The local layer nobody maps: 435 Bürgerstiftungen across Germany, combined Stiftungskapital of roughly €679.2 m, granting €64.6 m and collecting €46.4 m in donations in the reported year — over €1 bn mobilised since 1996. They are a plausible source of the small, unbudgeted sums a project needs, and occasionally more.
- What they reliably do: small local grants to gemeinnützige purposes in their own town. Sizes, themes and deadlines are set foundation by foundation; there is no national programme, no common application form, and no aggregate list of what they fund.
- Realistic asks: the Gemeinschaftsraum fit-out, an accessibility measure, a Quartier-facing service, moderation of the group’s founding process — i.e. the parts a gemeinnütziger carrier (e.V. / gGmbH) can hold. Almost never the acquisition itself.
Related
- stiftung-trias, stiftung-edith-maryon — the foundations that do hold land, verifiably
- erbbaurecht — the instrument a church or foundation would use
- kd-bank-financing — the bank on the church side of such a deal
- konzeptvergabe — the municipal parallel to a purpose-bound land handover
- de-support-network — advisers who know the local landscape
Detail
- Churches as land givers: parishes and their Stiftungen hold large, often underused portfolios and increasingly place buildings with social users on Erbbaurecht rather than selling. Where that happens the financing counterpart is often KD-Bank on the carrier’s side.
- Open question (not a fact): no evidence was found today that Bürgerstiftungen as a class hold land or grant Erbbaurechte — buergerstiftungen.org publishes nothing on property. Treat individual cases as individual cases and verify locally before relying on one.
- Open question (not a fact): the scale of church land handed to housing projects on Erbbaurecht is undocumented nationally. Approach the Kirchenkreis or the Bistum’s Liegenschaftsabteilung directly. stiftung-trias documents the Schenkung / Zustiftung / Verkauf routes that such an owner would use.