![Bertelsmann_Stiftung_2007-01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Bertelsmann_Stiftung_2007-01.jpg)
The Bertelsmann Stiftung is an independent
foundation
Foundation may refer to:
* Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization
** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S.
** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...
under private law, based in
Gütersloh
Gütersloh () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the area of Westphalia and the administrative region of Detmold. Gütersloh is the administrative centre for a district of the same name and has a population of 100,194 peo ...
, Germany. It was founded in 1977 by
Reinhard Mohn
Reinhard Mohn (29 June 1921 – 3 October 2009) was a German billionaire businessman and philanthropist. Under his leadership, Bertelsmann, once a medium-sized printing and publishing house, established in 1835, developed into a global media co ...
as the result of social, corporate and fiscal considerations. As the Bertelsmann Stiftung itself has put it, the foundation promotes "reform processes" and "the principles of entrepreneurial activity" to build a "future-oriented society."
Since 1993, the Bertelsmann Stiftung has held the majority of capital shares in the
Bertelsmann Group.
It holds 80.9% together with the Reinhard Mohn Stiftung and the BVG Stiftung but has no voting rights.
History
Establishment of the foundation
At the end of the 1970s, there were discussions concerning who would follow Reinhard Mohn as chairman of Bertelsmann. Against this background and because he believed that the state must be able to count on its citizens' willingness to assume responsibility and take the initiative, Mohn founded the Bertelsmann Stiftung on 8 February 1977.
It was officially approved by the authorities on 14 March 1977. The Bertelsmann Stiftung was initially endowed with 100,000
Deutsche Mark
The Deutsche Mark (; English: ''German mark''), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later the unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it was ...
s in capital. About two years later it began its work.
Building the foundation's work
In 1979, Hans-Dieter Weger was appointed the first managing director. He developed the concept of an operational foundation that develops and oversees its own projects. One of the Bertelsmann Stiftung's first activities was the
baseline study
Project Baseline is a broad effort to map human health led by Verily Life Sciences (formerly Google Life Sciences), Alphabet, Inc.'s health sciences division, and was announced in the Wall Street Journal on July 24, 2014. It begins with the Projec ...
"Kommunikationsverhalten und Buch" (Communication Behavior and the Book), which was prepared in cooperation with
Infratest. The Bertelsmann Stiftung and the Bertelsmann Group also provided support for the construction of the Gütersloh municipal library.
In 1982, the Bertelsmann Stiftung presented its first public report of its activities. In the report's foreword,
Karl Carstens
Karl Carstens (, 14 December 1914 – 30 May 1992) was a German politician. He served as the president of West Germany from 1979 to 1984.
Early life and education
Carstens was born in the City of Bremen, the son of a commercial school teacher, ...
,
president of the Federal Republic of Germany
The president of Germany, officially the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: link=no, Bundespräsident der Bundesrepublik Deutschland),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international corres ...
, praised the "achievement of foundations in the public sphere." In the meantime, the Bertelsmann Stiftung had come to play a central role in Reinhard Mohn's sociopolitical activities. Mohn functioned as the foundation's sole executive and was supported by a newly created advisory board from 1983 onwards. In addition to Reinhard Mohn and Hans-Dieter Weger, the board's members were
Kurt Biedenkopf,
Gerd Bucerius
Gerd Bucerius (19 May 1906 – 29 September 1995) was a German politician, publisher and journalist, one of the founding members of ''Die Zeit''. He is the namesake of the Bucerius Law School in Hamburg and of the Bucerius Kunst Forum, an art g ...
, Friedhelm Farthmann and Eberhard Witte.
In 1985, a publishing house was founded as part of the foundation in order to handle the growing number of publications. Verlag Bertelsmann Stiftung still exists today.
In 1988, the Bertelsmann Stiftung awarded the Carl Bertelsmann Prize (now known as the Reinhard Mohn Prize) for the first time. The recipients were employer organizations and trade unions in the construction, chemistry and metalworking industries. Today, the award continues to honor internationally renowned figures who have developed pioneering solutions to social and political challenges. In addition to working in Germany, the Bertelsmann Stiftung initiated several international projects in the 1980s,
such as the "Kulturraum Europa" (European Culture Space). Further examples include a program at the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the construction of the Biblioteca Can Torró in
Alcúdia
Alcúdia
() is a municipality and township of the Spanish autonomous community of the Balearic Islands.
It is the main tourist centre in the North of Majorca on the eastern coast. It is a large resort popular with families. Most of the hotel ...
on the island of Majorca.
![Gorbatschow_in_Gütersloh_1992](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Gorbatschow_in_G%C3%BCtersloh_1992.jpg)
Kurt Biedenkopf was elected as the first chairman of the advisory board in 1987, and Reinhard Mohn himself took over this position in 1990.
Horst Teltschik then joined the foundation, a development that received a great deal of media attention. The former foreign policy adviser to
Helmut Kohl
Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (; 3 April 1930 – 16 June 2017) was a German politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998. Kohl's 16-year tenure is the longes ...
became managing director of the Bertelsmann Stiftung in early 1991 and began focusing on the foundation's internationalization. At the end of the 1980s, the Bertelsmann Stiftung offices were built opposite the Bertelsmann corporate headquarters.
Mikhail Gorbachev was a guest during his first trip to Germany after the demise of the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
.
Transferring the majority interest
In addition to Reinhard Mohn, Ulrich Saxer and Werner Weidenfeld were appointed to the Bertelsmann Stiftung
executive board
A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...
in 1993. New management was also hired.
In the same year, Reinhard Mohn transferred the majority of the capital shares in the Bertelsmann Group to the foundation, a move intended to ensure continuity at the company. The transaction increased the foundation's stake in the company from 21.3% to 68.8%,
being the largest
shareholder. In the 1993 transfer agreement, however, shareholdings and voting rights were strictly separated, so that the foundation cannot exercise any significant influence on the Bertelsmann Group,
which is still largely controlled by the Mohn family. As the foundation receives dividends for its holdings in the company, the transfer of shares resulted in a significant increase in the organization's budget.
Restructuring of governance boards
In 1998, Reinhard Mohn stepped down from his leading role at the Bertelsmann Stiftung. Mark Wössner was first elected chairman of the executive board, and, a year later, chairman of the advisory board. After Wössner's departure in 2000, the foundation's governance structure changed again: the executive board was replaced by an executive committee and the advisory board was replaced by a board of trustees. As an interim step, at the end of 2000 Reinhard Mohn became chairman of both the executive committee and the board of trustees, until
Gunter Thielen
Gunter Thielen (born 4 August 1942 in Quierschied) was chairman and chief executive officer of the Bertelsmann Stiftung.
He graduated from RWTH Aachen University with a PhD in mechanical engineering and economics. He was a manager at BASF from ...
succeeded him in both positions in mid-2001. With this step, Reinhard Mohn gave up all previous management functions, remaining only a member of the board of trustees.
succeeded Gunter Thielen in 2002 and continued to lead the Bertelsmann Stiftung until 2005. During his tenure, the executive committee became an executive board once again; the goal was to strengthen corporate governance by promoting greater transparency and independence. After Meffert left the foundation, it was jointly led by board chairs
Liz Mohn
Elisabeth Mohn (née Beckmann, born 21 June 1941) is a German billionaire businesswoman and philanthropist. She was married to Reinhard Mohn until his death in 2009.
Liz Mohn represents the fifth generation of the family that founded and conti ...
and Johannes Meier. In 2008, Gunter Thielen returned to the Bertelsmann Stiftung as chairman of the executive board. Since 2012, the foundation has been led by
Aart De Geus
Aart J. de Geus (born June 11, 1954) is the co-founder, chairman and co-CEO of Synopsys Inc.
De Geus graduated with a master's degree in electrical engineering (1978) from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Swiss Federal Institute o ...
, former Dutch minister of labor and social affairs. Following his retirement at the end of 2019,
Ralph Heck took over as chairman of the executive board in mid-2020.
Organization
The Bertelsmann Stiftung is an independent foundation under private law, according to the laws governing foundations in the state of
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...
.
It is an unrestricted legal entity, which, internally and externally, must exclusively pursue the mission defined in its bylaws. The Bertelsmann Stiftung is overseen by the district government of Detmold and engages in tax-privileged activities exclusively and directly in accordance with the relevant tax regulations.
Boards
The Bertelsmann Stiftung's managerial and representative bodies report to the
executive Board
A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...
, which, according to the foundation's bylaws, consists of at least three members who are appointed and removed by the board of trustees. The executive board develops the Bertelsmann Stiftung's organizational strategy, coordinates it with the
board of trustees and oversees its implementation. Members of the executive board who are also members of the executive board of ''Bertelsmann Management SE'' can only represent the foundation in collaboration with a second board member who does not belong to the executive board of ''Bertelsmann Management SE'', which is the Bertelsmann Group's management unit.
At present, the Bertelsmann Stiftung executive board consists of
Ralph Heck (chairman) and
Brigitte Mohn
Brigitte Mohn (née Scholz, born June 28, 1964) is a German businesswoman and a member of the Mohn family that has a significant influence on Bertelsmann group and the Bertelsmann Stiftung. Mohn is also chair of the 's executive board.
Life
B ...
.
The executive board is advised and supervised by the Bertelsmann Stiftung board of trustees. This is involved in all decisions of fundamental importance. Its tasks also include approving the annual financial statements, overseeing the foundation's business management and formally accepting and approving the executive board's statement of activities. According to the bylaws, the board of trustees has at least six and a maximum of 14 members. These include the chairman or another member of the
supervisory board
In corporate governance, a governance board also known as council of delegates are chosen by the stockholders of a company to promote their interests through the governance of the company and to hire and fire the board of directors.
In civil s ...
of the Bertelsmann Group; a successor to Bertelsmann Stiftung founder Reinhard Mohn; Liz Mohn; and three to 11 other persons.
The Bertelsmann Stiftung board of trustees currently includes Werner J. Bauer (chairman), Liz Mohn (honorary member), Wolf Bauer, Carsten Coesfeld, Thomas Coesfeld, Christoph Mohn, Carolina Müller-Möhl,
Viviane Reding
Viviane Adélaïde Reding (born 27 April 1951) is a Luxembourgish politician and a former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Luxembourg. She is a member of the Christian Social People's Party, part of the European People's Party. She p ...
,
Philipp Rösler
Philipp Rösler (born 24 February 1973) is a German physician and former politician who served as federal minister of health from 2009–2011 and federal minister of economics and technology as well as vice-chancellor of Germany from 2011 to ...
, and Bodo Uebber.
Funding
The Bertelsmann Stiftung is funded primarily by dividends from the Bertelsmann Group. The Bertelsmann Stiftung holds its shares in the Bertelsmann Group indirectly through ''Johannes Mohn GmbH'', in which it holds a majority interest. The foundation's Bertelsmann Group shares are solely capital shares; voting rights are held by the ''Bertelsmann Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH''. Additional funding comes from partnerships with other non-profit organizations, income from the foundation's assets and donations. The Bertelsmann Stiftung sets aside reserves as required by the relevant tax regulations in order to pursue its activities independently of current income. In 2020, these reserves amounted to €514 million.
Since its establishment, the Bertelsmann Stiftung has invested a total of €1.7 billion in charitable work. In fiscal 2020, it received funds of around 13.5 million euros. Expenditures amounted to 73.8 million euros. The majority (€41.9 million) was spent on programs and special projects; €9 million were spent on administrative activities, €7 million on communication and €4.6 million on project-related services. In addition, the Bertelsmann Stiftung made grants to affiliated non-profit organizations in the amount of €11.3 million.
Locations
![Postkarte_Nebenstelle_Reichsbank_Moltkestraße_Gütersloh](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Postkarte_Nebenstelle_Reichsbank_Moltkestra%C3%9Fe_G%C3%BCtersloh.jpg)
The first offices of the Bertelsmann Stiftung were located in a residential building on Gütersloh's Carl-Miele-Straße. In 1980, offices were rented from the Bertelsmann Group instead. In 1986, the Bertelsmann Stiftung moved to a historic building on Moltkestraße, which had been erected by a subsidiary of the
Reichsbank
The ''Reichsbank'' (; 'Bank of the Reich, Bank of the Realm') was the central bank of the German Reich from 1876 until 1945.
History until 1933
The Reichsbank was founded on 1 January 1876, shortly after the establishment of the German Empi ...
in 1893 and was owned by the central bank of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia until 1985.
In 1989, the architecture firm
Gerkan, Marg and Partners
Gerkan, Marg & Partners (gmp) is an international architectural company based in Hamburg, Germany. The company was founded in 1965 by Meinhard von Gerkan and , and now has more than 300 employees in 13 offices. In the same year the archit ...
won a competition to design the new headquarters of the Bertelsmann Stiftung opposite the headquarters of the Bertelsmann Group.
The building was completed in 1990 and expanded several times over the following years.
In addition to the head office in Gütersloh, the Bertelsmann Group has an office in the Kommandantenhaus in Berlin, which has been used by the Bertelsmann Stiftung, too. It now has its own branch office on Werderschen Markt in the immediate vicinity of the
Federal Foreign Office
, logo = DEgov-AA-Logo en.svg
, logo_width = 260 px
, image = Auswaertiges Amt Berlin Eingang.jpg
, picture_width = 300px
, image_caption = Entrance to the Foreign Office building
, headquarters = Werderscher Mark ...
and the
Humboldt Forum
The Humboldt Forum is a museum dedicated to human history, art and culture, located in the Berlin Palace on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. It is in honour of the Prussian scholars Wilhelm and Alexander von Humboldt. Considere ...
. Furthermore, the Bertelsmann Stiftung has an office in the
European Quarter in
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
.
In the mid-1990s, the Fundación Bertelsmann, an independent subsidiary foundation, was established in
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
, the capital of Catalonia. The aim was to promote reading and media literacy in Spain. Today, the Fundación Bertelsmann focuses on vocational training and career guidance for young people in Spain.
Since 2008, the Bertelsmann Stiftung has also been represented in US-capital
Washington, D.C, by a second independent foundation, the Bertelsmann Foundation North America, which addresses challenges related to democracy, digitisation and transatlantic exchange through a variety of publications, documentaries and infographics.
Activities
According to its bylaws, the purpose of the Bertelsmann Stiftung is to "promote science and research, religion, public health, youth and elderly welfare, art and culture, public and professional education, social welfare, an international perspective, democracy and social engagement."
The Bertelsmann Stiftung is a private operating foundation and does not make grants. It invests funds in projects that it conceives, initiates and implements itself. For example, the Bertelsmann Stiftung produces studies and rankings, conducts model projects, shares knowledge and expertise, organizes congresses and awards prizes. Key fields are education, democracy, social affairs, health, the economy and culture. The Bertelsmann Stiftung does not engage in partisan politics. It works regionally, nationally and internationally.
Education
The Bertelsmann Stiftung examines at regular intervals how much the
Germany's states are investing in early childhood education and care. One of its studies confirmed, for instance, that children's developmental opportunities depend heavily on their background. In the field of school education, the Bertelsmann Stiftung has been devoting itself in recent years to
all-day schools in particular and has called for their expansion. Digital learning is also an important issue, as it is seen as a solution to various structural problems in the area of education. In addition, the Bertelsmann Stiftung has also been involved for years in vocational education and training.
In the 1990s, the Bertelsmann Stiftung's activities in the area of higher education received particularly widespread public attention, for example the establishment of the ''Centre for Higher Education (CHE)'' in 1994 by the Bertelsmann Stiftung and the
German Rectors' Conference
The German Rectors' Conference/Hochschulrektorenkonferenz (HRK) is the voluntary association of state and state-recognised universities and other higher education institutions in Germany. It currently has 257 member institutions at which more than ...
. This institution sees itself as a "workshop" for developing reforms for Germany's higher education institutions. The Bertelsmann Stiftung holds 90% of the shares in ''CHE Gemeinnütziges Centrum für Hochschulentwicklung GmbH''.
Democracy
The Bertelsmann Stiftung is committed on both the national and the international level to strengthening democracy through the promotion of citizen participation in political decision-making and planning processes. With regard to cooperation between Germany's federal government, state and local institutions, the Bertelsmann Stiftung has been calling for several years for a revision of the system used to redistribute income among the country's states. The focus of the foundation's work in the field of democracy, however, is Europe. For years, the Bertelsmann Stiftung has advocated accelerating the EU's decision-making processes and promoting
European integration. Internationally, the Bertelsmann Stiftung is researching existing governance structures and developing proposals to change them. One example is the concept of a non-profit rating agency.
The Bertelsmann Stiftung also helped fund the ''Center for Applied Policy Research (CAP)'' in 2010. The center was founded by Werner Weidenfeld, who was also a member of the Bertelsmann Stiftung executive board until 2007. Both institutions cooperated on a number of issues, including European integration. The center is affiliated with the Geschwister Scholl Institute of Political Science at
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.
Society
One major focus of the work done by the Bertelsmann Stiftung is demographic change in Germany, a subject on which it has published several studies. It also promotes volunteer work and other activities that increase social cohesion, in part by awarding of the "Mein gutes Beispiel" (My Best Practice) prize. Social justice and
intergenerational equity
Intergenerational equity in economic, psychological, and sociological contexts, is the idea of fairness or justice between generations. The concept can be applied to fairness in dynamics between children, youth, adults, and seniors. It can al ...
are also important concerns, and one of the reasons the foundation addresses these subjects is to narrow the gap between rich and poor. The Bertelsmann Foundation wants to promote social integration and diversity. It advocates for creating a "comprehensive and long-term migration architecture" for Germany. Other projects address young people and families. For example, the Bertelsmann Stiftung is critical of the increase in
child poverty
Child poverty refers to the state of children living in poverty and applies to children from poor families and orphans being raised with limited or no state resources. UNICEF estimates that 356 million children live in extreme poverty. It's est ...
in Germany and the way the country's pension system disadvantages families.
Health
The Bertelsmann Stiftung regularly analyzed health care in Germany for what it calls its "Gesundheitsmonitor" (Health-Care Monitor). Moreover, it has launched several projects in the last few years that promote informed decision-making among the public in the area of health care. The projects include the Internet portal "Weiße Liste" (White List) which helps users find the doctor, hospital, nursing home or nursing service that is right for them.
With the support of the Bertelsmann Stiftung, the Center for Hospital Management (CKM) was founded in 1994 as a research institute at the
University of Münster
The University of Münster (german: Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, WWU) is a public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany.
With more than 43,000 students and over 120 fields of stud ...
. In addition to research on clinical IT and logistics, the center organizes training for the clinic's staff. The Bertelsmann Stiftung is no longer one of the shareholders of the ''CKM Centrum für Krankenhausmanagement GmbH.''
The institute has become a completely independent organization.
Culture
The Bertelsmann Stiftung's oldest project in the field of culture is the competition
Neue Stimmen (New Voices) international singing competition, which was launched by Liz Mohn in 1987 and still takes place today. It is one of the world's most important competitions for up-and-coming opera singers and is known as a "showcase for new talent." The Bertelsmann Stiftung promotes an engagement with music in other ways as well. Model projects in this area have been carried out repeatedly since the end of the 1990s to achieve a number of objectives, including more and better
music education in
preschool
A preschool, also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, or play school or creche, is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they begin compulsory education at primary sch ...
s. The goal is to increase social participation through singing and music.
Economy
The foundation has examined the impact of globalization on society is examined in terms of the opportunities and risks it presents. The Bertelsmann Stiftung advocates for developed countries to open their markets so that emerging economies can benefit more from economic developments. It has repeatedly published analyses and studies on changes in the German labor market, and the findings were partly incorporated into the Hartz reforms carried out during the
Gerhard Schröder
Gerhard Fritz Kurt "Gerd" Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German lobbyist and former politician, who served as the chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germa ...
government. The Bertelsmann Stiftung is also committed to promoting sustainability and ensuring German businesses act in a socially responsible manner. In collaboration with the
Hans Böckler Foundation
Hans may refer to:
__NOTOC__ People
* Hans (name), a masculine given name
* Hans Raj Hans, Indian singer and politician
** Navraj Hans, Indian singer, actor, entrepreneur, cricket player and performer, son of Hans Raj Hans
** Yuvraj Hans, Punjabi ...
, it carried out a study on employee participation in German companies.
Criticism
In recent years, the Bertelsmann Stiftung has been the subject of public debate. In 2007, Jens Wernicke and Torsten Bultmann published an anthology, entitled "Netzwerk der Macht – Bertelsmann" ("Network of Power – Bertelsmann"), which takes a critical look at the structure and activities of the Bertelsmann Stiftung. The book's 30 contributors focused in particular on the foundation's non-profit status and
political influence. The anthology generated widespread public debate on the Bertelsmann Stiftung.
Published in 2010, the book "Bertelsmannrepublik Deutschland – eine Stiftung macht Politik" ("Bertelsmann's Republic of Germany: A Foundation Sets Policy") by author and journalist Thomas Schuler gained even greater attention. In it, Schuler describes how the Bertelsmann Stiftung seeks to make contact with leading politicians and to
advise them. He criticized the Bertelsmann Stiftung as being "undemocratic" and lacking in transparency. In his opinion, the originally good idea behind the foundation developed into a "distorted world," the basic organization of which he called into question. Schuler also criticized German foundation law, which allows foundations such as the Bertelsmann Stiftung to exist at all.
Peter Rawert, an expert on foundations, noted that the Bertelsmann Stiftung is guaranteed a return on its holdings in the Bertelsmann Group that is probably lower than what could be achieved with a
fixed-income investment. He also noted that in the United States this would have a negative impact on the foundation's non-profit tax status; moreover, he argued that the situation does not reflect the "standard of efficiency" normally endorsed by the Bertelsmann Stiftung.
Commercial interests
Due to its majority interest in the Bertelsmann Group, the Bertelsmann Stiftung has been repeatedly accused of combining non-profit and
commercial interests. In 2009, the journalist and author Annette Jensen asserted that the Bertelsmann Stiftung's proposals
generate artificial demand, particularly in terms of the purported need to
streamline local government, a demand which the foundation then meets, for example through the Bertelsmann subsidiary
Arvato
Arvato is a global services company headquartered in Gütersloh, Germany. Its services include customer support, information technology, logistics, and finance. The history of Arvato goes back to the printing and industry services division of Be ...
. She suggested that the
RTL and
VOX television stations belonging to the Bertelsmann Group and numerous
Gruner + Jahr Gruner may refer to:
People
* Dov Gruner (1912–1947), Jewish Zionist leader
* Eduard Gruner, Swiss engineer
* Elioth Gruner (1882–1939), Australian painter
* Gottlieb Sigmund Gruner (1717–1778), Swiss cartographer and geologist
* K ...
magazines served the foundation by disseminating its messages. The sociologist and entrepreneur Frank Adloff has argued that it is indefensible that the foundation does not need to justify the use of its funds before any parliament or oversight authority. In the United States, he noted, non-profit foundations are not permitted to hold more than a 20% stake in a company in order to avoid possible
conflicts of interest
A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple wikt:interest#Noun, interests, finance, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, t ...
; in addition, they have to provide a
public accounting
An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy.
Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certifi ...
of their expenditures.
Political influence
Another criticism involves a lack of
democratic legitimacy
In political science, legitimacy is the right and acceptance of an authority, usually a governing law or a regime. Whereas ''authority'' denotes a specific position in an established government, the term ''legitimacy'' denotes a system of governm ...
. Commenting on the foundation's "engagement with civil society," Wolfgang Lieb, former state secretary in the North Rhine-Westphalia
Ministry of Science, has argued that this legitimacy is being increasingly diminished, and even replaced by, economic power. According to Lieb, private networks and behind-the-scenes advisors are thus turning into actual rulers. By consulting with politicians outside of government settings, Lieb suggests, the Bertelsmann Stiftung is pursuing a "
privatization
Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
of politics," a situation that offers mutual benefits: civil servants and politicians are given a protected space where they alone are provided with information free of charge and where they can engage in discussion, while the Bertelsmann Stiftung secures access to all the projects it wants to influence. Thus, no matter who is elected, the Bertelsmann Stiftung is always part of the government.
Speaking with broadcaster
Deutschlandfunk in 2007, the former
SPD
The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany.
Saskia Esken has been t ...
politician and publicist Albrecht Müller called the foundation an "
anti-democratic institution."
In 2008, the journalist and politician Julika Sandt criticized the growing influence of the Bertelsmann Stiftung on
German health care, saying that initiatives developed by the foundation lead to preferential treatment for
privatized clinics and medical care centers to the detriment of self-employed physicians. According to Sandt, because Brigitte Mohn was a member of both the Bertelsmann Stiftung executive board and the supervisory board of
Rhön-Klinikum, the foundation's neutrality in the health sector is questionable.
In 2012, Josef Kraus, president of the , spoke critically about the influence of the Bertelsmann Stiftung on
education policy
Education policy consists of the principles and policy decisions that influence the field of education, as well as the collection of laws and rules that govern the operation of education systems. Education governance may be shared between the local ...
. He described its studies as "
unscientific
The scientific method is an empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has characterized the development of science since at least the 17th century (with notable practitioners in previous centuries; see the article history of scientific me ...
" and as "
scare tactics
''Scare Tactics'' is an American comedy horror hidden camera television show, produced by Scott Hallock and Kevin Healey. Its first two seasons aired from April 2003 to December 2004. After a hiatus, the show returned for a third season, begin ...
." Its activities almost always involved turning some alleged administrative failure into a scandal, Kraus said. He called on politicians to stop allowing themselves to be influenced by the Bertelsmann Stiftung and to take criticism of the foundation seriously.
The non-profit organization Lobbycontrol sees the Bertelsmann Stiftung as a business-oriented initiative, similar to the "
Initiative Neue Soziale Marktwirtschaft
The ''Initiative Neue Soziale Marktwirtschaft'' (INSM) – New Social Free Market Initiative – is a neoliberal German think tank and advocacy organization with headquarters in Berlin that was founded in 2000 by the employers' organization Gesamt ...
" (Initiative for a New Social Market Economy) or the "
Stiftung Marktwirtschaft" (Free Market Foundation). Lobbycontrol criticizes, for example, the "Standortcheck" (Business Location Check), which it says amounts to a canonical neoliberal reform.
The Bertelsmann Stiftung has repeatedly refuted criticism asserting a lack of democratic legitimacy and unpermitted political influence. For example, Gunter Thielen, former chairman and CEO of the Bertelsmann Stiftung, made it clear that the foundation was not a "secret government," that the formation of public opinion and policy is not a "top-down process," and that it was unimaginable that a foundation or a company could use its own ideas to influence or control a country like the Federal Republic of Germany.
Political neutrality
The Bertelsmann Stiftung describes itself as politically non-partisan. The practical implementation of this principle, however, has been questioned from several sides, in particular because the foundation has only established contacts with "radical supporters of market policies" among left-leaning parties.
In turn, the Bertelsmann Stiftung has often been characterized as a proponent of
economic liberalism
Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberali ...
, but this is also controversial; some critics have also labeled the Bertelsmann Stiftung
neoliberal.
Non-profit status
In 2006, the author and journalist Harald Schumann discussed the non-profit status of the Bertelsmann Stiftung in the
Tagesspiegel
''Der Tagesspiegel'' (meaning ''The Daily Mirror'') is a German daily newspaper. It has regional correspondent offices in Washington D.C. and Potsdam. It is the only major newspaper in the capital to have increased its circulation, now 148,000, ...
newspaper. According to Schumann, the "
shadow government in Gütersloh" runs on de facto on public money, because Reinhard Mohn saved an over €2 billion in
inheritance
Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officia ...
and
gift tax
In economics, a gift tax is the tax on money or property that one living person or corporate entity gives to another. A gift tax is a type of transfer tax that is imposed when someone gives something of value to someone else. The transfer must ...
es when he transferred three-quarters of the Bertelsmann Group capital shares to the foundation. Moreover, he asserts, the annual dividend payment to the foundation is tax-free and, with its annual budget of around €60 million, the foundation does not spend nearly as much as it costs the state in terms of lost revenue.
Arno Klönne, a sociologist and political scientist, has argued that the Bertelsmann Stiftung's non-profit nature was questionable because, he maintains, it actively promotes the business of the Bertelsmann Group. Ultimately, he suggests, its goal is to manage society using corporate methods and to
privatize
Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
the tasks that should be handled by the state.
In 2009, a group of independent legal experts found that the Bertelsmann Stiftung no longer met the requirements for a non-profit organization. On the contrary, they argued, the
tax exemption
Tax exemption is the reduction or removal of a liability to make a compulsory payment that would otherwise be imposed by a ruling power upon persons, property, income, or transactions. Tax-exempt status may provide complete relief from taxes, redu ...
was unjustly being used for the purpose of carrying out a transformation of society according to the beliefs of the Bertelsmann Stiftung's founder, Reinhard Mohn, by means of private, tax-financed private policy consulting and by bypassing democratic decision making processes through public discourse in Germany's constitutional bodies.
The Bertelsmann Stiftung has always rejected these accusations, noting that its non-profit status has been recognized by the tax authorities and is reviewed on an ongoing basis.
Social welfare cuts
In 2007, the trade union ver.di terminated its cooperation with the Bertelsmann Stiftung. The reason was that Arvato, a division of the Bertelsmann Group, declared the privatization of public services a strategic business area. A corresponding motion was passed at the union's federal congress against the wishes of its federal governing board.
The Bertelsmann Stiftung is the driving force behind privatizations and cuts to
social welfare
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...
programs, critics claimed. This assessment was supported by participants at "Das Schattenkabinett aus Gütersloh" ("The Shadow Cabinet from Gütersloh"), a conference critical of Bertelsmann. In addition to
ver.di
(''Verdi'' (stylized as ''ver.di''; vɛʁdiː; German: ''United Services Trade Union'') is a German trade union based in Berlin, Germany. It was established on 19 March 2001 as the result of a merger of five individual unions and is a memb ...
, other participants included
Attac
The Association pour la Taxation des Transactions financières et pour l'Action Citoyenne (''Association for the Taxation of financial Transactions and Citizen's Action'', ATTAC) is an activist organisation originally created to promote the e ...
,
GEW,
IG Metall
IG Metall (; IGM; German: ''Industriegewerkschaft Metall'', "Industrial Union of Metalworkers'") is the dominant metalworkers' union in Germany, making it the country's largest union as well as Europe's largest industrial union. Analysts of Ge ...
and the Otto Brenner Foundation. The Bertelsmann Stiftung rejected the criticism from ver.di in particular as a "misunderstanding,"
saying that both sides were not that far apart in their views on social problems.
Notes and references
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bertelsmann Foundation
1977 establishments in West Germany
Advocacy groups in Germany
Bertelsmann
Foundations based in Germany
Political and economic research foundations
Political and economic think tanks based in Germany
Political and economic think tanks in the United States
Think tanks based in Germany
Think tanks established in 1977