priorities of the foundation, aim to have a supraregional impact and be related to the Evangelical Lutheran regional church of Hanover. The foundation is particularly keen to support projects and ideas that are not sufficiently taken into account by church institutions. According to its own statement, the foundation tries to take up and promote current developments in the dialogue between church and theology with other areas of society. The foundation is free to promote what it considers important and whom it considers suitable, according to its own weighting.

Endowment, endowment fund and trust foundation

The Hanns Lilje Foundation offers to set up endowment funds and trust foundations under its umbrella. It is also open to endowments, for example in 2010 the assets from the dissolved Social Research Foundation at the Evangelical University of Applied Sciences in Hanover were transferred to the capital stock of the Hanns-Lilje-Foundation.

In 2011 the “Business Ethics” fund was launched. This is intended to advance ethical questions in discussions between church, theology and business. The fund volume is over 150,000 euros. Several large companies are involved through endowments.

circle of friends

The Friends of the Hanns Lilje Foundation offer the opportunity to initiate and accompany projects, to enrich the network of the foundation and to support public relations work. Furthermore, the membership fees should enable further activities of the foundation as well as own projects. Bookseller Karl Lang from Hanover was elected as chairman, his deputy is the religious educator Susanne Bürig-Heinze from Burgdorf.

CEO / Secretary

1989–1996: Pastor Gerhard Wegner (* 1953)
1996–2008: Pastor Ralf Tyra (* 1958)
since 2008: Pastor Christoph Dahling-Sander (* 1967)

Chair of the Board of Trustees

1989–1994: Former Bishop Eduard Lohse
1994–2000: Hans May (retired director of the Loccum Academy )
2000–2006: Eckhard Nagel
2006–2010: Jürgen Fitschen
2010–2014: Axel Horstmann
2014–2016: Susanne Rode-Breymann (President of the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media )
2016–2020: Carola Schwennsen (managing director of specialist exhibitions Heckmann GmbH, Hanover)
since 2020: Dr. Thomas FW Schodder

literature

Federal Association of German Foundations (publisher): Directory of German Foundations , Volumes 1–3, Berlin 6th edition 2008
Activity report of the Hanns-Lilje-Foundation 1989 - 1995, ed. from the Hanns Lilje Foundation, Hanover 1995
Activity report of the Hanns Lilje Foundation 1995 - 1999, ed. from the Hanns Lilje Foundation, Hanover 1999
Activity report of the Hanns Lilje Foundation 1999 - 2003, ed. from the Hanns Lilje Foundation, Hanover 2004
Activity report of the Hanns Lilje Foundation 2004 - 2007, ed. from the Hanns Lilje Foundation, Hanover 2008
Yearbook of the Hanns Lilje Foundation 2010 | 2011. Shaping the future together, ed. by Christoph Dahling-Sander i. A. of the Hanns Lilje Foundation, Hanover 2010
Yearbook of the Hanns Lilje Foundation 2012 | 2013. Commitment and Future, ed. by Christoph Dahling-Sander i. A. of the Hanns Lilje Foundation, Hanover 2012
Yearbook of the Hanns Lilje Foundation 2014 | 2015. 25 years of the Hanns Lilje Foundation. We donate dialogues, ed. by Christoph Dahling-Sander i. A. of the Hanns Lilje Foundation, Hanover 2014
Yearbook of the Hanns Lilje Foundation 2016 | 2017. Discovering Hanns Lilje anew - Dialogues create then and now, ed. by Christoph Dahling-Sander i. A. of the Hanns Lilje Foundation, Hanover 2016
Yearbook of the Hanns-Lilje-Foundation 2018 | 2019. people. Would. Machinery. Shaping the digital change, ed. by Christoph Dahling-Sander i. A. of the Hanns Lilje Foundation, Hanover 2018