35 Years of “Stiftung Kinderzukunft”:
An Anniversary – and A Promise

Giving chil­dren in need a real chance for the future – this goal of the Children’s Future Foun­da­tion has resonat­ed with us from the very first moment. Short­ly after estab­lish­ing our enter­prise, there­fore, we took the deci­sion to support the foun­da­tion as best we can, finan­cial­ly as well as person­al­ly. For the Children’s Future Foun­da­tion, you see, is about so much more than mate­r­i­al aid. It is the face-to-face encoun­ters, the close, if not fami­ly-like commu­ni­ty that make the differ­ence. The impres­sion that the visit to Aldea Infan­til in Guatemala made on Daniel Bauer and his fami­ly bear witness to that.

With this post we wish to not only congrat­u­late our part­ners at the Foun­da­tion on their long-term and sustained success. We would also like to invite you to become a fami­ly member your­self and expe­ri­ence first-hand the enthu­si­asm of the chil­dren, who have a future perspec­tive thanks to the Foundation.

Children’s Future – The Mission Is in the Name

In the 1980s, entre­pre­neur Rudolf Walther was on a busi­ness trip to East­ern Europe and saw it for himself: the desper­ate need orphaned chil­dren were in. So in 1988, he found­ed the Grün­dau-based Rudolf Walther Foun­da­tion – driven by a deeply-root­ed sense of soical respon­si­bilty. From the very begin­ning, he real­ized what true help would need to look like: taking care of the chil­dren on a long-term basis, feed­ing them, provid­ing them with health care and giving them access to job qualifications.

The bar was set very high but it has proven a success for so many times – with more than 2,100 chil­dren to date: They will be able to provide for them­selves in the future and there­fore have a real chance to a better life. In order to reach this goal, the Foun­da­tion choos­es to take three differ­ent paths:

• Children’s Village
  Chil­dren live in fami­ly-like commu­ni­ties in our foundation’s own three children’s villages in Ruma­nia, Bosnia-Herze­gov­ina as well as in ’our’ Aldea Infan­til in Guatemala, where they enjoy compre­hen­sive care and education.
• Exter­nal Projects
  The Foun­da­tion strives to help poor chil­dren and fami­lies in the vicin­i­ty of the Children’s Village, where it is need­ed the most. Fami­lies receive food, medical care and educa­tion­al support in two such exter­nal projects in Guatemala.
• Co-fund­ed Projects
  In order to help even more chil­dren in need, the Foun­da­tion also oper­ates projects most­ly fund­ed by exter­nal spon­sors – current­ly in Zambia and Thai­land. Spon­sors include the Feder­al Ministry for Econom­ic Coop­er­a­tion and Develpop­ment (BMZ, Bundesmin­is­teri­um für wirtschaftliche Zusam­me­nar­beit und Entwick­lung), the Euro­pean Commis­sion as well as enter­pris­es and bene­fi­cia­ry foundations.

In addi­tion to that, the Children’s Future Foun­da­tion exchanges expe­ri­ences with numer­ous other orga­ni­za­tions pursu­ing the same or simi­lar goals. For this reason, they creat­ed an award which will be given away for the second time this year: the German Children’s Future Award (Deutsche Kinderzukun­ft-Preis). At the 35th annvier­sary cele­bra­tions, it will be hand­ed to former profes­sion­al foot­ball play­er Gerald Asamoah to honour his engage­ment for the bene­fit of chil­dren with a heart disease which is embed­ded in the Gerald Asamoah Foun­da­tion found­ed by himself.

Support That Deliv­ers – Sealed and Signed

In order to use the donat­ed funds in accor­dance with their purpose and to protect them from any kind of misuse, the Foun­da­tion has set up very strict rules for itself; the most impor­tant ones being:

• 100% Guar­an­tee
  All dona­tions will be used sole­ly for the bene­fit of the chil­dren. Over­head costs are covered by the Foundation’s assets and earmarked donations.
• Regu­lar Auditing
  On a regu­lar basis, exter­nal experts audit compli­ance in the way funds are handled, the effi­cien­cy with which they are used as well as the social work it does for the Foundation.
• The Seal: DZI-Spenden-Siegel
  The DZI-Spenden-Siegel ((Link 3)) is a certi­fi­ca­tion seal hand­ed out by the DZI (Deutsches Insti­tut für Soziale Fragen, rough­ly: German Central Insti­tute for Social Matters). For many years, the DZI-Spenden-Siegel has been serv­ing as proof that the Foun­da­tion uses the funds that it is entrust­ed with most care­ful­ly and responsibly.

So the support for the Children’s Future Foun­da­tion is a commit­ment on a robust and sustain­able basis – and one of success story of 35 years to date!

Become a Fami­ly Member!

There are many ways for you to support the Children’s Future Foun­da­tion – be it dona­tions or spon­sor­ships or even active engage­ment: Learn more here! For any ques­tions you may have, please do get in touch with the Foundation’s manage­ment office, Mr Hans-Georg Bayer – via tele­phone on +49 60 51 48 18 14, or via e‑mail to Hans-Georg.Bayer@kinderzukunft.de.

And person­al­ly expe­ri­ence the promise for the children’s future – during a visit to the project you are support­ing. The Foun­da­tion will consult you in all matters and help you with the arrange­ments for your trip.

Stiftung Kinderzukun­ft (The Children’s Future Foundation)

Rabenaus­traße 1a, D‑63584 Grün­dau, Germany

Hans-Georg Bayer

Manag­ing Director

Fon +49 60 51 48 18 14

Fax +49 60 51 48 18 10

Email: hans-georg.bayer@kinderzukunft.de

Web: www.kinderzukunft.de

Dona­tions to: Commerzbank Hanau

IBAN: DE79 5064 0015 0222 2222 00

BIC: COBADEFFXXX

Please quote ”Valdivia Zukun­ft — Kinder­dorf Guatemala“ as the purpose of your payment.

(Image source: Kinderzukunft)