The Ruhr Foundations Network
By joining forces with others, foundations can make an even bigger impact in their town or city and also in the entire region. That is the basic concept of the Ruhr Foundations Network, whose steering committee members include the Wilo-Foundation. The Network was launched in 2016 in Essen in a joint decision by about 50 foundations from the Ruhr region. Since then, the network has been the central platform for foundations from the region for exchanging experience and knowledge, forging networks and starting collaborative initiatives.
In addition to its own website (www.stiftungsnetzwerk.ruhr), where members provide information on activities and achievements, there are annual Foundations Network meetings on various topics and projects and on new trends in society, which the Wilo-Foundation has been supporting from the very start.
In 2019, the Ruhr Foundation Network Ruhr launched the “Förderpott.Ruhr” (Ruhr Promotion Fund), which brings together many foundations in the Ruhr area, including the Wilo-Foundation. The Ruhr Promotion Fund provides targeted financial support to committed individuals, non-profit organisations, initiatives, associations and projects and helps them to implement their ideas, benefiting communities in the Ruhr area.
The initiative to establish the network came from the Anneliese Brost Foundation, the innogy Foundation for Energy and Society and the Mercator Foundation. Together with Auridis gGmbh, GLS Treuhand e. V., the Haniel Foundation, the RAG Foundation, the Association for the Promotion of German Science and Humanities and the Wilo-Foundation they constitute the steering committee. The initiative is sponsored by the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation.
Our funding partner:
The non-profit association Ehrenamt Agentur Essen e. V. (volunteering agency Essen), which is based in the city of Essen, has been coordinating the activities of the Ruhr Foundations Network Ruhr since 2017. The association is active in many areas of civic engagement, develops new areas for active commitment based on the needs of the population and non-profit organisations, and facilitates access to voluntary work. Ehrenamt Agentur Essen was established in 2005 and is today one of Germany’s largest and most successful agencies in the field of volunteering.
