Germany

Deutsches Zentralinstitut für soziale Fragen

The Deutsches Institut für Zentralfragen is a foundation and charity monitoring and research institute. It was established in 1893 and has its headquarters in Berlin, Germany. 

Key topics of the Institute are donor information and advice, charity monitoring, seal-of-approval, and donation statistics.

(Research) questions guiding their work are, among others:

• How can trust and transparency in charitable organisations be strengthened, and what role do monitoring and accreditation mechanisms play in this process? 
• Which methods are most appropriate for nonprofit organisations to analyse and report on the impact of their programmes, and how do these methods affect credibility and accountability?
• What are the levels, forms, motivations, and recent developments of corporate giving (cash and in-kind) in Germany?
• What are the levels, motivations, and sociodemographic patterns of private charitable giving in Germany, and how have these evolved over time?
• How can inconsistencies between national surveys and statistical sources on philanthropy be explained, and how can data comparability and reliability be improved?

Maecenata Foundation – Maecenata Institute for Philanthropy and Civil Society

Maecenata Foundation – Maecenata Institute for Philanthropy and Civil Society is a think tank abd esearch institute.
It was established in 1997 and has its headquarters in Berlin, Germany. 

Key topics of the Institute are civil society, foundations, charitable giving, and volunteering.

(Research) questions guiding their work are, among others:

• How have regulatory frameworks and political discourse shaped and constrained civic space for civil society organisations in Germany?
• How do philanthropic institutions and practices contribute to democratic resilience and the functioning of civil society in Germany?
• Which factors influence public trust in nonprofit organisations, and how do these dynamics affect participation, giving, and volunteering?

Introduction to Philanthropy Research in Germany

By Georg Mildenberger, Jörg Lindenmeier, Silke Boenigk, Lena Höpken, Maya Gebhard and Marcel Oster

Philanthropy research in Germany is conducted across a wide variety of institutions and academic disciplines. However, no central authority is responsible for coordinating or systematically collecting and analysing national data on giving. Knowledge about monetary donations, in-kind contributions, volunteering and other forms of giving therefore remains fragmented, with studies often examining individual parts of the philanthropic landscape in isolation.

Several independent institutions play important roles in research and data collection. The German Central Institute on Social Issues, or DZI, was founded in 1893 and serves as an independent information and documentation centre for social and welfare work. It operates a donor advisory service, awards the DZI Seal of Approval to qualifying fundraising organisations, maintains a specialist library and publishes research and financial information through its annual Donation Almanac. In 2024, 227 charities held the DZI Seal of Approval.

The Berlin Social Science Center has contributed to research on donation volumes and donor attitudes for more than two decades. The Maecenata Foundation also supports interdisciplinary work on civil society, civic engagement, philanthropy and foundations.

Zivilgesellschaft in Zahlen, commonly known as ZiviZ or Civil Society in Figures, is an important initiative for mapping the German nonprofit sector. It is supported by organisations including the Donors’ Association for the Promotion of German Science and Humanities, the Bertelsmann Foundation and the Fritz Thyssen Foundation. ZiviZ recorded an increase in the number of nonprofit organisations from 638,454 in 2016 to 656,888 in 2022.

University-based philanthropy research is highly interdisciplinary and includes business administration, economics, political science, sociology, law, public management and nonprofit studies. Relevant centres and research groups are located at institutions including the universities of Hamburg, Heidelberg, Mannheim, Münster, Freiburg and Potsdam, as well as the European Business School, Munich Business School and the Technical University of Kaiserslautern.

Practice-oriented organisations also contribute substantially. The German Donor Council publishes the annual Bilanz des Helfens survey in partnership with the market-research institute GfK. The German Fundraising Association regularly publishes the German Donation Monitor, which in 2024 included questions about non-donors for the first time.

The Federal Statistical Office provides information through the Sample Survey of Income and Expenditure, conducted every five years, and annual income-tax statistics. Additional data are collected through the German Socio-Economic Panel, the German Survey on Volunteering and market-research panels operated by GfK and TNS Infratest. These sources differ substantially in their definitions, samples and methodologies.

Coordination has gradually improved. The Forum Zivilgesellschaftsdaten brings together organisations working on civil-society data, while ZiviZ and the Datenreport Zivilgesellschaft have contributed to greater harmonisation and collaboration. Nevertheless, considerable scope remains for more consistent, timely and accessible national data.

Overview of Giving in Germany

Giving by individuals

Estimates of the proportion of Germans who donate vary considerably, ranging from approximately 25% to 50%. Although donor participation is lower than in several comparable high-income countries, the total volume of individual giving is substantial.

German households donated an estimated €13.8 billion to charitable causes in 2022, an increase of approximately 1% compared with 2021. Exceptional fundraising following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine contributed significantly to this result, generating more than €1 billion for emergency relief.

The estimate is based on the DZI donation index and earlier calculations using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel. Other sources, including Federal Statistical Office tax data, produce different estimates. These differences reflect the use of varying concepts, populations and methods.

International aid, human rights and refugee-related causes accounted for 76.4% of the individual donations covered by the GfK data for 2022. Animal welfare received 7.4%, environmental and climate causes 3.4%, culture 1.8%, and sport and recreation 1.6%. The unusually high share for international aid reflects the major humanitarian response to the war in Ukraine.

Official tax data provide a conservative measure because they cover only donations claimed for deductions. In 2020, tax authorities recognised approximately €11.3 billion in deductible donations, excluding political donations but including in-kind contributions. Official tax statistics are published with a delay of several years, so the 2022 estimate relies instead on DZI data.

Membership fees paid to tax-exempt associations may also be classified as donations in tax records, even when respondents would not describe them as charitable giving. Conversely, informal contributions and donations from people who do not file tax returns are not captured.

Bequest giving

No reliable national estimate is available for charitable bequests in Germany. Bequests are not systematically identified within the principal datasets on household giving, and the available information does not support a separate national figure.

The absence of comprehensive bequest data creates a significant gap in the German evidence base, particularly because bequests may be received by charities, foundations, religious organisations and other nonprofit bodies through different legal and organisational channels.

Corporate giving

Corporate engagement in Germany includes monetary donations, in-kind support, the provision of facilities and equipment, corporate volunteering, pro bono work and corporate foundations. The Monitor Unternehmensengagement, or Corporate Citizenship Survey, is the most comprehensive representative source on these activities.

The survey is based on the German company register and is stratified by company size and region. Around 120,000 companies were invited to participate in 2018, with 7,368 completing the survey. The 2022 edition received responses from 1,803 companies.

Contributing to societal well-being was identified as a motivation by 75% of participating companies. Employee retention was mentioned by 59%, while 52% cited employer attractiveness and 52% referred to corporate reputation or image. Strengthening employee competencies was identified by 39%.

Corporate priorities shifted between 2018 and 2022. Engagement in climate and environmental protection increased by 12 percentage points, health by 7 points and social projects by 5 points. Involvement declined in traditional areas including sport, education, academic research, leisure and religion.

A conservative extrapolation from the 2018 Corporate Citizenship Survey estimated annual monetary corporate donations at a minimum of €9.5 billion. This was approximately €1 billion higher than the €8.5 billion estimated in 2012. The contribution table uses a slightly adjusted estimate of €9.35 billion.

In 2022, 87% of surveyed companies reported making monetary donations, 78% made in-kind contributions and 67% provided nonprofit organisations with access to resources such as rooms, vehicles, technology or software. Larger companies tended to donate more regularly than smaller businesses.

Corporate volunteering is also widespread. Sixty-seven per cent of companies allowed employees time off for volunteering between January 2021 and June 2022. Nineteen per cent did so regularly, while 48% offered such opportunities occasionally. Sixty per cent supported local one-off activities such as clean-up campaigns.

Six per cent of surveyed companies reported engagement through their own corporate foundation. One prominent example is the Robert Bosch Stiftung, which has provided more than €2.3 billion for philanthropic purposes since its establishment in 1964.

Foundations

Information on giving by German foundations remains limited. The introduction of a nationwide foundation register in 2026 is expected to improve transparency and the availability of reliable data.

Approximately 59.8% of German foundations operate exclusively as grantmakers, 18.1% operate their own programmes or institutions, and 22.1% combine both approaches. Foundation income may come from investments, donations, membership fees, self-generated revenue and public subsidies. This mix makes it difficult to isolate philanthropic spending derived specifically from endowments and creates a risk of double counting donations already attributed to individuals or corporations.

Known foundation capital amounted to approximately €110 billion in 2021. At least €5.4 billion per year was used to pursue charitable purposes, although this figure covered only a limited sample. Another estimate placed total annual foundation expenditure at €13.1 billion, including €7.3 billion spent by grantmaking foundations.

In 2024, the Association of German Foundations recorded 26,349 legally capable civil-law foundations. Around 89% had tax-privileged status. A total of 711 new foundations were established during the year, representing an increase of 2.2%.

Social services are the most common statutory purpose, mentioned by 46.1% of foundations. Education and childcare are supported by 33.1%, arts and culture by 29.2%, science and research by 22.1%, healthcare by 15.3%, and environmental and nature-related causes by 14.9%. Foundations may pursue more than one purpose.

An estimate based on foundation capital, assumed investment returns and the capital created through new foundations placed annual foundation giving at approximately €7.351 billion. This figure is not based on a representative sample and covers only legally capable civil-law foundations. It should therefore be treated as indicative.

For the consolidated contribution estimate, a more conservative figure of €6.448 billion is used. This avoids presenting the higher calculation as a precise or fully representative national total.

Charity lotteries

German law recognises a category of lotteries considered to pose a relatively low risk of gambling addiction. These lotteries are generally required to allocate at least 30% of their sales revenue to charitable purposes. Alongside numerous smaller and locally organised lotteries, Germany has several major national charity lotteries.

The German Television Lottery was founded in 1956 and now supports elderly and disabled people, hospices, families and children. Aktion Mensch was founded in 1964 and primarily supports people with disabilities and the development of an inclusive society. It is Germany’s largest charity lottery.

Glücksspirale supports sport, social services, cultural heritage and environmental initiatives through partner organisations. The German Postcode Lottery began operating in 2016 as part of the international Postcode Lottery network.

Charity lotteries distributed approximately €411.19 million in 2022. Around €361.66 million, or 88%, supported domestic public and social-benefit purposes. Sport and recreation received €23.6 million, culture €16.13 million, and other purposes, including education and research, approximately €9.8 million.

Financial information is available through lottery accounts and public reports, although reporting arrangements differ. Glücksspirale operates through separate state lottery companies, making it particularly difficult to produce a consolidated nationwide figure.

Sources of Contributions in Germany

The available figures indicate total philanthropic contributions of approximately €30 billion. However, the estimate combines information from different years and methodologies. Corporate giving is based on a 2018 survey, while household and charity-lottery data refer to 2022. Foundation giving is estimated using incomplete information, and no separate estimate is available for bequests.

Data on corporate and foundation giving are particularly uncertain. Much of the available evidence comes from surveys with different definitions and coverage, while official tax statistics capture only deductible donations and are generally published several years after the reference period. Contributions to religious organisations are also not systematically documented.

Germany’s research infrastructure is gradually improving through initiatives such as ZiviZ, the Forum Zivilgesellschaftsdaten and the nationwide foundation register. Greater investment in longitudinal studies, interdisciplinary cooperation and open-access data would make it possible to produce more consistent and reliable estimates of philanthropic giving.

Source

Mildenberger, G., Lindenmeier, J., Boenigk, S., Höpken, L., Gebhard, M., & Oster, M. (2026). Philanthropy in Germany. In B. Hoolwerf & J. Vamstad (Eds.), Philanthropy in Europe: Mapping Research and Data on Donations by Households, Bequests, Foundations, Corporations and Charity Lotteries (pp. 109–128). European Research Network on Philanthropy.

You can download the full publication here: Philanthropy in Europe.