Stiftung Mitarbeit

Stiftung Mitarbeit (also referred to as Stiftung Die Mitarbeit) is a German non-profit foundation headquartered in Bonn. Founded in 1963, its stated purpose is the promotion of democracy development. It supports civic engagement, self-help activities and the expansion of citizen participation in Germany. The foundation is a signatory of the Initiative Transparente Zivilgesellschaft (Transparency Initiative for Civil Society). Its main fields of activity include publications and public relations, specialist conferences and method seminars, projects and model schemes, advisory services for initiatives and political organisations, nationwide support for networking and cooperation projects, and start-up funding for new initiatives. It publishes regularly through its own publishing house, both online and in print, and issues the quarterly newsletter "mitmachen". It also operates the online portal "Wegweiser Bürgergesellschaft", which bundles information on civic engagement and citizen participation in Germany. The foundation initiated the Netzwerk Bürgerbeteiligung (Network for Citizen Participation), dedicated to expanding dialogue-oriented democratic approaches. Within this network it publishes the quarterly "eNewsletter Netzwerk Bürgerbeteiligung" and organises the "Netzwerk kommunaler Partizipationsbeauftragter" for exchange among municipal participation officers. Since 1995 it has held the annual conference "Demokratie und Bürgerbeteiligung" at the Evangelische Akademie Loccum. In the 2010s it began advocating municipal guidelines for participation, offering publications and direct advice to municipalities such as the Federal City of Bonn. Through these activities, the foundation is regarded as one of the key actors in the field of citizen participation in Germany. The foundation is governed by a Stiftungsrat (foundation council), a Kuratorium (board of trustees) and an executive board. The chair of the Stiftungsrat is Tobias Kemnitzer; the chair of the executive board is Jörn Luft, who succeeded Hanns-Jörg Sippel after more than thirty years of service. The board of trustees has included figures such as Gerald Häfner, Ulrike Poppe, Robert Menasse, Ortwin Renn, Henning Scherf and Marianne Birthler, and formerly Richard von Weizsäcker and Walter Scheel. It is financed predominantly from public funds, supplemented by donations and income from conferences, projects and publications. It receives annual funding based on a decision of the German Bundestag, until 2025 through the Federal Ministry of the Interior and from 2026 through the Federal Chancellery. In 2024 the grant amounted to 740,000 euros. It also received earmarked project grants from the Federal Agency for Civic Education for individual educational events in 2024. The supervisory authority is the Senate Department for Justice of the State of Berlin.

Stiftung Mitarbeit was founded in 1963 as a German foundation based in Bonn. Its purpose from the outset was the promotion of democracy development. Over the decades it built a profile around supporting civic engagement, self-help activities and the expansion of citizen participation. In 1995 the foundation began holding the annual conference "Demokratie und Bürgerbeteiligung" at the Evangelische Akademie Loccum, which became a recurring fixture in the German participation landscape. It also established the Netzwerk Bürgerbeteiligung, a network dedicated to dialogue-oriented democratic approaches, and within it the Netzwerk kommunaler Partizipationsbeauftragter for municipal participation officers. The foundation publishes the quarterly "eNewsletter Netzwerk Bürgerbeteiligung" and the newsletter "mitmachen". In the 2010s the foundation began advocating the creation of municipal guidelines for participation (kommunale Leitlinien für Beteiligung), intended to give informal citizen participation a binding framework. It sees such guidelines as a key instrument for securing the quality of participation at the municipal level, offers extensive publications on the topic and advises municipalities directly, including the Federal City of Bonn. Quality criteria for good participation were also developed from the Netzwerk Bürgerbeteiligung. Leadership changed when Jörn Luft became chair of the executive board, succeeding Hanns-Jörg Sippel, who retired after more than thirty years of work for the foundation. A public discussion event at the Bonn Schauspielhaus in early May marked Sippel's departure. The foundation is a signatory of the Initiative Transparente Zivilgesellschaft. It is financed predominantly from public funds, supplemented by donations and income from conferences, projects and publications. It receives annual funding based on a decision of the German Bundestag, until 2025 through the Federal Ministry of the Interior and from 2026 through the Federal Chancellery; in 2024 the grant was 740,000 euros. It also received earmarked project grants from the Federal Agency for Civic Education in 2024. The supervisory authority is the Senate Department for Justice of the State of Berlin.

• 2025

  Funding through the Federal Ministry of the Interior until 2025; from 2026 through the Federal Chancellery.

• 2024

  Public funding grant amounts to 740,000 euros; additional project grants from the Federal Agency for Civic Education.

• 2010

  In the 2010s the foundation begins advocating municipal guidelines for participation and advising municipalities such as Bonn.

• 1995

  Foundation begins holding the annual conference "Demokratie und Bürgerbeteiligung" at the Evangelische Akademie Loccum.

• 1963

  Stiftung Mitarbeit founded in Bonn.

One of Germany's key actors in the field of citizen participation and democracy development, operating as a non-profit foundation funded mainly by public means.

• Wegweiser Bürgergesellschaft

  Online portal bundling information on civic engagement and citizen participation in Germany.

• Newsletter "mitmachen"

  Quarterly newsletter informing about the foundation's work.

• eNewsletter Netzwerk Bürgerbeteiligung

  Quarterly e-newsletter with contributions mainly from network members.

• Starthilfeförderung

  Start-up funding for new initiatives.

• Publications and guides

  Books, guides and handouts on civic engagement and citizen participation, published in-house.

1. 1www.mitarbeit.de: Startseitemitarbeit.de
2. 2Stiftung Mitarbeit – Wikipediade.wikipedia.org
3. 3Stiftung Die Mitarbeit – Wikidatawikidata.org