Sponsorship

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A sponsorship is the voluntary assumption of a duty of care. A sponsorship differs from a partnership (e.g. community partnership ) in that the two participants do not have the same rights and obligations, but rather a one-sided care task is perceived.

Legal and linguistic forms of sponsorship

Different examples

The term is originally derived from the Christian godfather , which had a very important social role, especially in earlier centuries, and in many places it still holds today. The term sponsorship has acquired a very varied meaning today. In the commercial sector, there are sponsorships in which a customer receives compensation if he persuades an acquaintance to order a newspaper subscription or to sign a telephone contract, for example.

In the cultural and political area there are town partnerships and name sponsorships. In the environmental sector, there are financial sponsorships for newly planted trees or for animals that are threatened with extinction. The forms in the humanitarian field are particularly varied. They are grouped around two different concepts:

  1. international sponsorship, whereby one or more people from the first world support one or more people from poorer countries primarily financially;
  2. the local sponsorship, in which a (e) volunteer (r) a sponsor supports a person in need of the further neighborhood regularly several hours attention. Examples from the areas mentioned above are given below.

People or legal entities can sponsor a foundation or a project in the broadest sense . Many children's aid organizations offer people from rich nations (donor countries) the opportunity to sponsor children from poor regions (program countries) . The sponsorship contributions finance projects with which the living conditions of the children, their families and the whole community are to be permanently improved. Critics see this as a " paternalistic " relationship between donors and recipients and prefer an equal partnership.

Likewise, local authorities such as counties , cities and municipalities sponsorships for other authorities take over. Often it is about memory sponsorships . This often happened in Germany after the Second World War , when West German cities, districts and federal states took over these for residents from the former GDR , the Sudetenland or the former German eastern regions after the expulsion and subsequent relocation . Some cities and municipalities emphasize sponsorship for the residents living in their new place of residence or their local cultural institutions, others on sponsorship with the region or municipality of origin. The latter type of sponsorship was, at least at the time of the sponsorship declaration ( Cold War ), officially based almost entirely on one-sidedness. There are also sponsorships from West German communities with churches of those territories. Individual declarations of sponsorship were later revoked (in 1989 the sponsorship of the Wetterau district in Hesse via the home district of Tepl-Petschau ), other sponsorships became (ordinary) town partnerships since the end of the Cold War .

After the devastating seaquake in the Indian Ocean in 2004 , some cities also sponsored communities in the affected regions.

Several German cities have sponsored a barracks of the Bundeswehr or a ship of the Bundesmarine . It is similar with Deutsche Bahn - information on the procedure and a compilation are in the list of IC / ICE vehicles named according to municipalities and regions and at Lufthansa .

Animal sponsorships are usually arranged by animal welfare organizations or zoos . Sponsorships for a protected wild animal, for a pet or a so-called flight sponsorship are possible . While the first two classic sponsorships are associated with an obligation and usually with a financial contribution (e.g. for veterinarian, feed, medication), the flight sponsorship is only an inexpensive means of transporting an animal.

By adopting tree sponsorships , the planting and care of trees or the protection of existing trees can be financially supported. There are various concepts here, ranging from a one-off payment to a monthly fee to an investment. Providers of these tree sponsorships are for example Bauminvest, Forest Finance, Plantaciones Edelman, Nahow and Global Nature Fund . The concept of tree sponsorship is intended to create a means, especially in the rainforest, to reduce the loss of flora and fauna caused by the high consumption of resources in industrial nations according to the polluter pays principle.

Newer sponsorships include training sponsorships or general sponsorships for career orientation. In a pilot project by the State of Lower Saxony (at the BBS am Pottgraben in Osnabrück), pupils from general schools in the final classes (in the grammar schools class 10) are supervised during the internships of trainees both during their stay at the vocational school and in the companies. With no age barriers, the mentoring provides better information opportunities aimed at the direct interests of the students. At the same time, the sponsors have the opportunity to deepen and expand their knowledge and to present the students in a linguistically targeted form the possibilities of the transition from school to training.

Honorary sponsorships

Upon request, the German Federal President takes on the honorary sponsorship of the seventh child in a family. At the time of the application, there must be at least seven living children in the family, including the sponsored child, who are descended from the same parents, mother or father. Adopted children are treated the same as biological children. The sponsored child must be German within the meaning of Article 116, Paragraph 1 of the Basic Law (GG). The honorary sponsorship has primarily a symbolic character. It cannot be compared with a baptismal sponsorship. By accepting the honorary sponsorship, the Federal President expresses the special obligation of the German state for large families . Around 75,100 honorary sponsorships have been taken on since the Federal Republic of Germany was founded in 1949. From July 2004 until the end of 2008, Federal President Horst Köhler took on a total of 2,880 honorary sponsorships. In the GDR, other requirements for honorary sponsorships applied and were more frequent, also due to the higher birth rate (1970: 202.5000, 1977: 126,000; 1988: 41,000).

Similar practices already existed during the Prussian monarchy, the Weimar Republic and under National Socialism.

Name sponsorships

It is common in general, each with proper names afflicted thing to by existing designations call or derive from them. This already existing name represents the name godparent for the new name . The main part of the name godparents can be found here in the private sector, for example with children, pets or company names. The association between the godfather and the new name is usually only limited by the imagination of the namesake, which makes it difficult to characterize the typical name-godfather relationship, especially in the private sector. Especially in the case of proper public names, i.e. mountains , valleys , streets , squares , schools , stars , high or low pressure areas , species , planets etc., godparents play a role in the form of historical events, geographical locations, people from contemporary history, certain naming rules up to and including special codes play an important role. Who or what is the godfather of a name is usually not tied to fixed rules and can usually be freely chosen by the authorities, offices, scientific institutions or other institutions responsible for the naming. In many cases, is also the discoverer of designated discovery of naming beneficiaries. However, he or she can also assign this right.

It is also possible to sell name sponsorships of this type to private individuals, i.e. to grant them the right to name a public proper name in full or subject to certain conditions in return for payment of a certain amount. Instead of elaborate and expensive naming commissions, money can even be collected in this way and in most cases these are also used for charitable purposes or used in the sense of the mostly public institution responsible for naming, which, however, usually also corresponds to non-profit status. Since name sponsorships are hardly any regulated services, especially in the transition area between public and private proper names, one should always make sure of the carrier and its seriousness or the recognition of the right to naming by a certain organization. A well-known example of this type of sponsorship are the sports stadiums named after companies. Some natural science collections even enable private individuals to purchase an object in the collection, e.g. B. to name a species of animal or plant after yourself.

International donor child sponsorships

Various non-profit organizations and aid agencies in industrialized countries solicit donations by arranging sponsorships for children abroad. The sponsors transfer amounts of approx. 30–400 euros (sometimes more) annually, with which an individual child - sometimes also their family or the village community - is supported, receives food, schooling, health care, etc. In principle, this funding runs for several years. As a rule, a (written) contact is established between the sponsor and the child, and some aid organizations provide regular information on the child's development. Some of the organizations can also visit the sponsored child on site. This gives aid projects a personal component. Because of this, and because of the longstanding relationship, it is a particularly effective form of fundraising.

The rapid growth of many organizations for child sponsorships has triggered a cutthroat competition on the German donation market : According to the DZI (donation almanac 2010/11), this figure increased between 2002 and 2009

Aid organizations that refuse to sponsor children recorded losses, for example Misereor , Adveniat and Die Sternsinger Quote: It is important to us to avoid giving preference to a single child. The child sponsorship programs are implemented in collaboration with institutions that support all children. Through the support of the entire facility, the child should learn to live in his environment - in the community of his friends, his family, his village. Some traditional aid organizations accuse competitors of dubious advertising: "Something is being fooled into the sponsor, because the money does not go straight to the child" (Helga Kuhn from Unicef). Misereor managing director Martin Bröckelmann-Simon criticized that sponsorships created “islands of happiness”. Instead, aid agencies should empower the community.

There are currently several organizations that offer international child sponsorship, including Hope Bearers Foundation , Plan International , SOS Children's Village eV, German Committee for UNICEF eV and World Vision Germany eV

Discussion about international child sponsorships

Critics of only child sponsorships believe that such programs sometimes do more harm than good to the children concerned in the long term and that it is generally an inefficient form of development cooperation.

  • The sponsorship money often only serves one child. The thereby “privileged” child could suffer from the envy of other children and families who were not supported in this way and could become socially isolated.
  • The children would be "instrumentalized" for the fundraising.
  • Contrary to the impression that help is provided directly and unbureaucratically, the administrative effort - for example for maintaining contact between sponsor and child - is particularly high in such programs.
  • Often little or only incomplete information is given about the administrative effort, the selection of the beneficiary children or the involvement of the social environment.
  • It is inefficient to give special support to a few individual children. The overall situation of the village, the country etc. is not improved.

The Swiss control body for donation organizations ZEWO regards advertising for child sponsorships as ethically questionable and therefore does not certify organizations with only child sponsorships. However, ZEWO is the only donation certification authority worldwide with this attitude; other so-called “watchdog” organizations (“BBB Wise Giving Alliance”, “ECFA”, “ Charity Navigator ”) accept child sponsorships as a form of donation without reservation. Sponsorship organizations in Austria can also apply for the Austrian Donation Seal of Approval.

The German Central Institute for Social Issues (DZI) writes about child sponsorships:

"The permanent donation, be it in the form of a sponsorship, partnership or even without any special purpose, has the advantage over individual donations that there is no need to advertise separately and costly for each individual donation."

- German Central Institute for Social Issues (DZI)

The DZI also points out, however, that sponsorships require a higher administrative burden and that there are different forms of sponsorship. The DZI recommends the form in which projects are financed with the sponsorship contributions, “which the whole community in which the child lives”. According to the DZI, donors can "see the advertising of the respective organization ... in which form their sponsorship contributions will be used."

In 2004, Stiftung Warentest compared the administrative costs of different organizations and came to the conclusion that these accounted for up to a third of the total expenditure for individual organizations.

In a study, Annette Scheunpflug examined the advertising of German organizations ( CCF Kinderhilfswerk , Plan International Deutschland, Kindernothilfe , SOS Children's Villages / Hermann Gmeiner Fund and World Vision Germany ) that arrange child sponsorships. In it she comes to the conclusion “that the representation of child sponsorships in public relations must balance the tension between the communication from sponsor to child and technically appropriate communication about development cooperation. The organizations examined achieve this challenge differently. "

Scheunpflug examined above all the advertising of the organizations and judged: "Some materials give the impression that the donors can choose the children they want ." However, the study does not fundamentally question the legitimacy of child sponsorships. It should be noted critically in this context that Annette Scheunpflug's study was financed by "Terre des Hommes" and "Deutsche Welthungerhilfe", ie by competitors who do not sponsor children themselves.

Angelika Hagen and Ernst Gehmacher wrote another study on the sponsorship concept in 2004. In a broad-based social capital study conducted by sponsors from World Vision Austria on "Research into happiness and satisfaction" within the framework of the OECD "Measuring Social Capital" program, came the authors come to the conclusion that most sponsorships come about through personal discussions. In an interview, Gehmacher also emphasizes: “… there is nothing exploitative or unethical about sponsorships - provided they are carried out as carefully as the study shows; and the support will benefit the entire community in the long term ”.

Local sponsorships

Local sponsorships (also known as 'active sponsorships') have developed in Germany for around 15 years through local initiatives of various kinds. There are currently more than 1500 in over 1000 large and small cities in Germany. There has been a boom in recent years: new sponsorship programs are being set up in many places.

For the implementation of an active sponsorship, a placement office is always required that finds a volunteer godparent and brings him / her together with a suitable godchild or with an entire godparent family. A third of the local placement offices are local offices of the large welfare organizations such as Caritas , Diakonie , AWO , Deutscher Kinderschutzbund or they belong to the networks of volunteer agencies and senior citizens' offices . The remainder came about through purely private initiatives or were brought into being by local institutions (municipal administrations, etc.).

Globally, the first local sponsorship initiatives took place 100 years ago in the USA. Some citizens in the young industrial cities of the east coast took care of the street children to protect them from crime and marginalization . It has now grown into a nationwide organization with over 400 local placement offices under the name ' Big Brothers Big Sisters of America' (BBBS). Other American charities have also adopted the idea, varying its form and orientation towards different target groups. In Europe, the 'sponsorship movement' first gained a foothold in the UK before spreading to around 20 other European countries over the past 20 years. Big Brothers Big Sisters have also existed in Germany since 2006; Since 2001 a sponsorship program based on the BBBS model has been set up by the German Children and Youth Foundation under the name 'biffy - Big Friends for Youngsters' .

Local child sponsorship

The local child sponsorship is best understood in Germany with the keyword “loan grandma” (or “dream grandma”). Your male colleague, the "Leihopa" ("wish grandpa"), was probably first invented by the writers of a television series from the 1980s . In reality, it is a great rarity compared to the several thousand loan hires that already exist in Germany. In contrast to the Anglo-Saxon countries, there is also a lack of younger godparents in Germany.

Some recruitment agencies use the expression “godparent” instead of “loan grandma”. Some volunteer sponsors are available for a few hours per week or month completely free of charge, while others receive travel expenses and / or allowance from their parents. (In Germany, child-rearing activities that are carried out as part of a mini- job are subject to the minimum wage regulations , as this is not an honorary position.) There are currently around 100 placement offices in Germany for local child sponsorships.

Local learning sponsorship

With a learning sponsorship, the sponsor regularly supports children in their education. This can be volunteer homework help for a single child or for a small group of children. The support can take place, for example, in a daycare center, city library or elementary school. Similar activities and names are: reading mentors, language mentors, educational mentors, reading helpers, mentors, student mentors, student coaches. In kindergartens, educational sponsorships are also about reading aloud, gardening, artistic work and music.

A learning, education or student sponsorship already differs from tutoring in that it is voluntary. Such active sponsorships are also seen as a contribution to educational equity.

The German Child Protection Association arranges class sponsors as support for school classes that have a high proportion of children with a migration background .

The organizations that are active in the field of student sponsorship include a. Balu und Du , the opportunities agency and student sponsors Germany .

Local family sponsorship

In the case of a family sponsorship, the sponsor regularly looks after a young family with small children. For various reasons, these families find it particularly difficult to cope with everyday life and child-rearing. The idea comes from England. With the help of the government, a private welfare organization has set up or found over 300 local offices there in the last 30 years to arrange family sponsorships. Branch networks in Norway, Hungary and the Netherlands also already exist. In Germany, the idea has been picked up by over 10 local exchanges in recent years.

Local job sponsorship

Job sponsors encourage and support young people in the final secondary school class to create the 'Quali'. They then help the young people to find a job or an apprenticeship. The sponsor often only appears after graduation.

The model comes from France. There has been a publicly financed network of around 600 advice and information offices for young jobseekers there for a long time. Around half of them are recruiting volunteer job sponsors. According to a ministerial announcement, there are currently over 8,000 job sponsors. You take on the job sponsor until it has found a job and gives the impression that it wants and can keep it.

There are currently around 90 local placement offices in Germany.

See also

literature

  • To international child sponsorships
    • Different models of child sponsorship. In: Fundraising Academy: Fundraising: Handbook for basics, strategies and methods. Gabler Verlag, 2008, ISBN 3-8349-0820-7 , ISBN 978-3-8349-0820-9 , pp. 339 ff.

To training sponsorships

  • Lothar Beinke: The sponsorship project. In: Economy and Education, Issue 7–8 / 2009, pp. 231–235.
  • Lothar Beinke, Cornelia Frerichs, Michael Szewczyk: From business school to IT competence center. Peter Lang, Frankfurt / Main a. a. 2007.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Lothar Beinke: The sponsorship project , in: Economy and professional education, (2009), pages 231-235
  2. ↑ www.bundespraesident.de: The Federal President / Anniversaries and honorary sponsorships . In: bundespraesident.de . 2016. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
  3. ↑ bundespraesident.de: Anniversaries and honorary sponsorships . ( Memento of March 27, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) As of March 5, 2009.
  4. ↑ https://www.bpb.de/geschichte/zeitgeschichte/deutschlandarchiv/206153/soziale-ungleichheit-und-soziale-ungerechtigkeit-kinderreichen-familien-in-der-ddr ; accessed on May 21, 2019
  5. ↑ Wolf Stegemann (Ed.): Honorary Sponsorships | Dorsten-Lexikon.de . In: dorsten-lexikon.de . 2016. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
  6. ^ DZI donation almanac 2010-11
  7. ↑ sternsinger.org ( Memento from January 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ Child sponsorships are replacing traditional help . In: Zeit Online , December 8, 2010
  9. ↑ Take part and become a sponsor now (website of the Hope Bearers Foundation). Retrieved February 9, 2017 .
  10. ↑ Become a godparent now! (Website of Plan International Deutschland eV). Retrieved February 20, 2017 .
  11. ↑ ZEWO leaflet on sponsorships abroad ( Memento from January 6, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF)
  12. ↑ a b DZI : Donor tips on sponsorships ( Memento of the original from September 18, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.dzi.de
  13. ↑ Stiftung Warentest: Donations: Give us your money! In: Finanztest 12/2004, pp. 37–39.
  14. ↑ presse.uni-erlangen.de (PDF)
  15. ^ Annette Scheunpflug (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg): Study on advertising for child sponsorships
  16. ↑ cf. Annette Scheunpflug (University of Erlangen-Nürnberg): Study on advertising for child sponsorships, p. 4
  17. ↑ Sigrid Kroismayr: “Poor Hascherl” or future for children: Who benefits from a sponsorship? (PDF; 28 kB) Interview with Angelika Hagen and Ernst Gehmacher, March 2006.
  18. ↑ Do I receive the statutory minimum wage when doing voluntary work? In: verdi.de. Retrieved January 11, 2020 .
  19. ↑ Active sponsors wanted. aktivpaten.de, accessed on September 10, 2016 .
  20. ↑ a b I like to be an educational sponsor because ... sponsors tell. State capital Stuttgart, accessed on September 10, 2016 .
  21. ↑ Class sponsors. (No longer available online.) Deutscher Kinderschutzbund, Landesverband Bayern, 2016, archived from the original on June 29, 2016 ; accessed on September 10, 2016 .
  22. ↑ Class sponsors: Help for everyday school life. (No longer available online.) German Child Protection Association, archived from the original on September 15, 2016 ; accessed on September 10, 2016 .