Bertelsmann Foundation

Origin

For decades, Reinhard Mohn authored numerous books on corporate social responsibility. In 1977, he started the Bertelsmann Foundation to promote alternative forms of social, political and economic order. In 1993, he transferred 69 percent of his shares in Bertelsmann AG to the foundation, making it the media enterprise’s biggest shareholder. Following the will of Mohn, the foundation has been dedicated to European unity and Transatlantic cooperation since its inception.

Activities

The Bertelsmann Foundation is active in political, social, economic, educational, cultural and health-related issues. It does not provide grants, scholarships or project funding to others, but focuses on researching, publishing and stimulating public debate on its topics. It is active worldwide and has since inception spent around €868 million on nonprofit projects. When Bertelsmann's dividend payment to the foundation fell by a third to about €63 million in 2003, the Bertelsmann Foundation’s budget was drastically cut by €7 million ($8.1 million) from €72 million the following year. The total budget for the 2010 fiscal year was €60.3 million, according to the foundation's annual report.

The Bertelsmann Foundation is based in Gütersloh, with offices in Berlin, Brussels, and Barcelona. In order to open an office in Washington D.C., the foundation created a legally independent foundation, the Bertelsmann Foundation North America, in 2008.

Reinhard Mohn Prize

In awarding the annual Reinhard Mohn Prize, the Bertelsmann Foundation carries out an international search to identify innovative ideas and exemplary solutions that address political and social issues. From 1988 to 2008 the prize was named for Carl Bertelsmann, founder of the Bertelsmann. Past winners have included Kofi Annan, the City of Recife, the Citizenship Foundation, and the Hilti Corporation, among others. Prior to Reinhard Mohn's death in 2009, the prize was known as the Carl Bertelsmann Prize.

Transformation Index (BTI)

Updated every two years, the Transformation Index BTI provides a ranking with quantitative scores for the performance of 128 developing and transition countries. The index measures the current state of democracy and market economy in a given country, its evolution over the past two years and the quality of governance.

Sustainable Governance Indicators (SGI)

First published in 2009, the Sustainable Governance Indicators (SGI) analyze and compare the need for reform in OECD member countries, as well as each country's ability to respond to current social and political challenges. The project is designed to create a comprehensive data pool on government-related activities in the countries considered the world's most developed free-market democracies. The SGI are updated every two or three years.

Social Justice Index

In a much-discussed Bertelsmann Foundation study on social justice released in 2011, the United States came in dead last among the rich countries, ahead of only Greece, Chile, Mexico and Turkey.

Bertelsmann Foundation-Financial Times Conference

The Bertelsmann Foundation-Financial Times Conference, an annual forum on the global economy, has been held at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. since 2009. Past speakers have included Christine Lagarde, Paul Volcker, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, Carly Fiorina, Timothy Geithner, Pascal Lamy, Pierre Moscovici, Wolfgang Schäuble, George Soros, Ursula von der Leyen, and Robert Zoellick.

Congressional European Parliament Initiative (CEPI)

The CEPI is a program launched in 2010 at the Bertelsmann Foundation aimed at building a common transatlantic political culture between the primary legislative branches of the United States and European Union. Since its inception, the CEPI has brought a group of staffers from Congress and the European Parliament together as fellows to participate in two conferences a year focusing on one policy area affecting the transatlantic relationship. Past policy areas have included financial services legislation, climate change, data protection and privacy, trade and immigration. Since 2015, the program has also included fellows from the German Bundestag.

International Non-Profit Credit Rating Agency

In 2012, as a consequence of the 2008 financial crisis, the Bertelsmann Foundation proposed a so-called International Non-Profit Credit Rating Agency (Incra). The proposal was an attempt to show how a non-profit credit rating agency could be structured without the potential conflicts of interest the commercial agencies face.

Criticism

While the Bertelsmann Foundation’s activities are considered as consistent with scientific standards, the organization has in the past been criticized by left-leaning groups for its engagement in the political field. The criticism focuses specially on the areas of education and labor, where the foundation allegedly promoted neoliberal ideas such as an increase of competition in education and research and for the introduction of tuition fees to the German university system. The foundation has been accused of channeling their concepts into reforms of public universities in order to eliminate e.g. free access to education and academic autonomy.

Executive Board

Notable people