At the General Assembly of the Sparkassenstiftung, a new statute was adopted, during which a change of name was also decided. The new German name will be: Deutsche Sparkassenstiftung für internationale Kooperation e.V., respectively German Sparkassenstiftung for International Cooperation in English. The existing name will be preceded by the word “Deutsche” respectively “German”.
With this new name, the German Sparkassenstiftung is following practical experience in its currently more than 50 project countries in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. The local partners usually refer to it as the “Deutsche Sparkassenstiftung”, the “German Sparkassenstiftung” or the “Sparkassenstiftung Alemana”. The country of origin is always understood as a seal of quality, Sparkassen expertise “Made in Germany”, so to speak.
However, the addition of the word “Deutsche” respectively “German” also sends a second message, this time to the German Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe (Sparkassen Finance Group). The German Sparkassenstiftung differs from the many other Sparkassenstiftungen (foundations) in the group: It is not legally a foundation, but a non-profit association. German Sparkassenstiftung does not promote projects in Germany but carries them out itself in cooperation with local partners in developing countries and emerging economies.
German Sparkassenstiftung was established in 1992 by resolution of the General Meeting of the German Savings Banks and Giro Association (DSGV). It is thus a joint institution of the entire Sparkassen Finance Group. The founding capital of 10 million Deutsche Mark comes from the remaining funds of the ‘Fund for the Reconstruction of the Sparkassen’ in the New Federal States and thus directly from all institutions of the Group.
According to the statutes, any institution of the Sparkassen Finance Group can become a member of German Sparkassenstiftung. Currently, two-thirds of all German Sparkassen are members of German Sparkassenstiftung, along with all Landesbanken and Sparkassen associations, as well as many Landesbausparkassen, public insurance companies and other central institutions. Members also include the central municipal associations; likewise, the owners of Sparkassen themselves can apply for membership.
The work of German Sparkassenstiftung is based on financial contributions and the expertise of the individual member institutions. Around EUR 1.25 million membership contributions and donations from the Sparkassen Finance Group were received in 2020. In addition, third-party funding from the German government and other national and international donors will amount to over 32 million euros in 2020.
Apart from financial contributions of the Sparkassen Finance Group the transfer of knowledge and expertise is even more valuable: employees from Sparkassen and associations, from Landesbanken and partners are actively supporting the projects as experts and pass on their Sparkassen know-how.
Currently, more than 70 employees from the Sparkassen Finance Group are working in the projects on a long-term basis. They are sent to the respective project countries by German Sparkassenstiftung for at least two years. In addition, there are more than 200 local employees and over 100 short term experts who spend a few weeks in the projects each year sharing their knowledge.