Flow Fund for Eastern Germany

The Flow Fund is a fund designed to strengthen democratic participation and social cohesion in eastern Germany. The concept, financing and implementation of the fund are carried out in cooperation with the Kinnings Foundation. Instead of managing the distribution of funds centrally, as foundations typically do, we placed this responsibility directly in the hands of local changemakers: the Flow Fund is allocated by the so-called Flow Funders of the »Kinnings Academy«, a leadership development programme for emerging talent in eastern Germany. The Flow Funders live in eastern German federal states and are active there in civil society and entrepreneurship. Each Flow Funder receives 25,000 euros in donations to distribute, as well as an honorarium for their work.

The Flow Funders themselves develop the selection criteria for awarding the funds. They are supported by an accompanying programme that provides space for mutual consultation and reflection. Through expert input from external speakers from various organisations, the Flow Funders expand their knowledge during the preparation phase. The foundations contribute their expertise to the critical development of a funding strategy and facilitate the reflection process.

With this approach, we aim to

• Allocate funding in the eastern German states as effectively as possible to strengthen democracy, participation, and social cohesion.
• Gain experience with an approach in which committed people make the decisions locally,
• Build trustful relationships with engaged individuals in eastern Germany and learn from these experiences for our future work.
• Empower young changemakers through the formative experience of distributing funds.
• Share our insights with other donor organizations to inspire and encourage participatory giving

The project is inspired by an initiative of the Pantha Rhea Foundation, an American sister organisation of the Schöpflin Foundation. Among the co-funders of the Flow Fund is the organisation »Effektiv Spenden«. For the second round of the Flow Fund, we have succeeded in securing additional co-funders, including the Alexander Gruner Foundation, the AKB Foundation and the Nordmetall Foundation. The funds are disbursed via the Schöpflin Foundation in cooperation with the fiscal host interalia gGmbH, which manages the administrative processing of grants to collectives/individuals.