Social innovations

Ideas for reform

For more than 40 years, the Bertelsmann Stiftung has been addressing the tasks it was given by its founder: shaping social change to benefit people, further developing the social market economy and supporting democracy. Since it was founded, the Bertelsmann Stiftung has launched more than 1,000 projects in order to move society forward. As a result, ordinary citizens now have more opportunities for getting involved in public life. In many areas of society there is also greater transparency and more participation in decision-making processes. Reinhard Mohn recognized the importance of civil society for ensuring that communities are able to function and that society remains cohesive. He believed that the state cannot be responsible for everything, and that the business community and public must therefore do their share. He worked to promote civic engagement as a result – for example by establishing Germany’s first community foundation in 1996 in his hometown of Gütersloh.

Reinhard Mohn, Philanthropist

Other foundations followed

In 1989, he established the Fundació Biblioteca d’Alcudia “Can TORRÓ,” a foundation whose objective was to create a public library in Alcudia on the island of Majorca. In 1995, he founded the Fundación Bertelsmann in Barcelona, which initially worked to support libraries and promote reading among young people in Spain. It then focused on civic engagement. Today, it partners with businesses, trade associations and policy makers to combat youth unemployment.

In 2006, he founded the Reinhard Mohn Stiftung, which began its project work in 2009 and is now led by his son, Christoph. The Reinhard Mohn Stiftung focuses on education. More specifically, it improves educational opportunities for children and young people regardless of their social or cultural background.

Honors

Reinhard Mohn received numerous awards in Germany and other countries for his efforts on behalf of the nonprofit sector. For example, his hometown of Gütersloh made him an honorary citizen in 1981. In 1996, together with his wife Liz, he was awarded the Europäischer Stifterpreis der Fördergemeinschaft der Europäischen Wirtschaft. In 1998, he received the Knight Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. For his efforts on behalf of Spanish society, he received the Prince of Asturias Award bestowed by the Spanish royal family, and, in 1999, the Spanish Grand Cross of the Order of Civil Merit.

Corporate culture and values

Corporate cultures based on trust lead to economic success. That, however, presupposes a willingness to identify with the organization’s goals and with one’s own responsibilities. Delegating responsibility and “getting many minds thinking” are the basic principles that Reinhard Mohn always applied when fulfilling his leadership duties. They are the same principles that Liz Mohn continues to apply today. To that end, trust and self-initiative remain fundamental framework conditions. Liz Mohn is committed to ensuring that as many people as possible continue to participate as times change and that they feel they belong, including in business organizations, despite the dislocations resulting from globalization and digitization. She wants to promote a forward-looking leadership culture, increase corporate social responsibility, improve work-life balance and move more women into positions of leadership. As a business woman and mother of three, she knows how difficult it can be to have a successful career while taking care of a family.

Liz Mohn, vice-chairwoman of the Bertelsmann Stiftung Executive Board

Active on behalf of the Bertelsmann Stiftung

Following the death of her husband Reinhard Mohn, Liz Mohn represents the fifth generation of the Bertelsmann/Mohn founding family. As a member of the Bertelsmann Stiftung Executive Board, she oversees a number of the foundation’s programs, including Germany and Asia, Leadership and Corporate Culture, Living Values, Discovering Music, and Business in Society. Under her leadership, the Bertelsmann Stiftung has initiated numerous projects that have allowed her to address several key issues, such as developing modern leadership methods, helping the business community assume social responsibility, building values through education, promoting social cohesion, increasing understanding among peoples, cultures and religions, and fostering an engagement with music. In 1987, she founded the internationally renowned NEUE STIMMEN International Singing Competition, in 1993 the German Stroke Foundation and, in 2005, the Liz Mohn Foundation for Culture and Music.

Since 2005, moreover, she has been president of the Fundacíon Bertelsmann, the foundation established by the Bertelsmann Stiftung in Barcelona.

Liz Mohn, vice-chairwoman of the Bertelsmann Stiftung Executive Board

Building bridges

Connecting people, building bridges across languages and borders, and creating trust among peoples, cultures and religions – that is how Liz Mohn fulfills what she views as her duty to increase international understanding and promote peace. To that end, she has launched the International Cultural Dialogues, a platform for exchange – for example, among participants in the Balkans, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Japan, Vietnam, China and India. The dialogues are designed to create networks among different cultures and promote intercultural understanding.

Honors

Through numerous projects designed to reform Germany’s health-care system, Dr. Mohn has worked to increase transparency and ensure that health-care services reflect actual needs. In 2008, together with the umbrella associations of Germany’s major patients’ and consumers’ organizations, she initiated Weisse Liste, an independent online guide to the country’s health-care system.

Civil society

One issue she considers particularly important is getting people more involved in civil society. She is committed to helping establish a new culture of participation and recognition and to ensuring that children and young people are introduced at an early age to social engagement and democratic processes.

For Dr. Mohn, communities are the common ground where the public, businesses, government and civil society meet. Many of the projects she leads therefore address the challenges resulting from demographic change, growing social divisions, and social integration. The web-based Community Roadmap, for example, supports communities in making policy decisions by giving them access to socio-demographic data, strategic action plans and examples of best practice.

The projects carried out by the Reinhard Mohn Stiftung are based on best practices found in Germany and beyond, especially those introduced by educational authorities in Toronto and Zurich. These two cities have been particularly successful in reducing the varying levels of achievement among children and young people of different backgrounds.

Conceptually, the foundation’s activities address those aspects of the educational system that play a critical role in determining achievement, such as individualized learning, transitions from one institution to the next, parental participation and cooperation among multi-professional teams at child-care centers and schools.

In terms of content, the projects thus focus on a range of issues, including the acquisition of early numeracy skills, partnerships between parents and educators at primary schools, self-organized learning processes, and cooperative structures at all-day schools.

All projects are developed or adapted with partners on site before being implemented. They reflect participants’ needs as a result.