Startseite Focusbereiche

FOUNDATIONS

Foundations are active in areas of society that have recently been exposed to rapid developments and changes. While, for example, digital transformation offers great opportunities for foundations to perform their work more efficiently, it also presents a major challenge to their reorganisation. Moreover, regional problems in a networked world are rapidly growing into complex, unmanageable crises with global effects, while alternatives to conventional, absolutely safe investment models for foundation assets – such as cryptocurrencies – are emerging on the already agile capital market. In addition, impact and impact transparency is becoming significantly more important to the work of foundations. People want to understand the result of their engagement. Foundations that want to work successfully and effectively must therefore be prepared to establish new structures, procedures and processes.

IMPCT provides support and advice during this fundamental change. We identify new potential in both the foundation itself (strategy, organisational development) and in the projects that foundations support and fund through in-depth analyses of existing foundation constructs. We work with them to sharpen their profile and their role as active shapers of civil society, thereby increasing their impact and the transparent communication of the concrete results of the foundation’s work.

REIMUND C. REICH FOUNDATION – HELP FOR PEOPLE IN NEED

Reimund C. Reich has always been passionate about helping people in need. In 2008, he established a foundation to support charitable associations and social institutions in and around Hamburg. The number of projects supported has been steadily increasing ever since. The Reimund C. Reich Foundation focuses on sustainability, annually awarding one million Euro to promising initiatives. It attaches particular importance to long-term approaches that help people in difficult phases of life. The foundation has cooperated with the majority of the supported projects and associations for many years; some of them have grown into indispensable institutions.

Reimund C. Reich personally examines all funding applications, visits the institutions and speaks with the administrators. He particularly appreciates organisations that might lack a strong lobby but that exhibit extraordinary commitment and convincing ideas. “We don’t simply send out cheques,” emphasizes the foundation’s founder.

NGOs

The European Green Deal, which regulates the reduction of emissions by 2050 at the political level, has finally made a rethinking of the economy in favour of more sustainability inevitable. With new production methods, markets are changing. In times of such profound transformation, NGOs are also called upon to rethink their own work and to develop their involvement in line with the times. This requires an adequate organisation, the right team, and a promising approach.

Yet many NGOs miss out on influence and clout because of their imprecise content profiles, too little or too complex internal structures, full-time work colliding with voluntary work, or lack of money. In order to save NGOs from despair in the face of this demanding change and to help them achieve real impact, IMPCT helps foundations by analyzing their potential, finding experts, assisting with the development of capital and funding sources, and providing support with the establishment of their own revenue streams.

LION HOUSE HARBURG

Opportunities determine life paths. Children need support and attention, which they do not always receive, especially in difficult social circumstances. The Löwenhaus in Hamburg- Harburg promotes the development of children by offering low-threshold childcare which provides motivational homework support, varied meals, games, fun, and a variety of leisure activities. At Löwenhaus, every child gets the chance to strengthen their social and cultural skills.

IMPCT has supported Löwenhaus Harburg since autumn 2019. Together with the founders, we have developed an effective long-term strategy for this important place, supported its digitalisation, and designed effective fundraising concepts that strengthen the social relevance of Löwenhaus Harburg and position the organisation for the future.

Social Businesses

Social entrepreneurs draw their strength from inspiration and empowerment. IMPCT offers them the perfect contact point where professional entrepreneurship, interdisciplinary networking and creativity pave the way for social businesses to achieve real social change. With every social business that is successful, even skeptics become more convinced that another world is possible – one that involves a gentle and mindful change in the process of inexorable globalisation. Such change is possible when the participants in the economy and the creators of civic coexistence, the market and non-profit organisations, tackle the challenges of our time together, and when social businesses shape this change as a unifying element.

Dialoghaus Hamburg gGmbH

20 years, 120 employees, activities in 40 countries and 1.7 million visitors: Dialoghaus Hamburg is a social business success story and a pioneer of inclusion and participation in practice. With the founding of a Social Science Center, Dialoghaus Hamburg plans to anchor and further develop inclusion, diversity and participation in society and in all areas of life. In cooperation with science, business, technology, industry and politics, the Dialoghaus is creating a participatory, interactive space with new content and concepts that will lead to long-term awareness of participation in the population. The Social Science Center of Dialoghaus Hamburg researches, develops and communicates inclusive approaches and provides society with solutions that promote new ways of working together, where everyone can make full use of their potential and contribute to society. IMPCT assists Dialoghaus Hamburg with definition of its future direction, with the sharpening of its DNA, and with its lobbying work for the Social Science Center.

ECONOMY

Economic activity that generates profit regardless of the consequences is no longer in keeping with the times. For many companies, returns on investment are therefore no longer measured by balance sheets alone. Instead, the environmental and socio-cultural contribution of the economy is gaining in importance. Profit-maximising ignorance of social responsibility is increasingly being punished by consumers and their growing awareness of sustainability.

IMPCT stands for a new, sustainable way of living, doing business and working that leads to healthy cycles. Our mission is to communicate to the business community that “purpose” cannot be an empty promise, and that CSR and CSX go far beyond simply separating waste in the company. We also support non-profit actors that focus on sustainability with our effective strategies, positioning and organisational development.

SUSTAINABILITY IN THE BUNDESLIGA AND THE 2ND BUNDESLIGA

Anchoring of sustainability criteria in the licencing regulations is the goal set by the DFL (German Football League) in consultation with the clubs of the Bundesliga and 2nd Bundesliga. In order to implement this project, the DFL commissioned IMPCT gGmbH to develop a corresponding catalogue of criteria. All three interlocking and mutually dependent dimensions of sustainability – economy, environment and society – are to be considered, as per the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the United Nations. This process is being jointly carried out by the DFL and IMPCT gGmbH before the clubs of the Bundesliga and the 2nd Bundesliga subsequently decide on its implementation.

Previously, the importance of sustainability had also been emphasised in the summary report of the results of the “Future of Professional Football Task Force” set up by the DFL. Between October 2020 and January 2021, 37 experts from the fields of sport, society, science, politics and business worked in three interdisciplinary groups on relevant topics and issues concerning the future of professional football. In the resulting report, consisting of a vision for 2030 and 17 recommendations for action, the topics of sustainability and social responsibility were a focus.

“The setting of a sustainability standard is intended to create a framework for action and orientation for the clubs in the Bundesliga and 2nd Bundesliga, and thus to serve as a stimulus. This will allow German professional football to take on a pioneering role and to underline the relevance of sustainability beyond sport,” says Tanja Ferkau, Managing Director of IMPCT gGmbH, who was also a member of the task force.

Hamburger Volksbank

Fairness, solidarity and partnership describe the cooperative values of Hamburger Volksbank. These values are adhered in the course of on a par communication with customers, but also serve as guidance for behaviour among employees as well as with others in general. As an important player rooted in Hamburg, Hamburger Volksbank is highly committed to the region. In order to further strengthen this initiative, IMPCT has prepared a study that outlines how Hamburger Volksbank can position itself even more strongly as an active shaper of the city of Hamburg through sustainable commitment.

Investment

Good intentions alone are often not enough. “Those who have, can” –even the best ideas for sustainable change require the necessary capital to unfold their full effect. It is only with the right investment that the non-profit “third sector” succeeds in turning solutions into reality, scaling them up and making them big. IMPCT is the mediator between these worlds: we connect important content with the right sources of capital.
We connect capital with the right ideas. We seek out the organisations and projects worth supporting with “green” or “social” money. We use standardised and specially developed KPIs to ensure economical, ecological and socio-cultural impact transparency and return on investment.

OWN PROJECTS

IMPCT sees itself as an enabler of the best ideas for a sustainable society. Yet sometimes we become concerned with things for which we have not yet found an adequate solution in our network or in the market. In these cases, we become active ourselves and create our own offers and initiatives which we think are important and have been missing in the world so far.

HOMEES – A SECOND HOME ON THE WEB

In normal times, many children already experience little support at home in terms of movement, creativity and education. In times of crisis, such as in a pandemic, this problem is exacerbated because children and young people can no longer take advantage of external childcare services.

With the digital platform HOMEES, we enable organisations to bring their existing in-person offerings into the digital world and to supplement them with additional options. HOMEES combines edutainment (knowledge, personal development, fun, creativity, sustainability, STEM) with assistance with crisis prevention and intervention, help with homework and home schooling, and counselling on various topics such as addiction or violence.

IMPCT wants to give children from challenging home situations a better perspective for the future. The digital platform creates an interface between the target group, the in-person institutions of child and youth welfare services, schools, and independent counselling services in the market. It’s a place that bundles and complements the diverse offerings of institutions, NGOs and politics and makes them digitally accessible.

LoopsAI

LOOPSAI – ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE OPTIMISES MATERIAL CYCLES FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE OF ABUNDANCE AND WELL-BEING.

Numerous raw materials and nutrients accumulate in urban areas. Tons of food enter cities every day like on a one-way street; the leftovers usually end up as waste and are difficult to dispose of. The hurdles to thinking in and working with cycles are extremely high. For this reason, many potential material cycles have not yet been recognised.

Economically feasible solutions for cross-company material cycles have been developed with the help of the intelligent “loopsai” software. loopsai enables individual material flows to be networked for resource efficiency: Who buys which quantities of which raw materials? Is this even necessary, or could other companies’ waste products be used instead? The intelligent and easy-to-use software draws a digital image of a company and its needs, also known as a “digital twin”. loopsai is to be trained in a pilot project – a mushroom farm where edible mushrooms are grown on coffee grounds. A learning interplay is created with sensors, between the farm and its digital twin. As a result, the AI is constantly learning. Soon it will be able to develop solutions for complex material cycles in all economic sectors. Another advantage: with the digital twin, the effects of changing parameters can be tested in practice before actual implementation. The AI not only optimises the main products, such as coffee drinks and edible mushrooms, but also keeps an eye on all material flows: For example, how does adding another organic waste to the coffee grounds affect the production volume of an urban mushroom farm? Which brewing method reduces the C02 balance of a catering business the most, since the resulting organic waste can be fed optimally into material cycles and never becomes waste in the first place? The software is open source and only requires little information to get started.

We at the University of Bremen, Frisches Management and IMPCT want not only to record and better understand highly complex material flows, but also to network them so that a closed cycle is ultimately created. This would not only improve supply and demand but also save valuable resources and shorten transport routes.

The German Sustainability Award is recognising loopsai’s idea by placing it among the top three recipients of the German Sustainability Award for Research.