Leadership with Heart:
Responsibility that fosters Opportunities

Stiftung Kinderzukunft & “F.A.Z.-Readers-help”

Lead­er­ship means impact – even beyond the bound­aries of your own compa­ny. The ques­tion is: how conscious­ly do we use this influ­ence – and what do we use it for?

At Valdivia, we think of sustain­abil­i­ty not only in ecolog­i­cal or econom­ic terms, but holis­ti­cal­ly. Valdivia Impact is there­fore an inte­gral part of our self-image and is clear­ly divid­ed into the three ESG pillars. We have been taking respon­si­bil­i­ty in the social pillar since day one: since our compa­ny was found­ed, we have been support­ing the Kinderzukun­ft foun­da­tion – not just occa­sion­al­ly, but continuously.

Why? Because the future is not creat­ed sole­ly by inno­va­tion and growth, but also by oppor­tu­ni­ties. Where oppor­tu­ni­ties are lack­ing, people and organ­i­sa­tions are need­ed to conscious­ly create them. Our support for the chil­dren’s village and aid projects in Guatemala is there­fore an expres­sion of our atti­tude: lead­er­ship means enabling devel­op­ment – both with­in our own compa­ny and in soci­ety at large.

This is precise­ly what our Lead­er­ship­Im­pulse series is all about, in which we at Valdivia regu­lar­ly high­light aspects of effec­tive lead­er­ship. In previ­ous arti­cles, we have shown how lead­er­ship can be effec­tive through atti­tude, sustain­abil­i­ty or – rethought – with exam­ples from nature. Today, we contin­ue this theme and turn our atten­tion to anoth­er dimen­sion: the connec­tion between lead­er­ship and social engagement.

This is precise­ly where we see how real impact is creat­ed: those who have influ­ence can open up spaces. This applies to compa­nies – and espe­cial­ly to people in the public eye.

Public ambas­sadors as leaders 

The Kinderzukun­ft foun­da­tion is support­ed by well-known person­al­i­ties who conscious­ly put their voice, pres­ence and reach at the service of the cause. The ambas­sadors include Jessi­ca Schwarz, Frank Lehmann, Christien Eixen­berg­er, Sören Bartol, profes­sion­al foot­baller Mario Vrančić, MMA athlete Max Coga, Alek­san­dra Modić (Miss World Germany 2024) and, last but not least, Rudi Völler.

What these ambas­sadors have in common is not only their fame, but also the way they use it: they draw public atten­tion to the situ­a­tion of chil­dren in need, promote spon­sor­ships and dona­tions, and give the foun­da­tion’s work a voice that goes far beyond tradi­tion­al appeals for help. Some also support specif­ic fundrais­ing campaigns by donat­ing prize money or proceeds to Kinderzukun­ft, spon­sor­ing chil­dren or getting person­al­ly involved – for exam­ple, by visit­ing a chil­dren’s village. Others use their reach to raise aware­ness of chil­dren’s villages and educa­tion­al projects – and thus attract more people to long-term commitment.

In short, they use their lime­light as lever­age to turn atten­tion into empow­er­ment and a future. This is lead­er­ship in the best sense of the word: not only having influ­ence, but pass­ing it on. What connects them is that they use what the public gives them – the spot­light, trust, reach – for chil­dren who would other­wise hard­ly be seen. That is lead­er­ship in the best sense: not only having influ­ence, but pass­ing it on.

What we learn about lead­er­ship from this:

1) Long-term commit­ment is a lead­er­ship qual­i­ty. A spon­sor­ship span­ning decades repre­sents exact­ly what good lead­er­ship is all about: perse­ver­ance. It is not spec­tac­u­lar indi­vid­ual actions that change lives, but reli­able continuity.

2) “Help­ing people help them­selves” is lead­er­ship logic – in projects as well as in teams.  Kinderzukun­ft works in Guatemala in a sustain­able and empow­er­ing way:

• School meals create the condi­tions for chil­dren to attend school regularly.
• Infra­struc­ture (class­rooms, kitchens, sani­tary facil­i­ties) stabilis­es education.
• Train­ing for fami­lies improves health, nutri­tion­al skills and climate-adapt­ed agriculture.

The goal is not depen­dence, but inde­pen­dence. This is exact­ly what modern lead­er­ship should achieve in every­day life: empow­er­ing people to shape their lives and tasks in a self-effec­tive way.

3) Caring requires self-care.  A commit­ment that lasts so long is also based on a quiet lead­er­ship prin­ci­ple: self-care. Anyone who takes on long-term respon­si­bil­i­ty must manage their own ener­gy well – other­wise, their atti­tude will become over­whelm­ing. Sustain­able exter­nal impact begins with sustain­able inter­nal stability.

Get to know the ambas­sadors: You can find an overview of all the person­al­i­ties who support the Kinderzukun­ft Foun­da­tion on the offi­cial website. There, the foun­da­tion intro­duces its ambas­sadors from poli­tics, media, culture and sport – with short portraits and insights into their commitment.

F.A.Z. fundrais­ing campaign “F.A.Z. read­ers help” 

Right now, this under­stand­ing of lead­er­ship can be support­ed in a concrete way: the Frank­furter Allge­meine Zeitung Rhein-Main has includ­ed the Kinderzukun­ft Foun­da­tion’s inter­na­tion­al project in this year’s Christ­mas fundrais­ing campaign “F.A.Z. read­ers help”.

For decades, the F.A.Z. has reached many people in posi­tions of respon­si­bil­i­ty – entre­pre­neurs, deci­sion-makers and exec­u­tives. When one of the coun­try’s most impor­tant busi­ness and qual­i­ty news­pa­pers shines its spot­light on an aid project, it also sends a signal to all those who shape soci­ety: social impact is part of lead­er­ship. The Frank­furter Allge­meine Zeitung Rhein-Main has specif­i­cal­ly focused on the Kinderzukun­ft Foun­da­tion’s inter­na­tion­al project in Zambia (link) and is current­ly call­ing for dona­tions. This, too, is “spot­light for a good cause”: media atten­tion trans­lates into real oppor­tu­ni­ties on the ground.

“F.A.Z. read­ers help” is the annu­al Christ­mas dona­tion campaign of the Frank­furter Allge­meine Zeitung (Rhein-Main edition). The edito­r­i­al team specif­i­cal­ly selects char­i­ta­ble part­ners – this year, an organ­i­sa­tion with a domes­tic focus (“tomoni mental health”) and the current inter­na­tion­al project of the Kinderzukun­ft foun­da­tion, “Drink­ing water for Zambia”.  The F.A.Z. presents both projects in arti­cles over sever­al weeks and calls on its read­ers to make concrete, tangi­ble help possi­ble through donations.

Drink­ing water for Zambia (“Water means life”)

In paral­lel with Guatemala and its commit­ments in other chil­dren’s village coun­tries, Kinderzukun­ft current­ly has a very tangi­ble prior­i­ty project in Zambia: “Water means life”. The aim is to secure perma­nent access to clean drink­ing water at three rural schools in north­ern Zambia – with solar-powered wells, water stor­age facil­i­ties, sani­tary facil­i­ties and school gardens. Togeth­er with local part­ner ADRA Zambia, the aim is to improve drink­ing water, hygiene and nutri­tion – so that chil­dren can stay healthy and attend school regularly.

Kinderzukun­ft express­ly empha­sis­es the connec­tion between water, educa­tion and the future: when chil­dren no longer have to walk miles to fetch water, disease rates fall, school dropout rates decrease and entire village commu­ni­ties gain stability.

Drink­ing water is perhaps the clear­est form of “help for self-help”: it creates the basis for people to organ­ise their lives inde­pen­dent­ly again.

Lead­er­ship­Im­pulse to take away 

What aspects of good lead­er­ship can we derive from this?

• Lead­er­ship means empow­er­ment. In a team as well as in a chil­dren’s village.
• Lead­er­ship means shar­ing your own influ­ence. Atten­tion is a resource – it can enable the future.
• Lead­er­ship means acting sustain­ably. Impact comes from continuity.
• Lead­er­ship also means taking care of your­self. Self-care makes caring for others possible.

Under­stood in this way, commit­ment is not just help – it is lead­er­ship in action. And it reminds us that respon­si­bil­i­ty begins where we see oppor­tu­ni­ties and make them greater for others.

So today, one week before Christ­mas, we cordial­ly invite you to help us help others!

In these last few days before the holi­days, many of us feel partic­u­lar­ly keen­ly what real­ly matters: hope, soli­dar­i­ty and the chance for a good start in life. With your dona­tion, you can give chil­dren in the chil­dren’s village and in the Kinderzukun­ft projects exact­ly that – in a concrete and sustain­able way.

Here, you can help direct­ly, trans­par­ent­ly and with­out any deduc­tions for organ­i­sa­tion­al over­heads: Every euro of your dona­tion goes direct­ly to the chil­dren. Thank you very much for help­ing us make the future possible.

Stiftung Kinderzukun­ft (Chil­dren’s Future Foundation)

Commerzbank Hanau

IBAN: DE79 5064 0015 0222 2222 00

Refer­ence: ‘Valdivia Zukun­ft — LeadershipImpulse’

The F.A.Z. collects dona­tions via two part­ner banks:

F.A.Z. read­ers help – dona­tion accounts

Frank­furter Volks­bank Rhein/Main

IBAN: DE94 5019 0000 0000 1157 11

Frank­furter Sparkasse

IBAN: DE43 5005 0201 0000 9780 00

Contact for further information

Stiftung Kinderzukun­ft

Rabenaus­traße 1a, D‑63584 Gründau

Vera Berd­ing

Head of Market­ing and Public Relations &

Member of the Exec­u­tive Board

Tel.: +49 60 51 48 18 16

Email: vera.berding@kinderzukunft.de

Website: www.kinderzukunft.de

(Image source: Stiftung Kinderzukunft)