Our mission: Shaping change

Dr. Helbig, you and Bernd Loewen have been the new Executive Board of KfW Stiftung since mid-2024 and want to develop it further. What are your plans?

KfW Stiftung has developed positively since it was founded in 2012. We want to continue on this successful path and further strengthen the foundation's potential for society.

What does that mean in concrete terms?

Our actions are based on KfW Stiftung's Articles of Association, its legal independence and its commitment to the common good. Against this background, we want to focus even more on the pressing issues of the future that affect our society. In this way, KfW Stiftung wants to make an active contribution to shaping social change.

That sounds promising, but how do you implement it?

We have set up a three-point work program to implement this. We are working on the further development of KfW Stiftung's promotional strategy, the expansion and professionalization of communication and the adaptation of the foundation's set-up to the new level of ambition.

Let's start with the funding strategy. What does the further development look like in concrete terms?

Based on its statutes, KfW Stiftung will strengthen its commitment to shaping social change in the future and cluster its activities into three central fields of action. All three play a decisive role in the positive development of our society and can also be shaped by civil society actors. In addition, we also want to demonstrate this clearly both internally and externally. In future, KfW Stiftung will therefore formulate its attitude and performance promise under the claim: KfW Stiftung - Shaping change. We don't just want to react to change, we want to play an active and future-oriented role in shaping it.

What exactly are the fields of action - and why these in particular?

The fields of action are:

Ecology and sustainability: The consequences of climate change and the loss of biodiversity pose the greatest threat to humanity. Our sustainable actions in the coming years will determine the impact that future generations will face - and how we can shape change. 

Economy and society: Social and technological upheavals are changing the way we live and work. Changes are perceived as a threat. Social and economic stability is in danger of dwindling as a result, and our democracy is coming under pressure. Understanding change as an opportunity and deriving responsible action from it shapes positive change.

Art and culture: Art and culture react to social processes, analyze, reflect and question them. Art and culture provide impulses and create new spaces for thought - and thus promote and demand change.

What impact will this have on KfW Stiftung's future project portfolio?

The fields of action are closely interlinked with the overarching topics of “education”, “digitalization and innovation” and “environmental and climate protection”. The resulting funding matrix forms the basis for KfW Stiftung's future project portfolio. In addition, the overarching guiding question in the selection and implementation of future projects is What is the impact of the projects for society? Our projects are thus geared towards maximum social impact.

What is the relationship between the new areas of activity and the previous subject areas? Are these completely new subject areas? Or is this a further development?

The new areas of activity better reflect the current challenges facing our society and integrate the previous areas and projects of KfW Stiftung Responsible Entrepreneurship, Ecology, Art and Culture and Society.

The second point you mentioned was the expansion and professionalization of the foundation's communication. Why is that so important?

In my view, foundation work is also communication work. It is not enough to implement projects with impact - KfW Stiftung must also communicate this impact in order to inspire others and thus increase the impact of our actions.

You mentioned adapting the foundation setup to the new level of ambition. What measures are you planning?

The further development of KfW Stiftung goes hand in hand with changes to our structures and processes. In addition to the further development of the promotional strategy, changes in the foundation's internal cooperation and the distribution of tasks, we want to involve external expertise to a greater extent - for example through a project and action-related sponsorship model for multipliers. And last but not least, we want to make even more intensive use of the Villa 102 for our activities. The aim is to increase the impact and perception of the foundation and at the same time to implement the mission of “shaping change” in a holistic way. We have many ideas that we are currently reviewing for feasibility.