| Founder(s) | Gerd Bucerius |
|---|---|
| Type | charity |
| Founded | 1971 |
| Location | Hamburg, Germany |
| Key people | Board President Michael Göring |
| Area served | worldwide |
| Focus | science, arts and education |
| Revenue | 23 million € (2010) |
| Endowment | 732 million € (2010) |
| Volunteers | 0 |
| Employees | 32 |
| Motto | Promoting Scholarship - Enriching the Cultural Heritage - Developing Competencies |
| Website | www.zeit-stiftung.de |
The Zeit-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius was founded in 1971 by Gerd Bucerius (1906–1995). The name refers to the founder, his second wife Gertrud Ebel (1911–1997) whose nickname was Ebelin, and to the weekly newspaper Die Zeit, which was founded by Gerd Bucerius. The foundation is registered in Hamburg. Its main aim is to fund projects in research and scholarship, arts and culture, as well as education and training.
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The first scholarships in the 1970s were awarded to young journalists who were able to work at Harvard University in Cambridge, USA, with a ZEIT Fellowship. In the 1980s, Gerd Bucerius actively supported stronger competitiveness in higher education in Germany, and gave substantial sums to the private university Witten/Herdecke. In order to promote Hamburg's literary scene, the founder acquired a villa on the outer Alster lake, and made it available rent free to the City of Hamburg and the Literaturhaus-Verein, that since 1989 has been running the venue as Literaturhaus Hamburg. In the 1990s, the foundation enhanced its involvement in academia and set up the Gerd Bucerius-Juraprogramm, a scholarship programme for highly qualified young lawyers. Until his death Gerd Bucerius, through his foundation, was able to fund 90 projects with a total sum of 15 million €. Upon the death of its founder in 1995, followed by that of his wife in 1997, the couples' private assets were bequeathed to the foundation in their entirety. Over the past ten years, the foundation has allotted a funding total of 157,5 million €. In total, 1.758 applications were granted funding; this amounted to 1.115 individual projects. (The figures reflect the total at the end of the year 2010).
The statutory organs consist of a Board of Directors and a Board of Trustees. Following the death of the founder, Professor Dr. Michael Göring was appointed Executive Director in 1997; he has been President of the Board since 2005. Since 1995, Professor dres. h.c. Manfred Lahnstein has acted as Chairman of the Board of Trustees.
The foundation is an independent charitable foundation under German law. It regards itself as an integral part of an active civil society, where it aims to promote private endeavour. The foundation carries out its activities in the spirit of civic responsibility with a view to strengthening civil society. In accordance with its statutes, the focus of its activities are research and scholarship, and arts and culture, as well as education and training. Innovation, creativity and sustainability are the guiding principles for the foundation's investment in promoting knowledge, sponsoring culture and developing competencies.
The foundation mainly funds projects initiated and run by it. It also funds the projects of applicants from Hamburg, Germany, and other countries, provided that their ventures comply with the statutes and conditions for grants of the foundation. In 2010, the foundation was able to dispose of revenues of ca. 23 million € accrued from the assets of the foundation. As one of the largest privately-funded foundations in Germany with assets of 732 million € (end of financial year 2010) the foundation has also established institutions of its own, and in doing so has undertaken sustainable and long-term commitments. The foundation is flanked by the two independent institutions Bucerius Law School and Bucerius Kunst Forum that are representative of its engagement in research, the arts, and education.
The flagship of this enterprise is Germany's only private law school, the Bucerius Law School, which was founded in 2000. The foundation's investment in research and scholarship is centred on the humanities; currently the leading project is the PhD scholarship programme on migration studies, Settling Into Motion. The summer school History Takes Place is an urban studies programme. In Israel the foundation runs the Bucerius Institute for Research of Contemporary German History and Society at the University of Haifa. The Transatlantic Academy in Washington D.C., initiated and funded by the foundation in collaboration with other organizations, develops policy solutions for current social and political questions. The foundation was one of the initiators of the German Historical Institute Moscow. There, the foundation holds an annual lecture series, and does the same at the German Historical Institute Washington, where it also funds the publication of German historical documents and images as an online resource for German history from 1500 onwards.
In 2002 the foundation established the Bucerius Kunst Forum on Hamburg's city hall square as an exhibition venue for the arts. It shows four exhibitions every year, always with their own additional programme, and there are also independent concert and events series. The foundation also provides funding for projects in Hamburg's other museums, for example creating an academic archive of the collection of copperplate engravings.
The ZEIT-Stiftung supports the Hamburger Lessingtage at the Thalia Theater, which testify to the lasting relevance of one of Hamburg's leading literary figures. Hamburg's musical tradition is presented and documented in the eleven-part concert and CD series Musica Sacra Hamburgensis – Wiederentdeckungen Hamburger Kirchenmusik (rediscovering Hamburg's church music). Other key projects in music are the new production of Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen and the Easter concerts Hamburger Ostertöne. The foundation also supports master classes at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival and the scheme Preisträger in Residence (prize winner in residence) at the music festival Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, all of which demonstrate the foundation's continued engagement in the diversity of North Germany's musical landscape.
The ZEIT-Stiftung aims to improve schools. It provides studies and career advice for secondary pupils and has set up the campus project Mehr Migranten werden Lehrer for young people from a migrant background. The foundation has also developed an innovative aptitude testing scheme for teacher training candidates and also provides professional development training and networking opportunities for future headmasters. The reading scheme Bucerius LERN-WERK Lesen promotes reading skills in schools in North Germany. The foundation was the driving force behind the establishment of a day care centre at Bucerius Law School, which is open for the children of students and staff, as well as children from the neighbourhood. Since 2000, the prize Bibliothek des Jahres (library of the year), the only nationwide library prize, has been awarded to user-friendly libraries.
As part of its investment in journalistic programmes, since 2000 the ZEIT-Stiftung has awarded the Gerd Bucerius-Förderpreis Freie Presse Osteuropas (Gerd Bucerius Prize Free Press of Eastern Europe), which encourages journalists and publications to continue independent reporting in the face of obstacles and repression. The Bucerius Summer School on Global Governance each year brings together young leaders from politics, business and finance, academia, the media and NGOs to join experts in a discussion on strategies and concepts for successful governance in the face of mounting global challenges.
The foundation's own publication series, Hamburger Köpfe, portrays leading personalities of Hamburg past and present, such as Karl Schiller, Max Warburg and Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt. Furthermore, the foundation publishes a series on immigrants in Hamburg who have had an impact on the city and its culture. The title Skandinavien in Hamburg is the last in a series that also comprises publications on the Italian, Russian and Portuguese influence on the city: Italien in Hamburg, Russland in Hamburg, and Portugal in Hamburg. China in Hamburg will be the next addition. Both Bucerius Law School and the Bucerius Kunst Forum have publication series of their own.