STAYING THE COURSE in Challenging Times

FOUNDATIONS ARE PART OF CIVIL SOCIETY — SILENCE IS NOT AN OPTION!

The Vice-President of the European Commission and
former Spanish Minister of the Environment Teresa Ribera
(third from left) attended the Foundation Day in Hamburg in person.

To our great delight, we were able to get Teresa Ribera as a high-profile speaker for our event “STAYING THE COURSE in Challenging Times” at the Foundation Day of the Federal Association of German Foundations on May 20–21, 2026, in Hamburg! In addition, Carola Carazzone, Philea Vice president and Secretary General of the Italian Foundation Association ASSIFERO, joined the meeting via videoconference from Copenhagen, where she was attending the PHILEA conference “Philanthropy for People and Planet.” This allowed us to clearly link our joint event to the impetus for EUROPEAN capacity to act.

Teresa Ribera, Vice-President of the European Commission and former Spanish Minister of the Environment, had already addressed all 2,000 participants with powerful words in a welcoming speech at the opening event of the Foundation Day. In light of the serious threats to democracies in Europe and our livelihoods, she called on German foundations to take a stand now, because “Silence is no option!”

Carola Carazzone, PHILEA Vice President and Secretary General of the Italian Foundation Association ASSIFERO, urged German foundations to join the PHILEA call “Philanthropy for Climate” and form their own German chapter.

Prof. Dr. Gesine Schwan (SPD), Rupprecht Polenz (CDU), Dr. Bernhard Straub (Managing Director of the Robert Bosch Stiftung), and Susanne Kertelge (Board Member of the Michael Otto Foundation for Sustainability) also made it very clear on stage, moderated by Dr. Eckart von Hirschhausen and Klaus Milke, that it is necessary to take action NOW.
With the theme “Acting Out of Freedom,” it was the most politically charged Foundation Day to date, as many observers noted.

The Foundation for Sustainability was represented by a small team from the foundation (Christoph Bals, Artur Runge-Metzger, Silke Schnellhardt, and Klaus Milke) and was able to establish many new contacts. The great appreciation we received has encouraged us once again to remain active with the
KURS HALTEN foundation initiative and to continue developing it vigorously.

We thank Eckart von Hirschhausen and his team at Gesunde Erde – Gesunde Menschen, Jill Berger from GSCC, Sylke Freudenthal from the Veolia Foundation, and Thomas Muchow from the Rheinische Kulturlandschaft Foundation for the wonderful collaboration!

The “Day of Honor” scheduled by the Federal President for three days later, on May 23, to mark the 77th anniversary of the Basic Law, raises awareness of and appreciation for civil society and volunteer work—which are increasingly under pressure here as well—something we very much welcome.

Another point to take away—and one that came up repeatedly during the Foundation Day—is that we should all go about our lives with much more laughter, humor, and self-deprecating humor. After all, Donald Trump, the far-right, and populists don’t like that one bit!