Sponsorship & Funding

Sponsorship & Donations

We promote family entrepreneurship

As a non-profit foundation, we are dedicated to supporting family businesses and entrepreneurial families with in-depth knowledge, practical solutions, and a strong network. Our aim is to provide guidance and valuable insights:

Science for practice The research results provided by us are freely available to interested parties and offer a sound basis for strategic decisions.
Events & Exchange – Conferences, forums, congresses and other formats enable direct dialogue with experts and like-minded individuals.
Practice Guides & Studies – Practical publications on all topics concerning family businesses and entrepreneurial families. This includes family strategy, succession, family governance, shareholder competence, conflict and crisis dynamics, digitalisation, and many more.

The WIFU Foundation's circle of major donors connects family businesses with leading research and a strong, values-based network.

FAMILY BUSINESSES & ENTREPRENEURIAL FAMILIES SUPPORT US

Unsere Arbeit wird durch die Unterstützung von FörderInnen ermöglicht, die dasselbe Ziel verfolgen wie wir: Familienunternehmertum stärken. Als gemeinnützige Stiftung sind wir auf diese Partnerschaften angewiesen, um praxisnahe Forschung und einen konstruktiven Dialog in diesem wichtigen Bereich fördern zu können.

Take responsibility

If you wish to support the work of the WIFU Foundation as a sponsor, you can opt to support the foundation with a donation for five years. Naturally, all support services for the benefit of the WIFU Foundation are tax-deductible.

Brochure „Sponsorship Concept“

PROJECT OR EVENT-RELATED FUNDING

If you wish to support the work of the WIFU Foundation on a project-specific basis or within another financial framework, you have the option to directly support individual projects or the foundation's scholar programme.

Brochure „Funding Opportunities“

Individual Donations

We are equally pleased to receive individual donations as part of current fundraising campaigns or events. All donations benefit the non-profit WIFU Foundation and are tax-deductible.

könnten wir dafür unser Donation form either use or direct via PayPal donation

Donation form

Statements from the sponsor circle

Over the years, a trusted circle of around 80 family businesses from German-speaking countries has been established. This cultivated trust allows for open discussions on challenging topics such as succession, family strategies, or conflict resolution – in a protected environment and through direct exchange with leading researchers. As a non-profit foundation, we depend on these partnerships.

In these statement videos, our supporters share their very personal motivations: what they particularly appreciate about our network and events, what valuable insights they have gained, and why they actively support the foundation. Listen in and see for yourself the impact and added value of the WIFU Foundation!

Günter Albers & Liesel Albers-Bentlage

ELA Container GmbH

Das Netzwerk der WIFU-Stiftung und der Erfahrungsaustausch mit Gleichgesinnten ist immer wieder ein Erlebnis! Die wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnisse aus der Forschung zu Familienunternehmen und Unternehmerfamilien helfen uns dabei, eine zukunftsfähige Struktur in Firma und Familie aufzubauen. Denn alle stehen vor ähnlichen Herausforderungen wie Family Governance, Nachfolge, Konfliktbewältigung, Kontinuität, Organisationsstrukturen oder Strategien.

Christoph Beumer

BEUMER Group GmbH & Co. KG

Family businesses are different. The mainstream in today's corporate world is geared towards listed corporations. The culture of these short-term focused large companies is already conveyed to young talent at universities. It is therefore all the more important to have a competent counterpoint that researches, understands, and imparts the mindset and dynamics of family businesses to young people. The WIFU Foundation possesses this competence and wonderfully integrates it into a network of entrepreneurial families, which enables a very trusting exchange.

Fabian Kienbaum

Kienbaum Consultants International GmbH

Wir sind seit einigen Jahren stolze Mitglieder im Trägerkreis der WIFU-Stiftung, weil wir den Vernetzungsgedanken ungemein schätzen. Für mich macht den Mehrwert aus, den die Stiftung bietet, im geschützten Raum mit Menschen den Austausch tätigen zu dürfen, die ähnliche Phänomene aus dem eigenen Familienunternehmen kennen und gleichzeitig zu hören, was die Wissenschaft dazu sagt.

Martin Erfurt

Erfurt & Sohn KG

The special thing about the WIFU Foundation is that very good discussions and contacts between family businesses, in a protected, confidential atmosphere, come about. The WIFU Foundation does a great job, and I particularly like the promotion of young talent. Sensitive topics from the inner workings of family businesses are also, and especially, analysed and solutions are suggested. The personal meetings, the communication amongst participants, and the small group discussions on exciting topics make the fantastic events, with sophisticated supporting programmes, truly special. Hopefully, after Corona, things will return to how we know and appreciate them. The WIFU network is very valuable and provides direct, personal contacts on topics such as digitalisation, family constitutions, advisory board issues, etc.

Rainer Kirchdörfer

Hennerkes, Kirchdörfer & Lorz

Family businesses are as diverse and complex as life itself. Only those who understand both family and business and give structure to both can navigate the many contradictions between the two systems. The WIFU Foundation manages, day after day, to blaze a trail through this thicket of questions and problems. For years, this trail has allowed many entrepreneurial families and their advisors to proceed with confidence.

Wilfried Neuhaus-Galladé

J.D. Neuhaus GmbH & Co. KG

Working with the WIFU Foundation, I observed that solutions are developed collaboratively and are highly individual. So, no template, but tailored to the specific case and family.

Jürgen Heindl

Progroup AG

The WIFU Foundation offers entrepreneurs a dialogue with experts from family business research and also boasts a broad network of significant family business owners. This makes it the ideal platform for exchanging ideas on common challenges and developing innovative solutions. I greatly appreciate this practical, trusting exchange.

Arndt Günter Kirchhoff

KIRCHHOFF Holding GmbH & Co. KG

Providing scientific support for family businesses, particularly concerning generational change and the ability to pass the business on to grandchildren as a central theme for the long-term and therefore sustainable success of the business model, is particularly valuable. The exchange among like-minded individuals and the support of the next generation in developing shareholder competence are at the core of this.

Stephan Kohorst

Dr. Ausbüttel & Co. GmbH

The WIFU Foundation, with its clear focus on the needs of family businesses, provides excellent examples, solutions and models for diverse requirements.
A secure, trusted network that inspires with a large number of possible and successfully lived constructions, which can be adapted to one's own family and business situation.
We particularly like supporting the WIFU Foundation because of their interesting independent research projects and the (further) education of young people.

Klemens Rethmann

Rethmann SE & Co. KG

For over 20 years, the WIFU has been a constant source of inspiration for our family. To support it as a patron is both a privilege and a duty. The familiar relationship among the patrons strengthens our resolve to implement the concepts and solutions developed at the WIFU within our own organisations. The expertise of the academics, combined with the robust network of entrepreneurial families, makes the WIFU Foundation unique. We are grateful to be a part of it.

Rudolf Louis Schweizer

Dr. August Oetker Nahrungsmittel KG

The WIFU Foundation uniquely links family and business in its work. It reminds the family business owner, in particular, in an inspiring way, how essential a functioning family is for a functioning and therefore successful family business.

Elena von Metzler

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Aktiengesellschaft

Versatile inspiration, intensive dialogues, and many new insights – that's what the WIFU Foundation stands for to me. I always find the trusting exchange within the WIFU network to be inspiring. It offers a unique platform for bringing together theory and practice and for discussing the multitude of topics relevant to family businesses.

Prof Dr Frank Stangenberg-Haverkamp

Vorsitzender des Kuratoriums der WIFU-Stiftung, Vorsitzender des Familienrates und des Vorstandes der E. Merck KG

With the WIFU Foundation's Circle of Patrons, a network of trust for family businesses has been developed, where participants' questions and problems can be addressed openly, respectfully, competently, and on an equal footing. The exclusively tailored events offer a variety of solutions and experiences from which every family can learn. In my opinion, this network is unique worldwide and offers every entrepreneurial family a great opportunity to learn, make valuable contacts, and exchange important experiences with like-minded people.

Andreas Kostal

Leopold Kostal GmbH & Co. KG

The WIFU Foundation is a beacon with great influence for family businesses. Three words characterise the foundation for me: impulsive, initiative, and interactive. It is a competent source of inspiration, sets new standards with its initiatives, and promotes an interactive, practice-oriented exchange between family businesses, research, politics, and society.

Peter Pohlmann

TriPos GmbH

The WIFU Foundation fulfils an important role in the preservation and continuation of successful family businesses.

Christiane Dethleffsen

HGDF Familienholding GmbH & Co. KG

The WIFU Foundation enables the further development and transformation of family businesses by researching and communicating differences.
Our network dialogue, based on openness and trust, also generates a multi-perspectivity which can unleash its own dynamics and lead to unique solutions.

Martin Krengel

WEPA SE

The WIFU Foundation brings together entrepreneurs, companies and families. The pragmatic, open and trusting collaboration between the WIFU Foundation, researchers, other Circle of Trust members and us is something that won't be found quickly with a consulting firm or other networks.

Friedrich P. Kötter

KÖTTER GmbH & Co. KG

The WIFU Foundation stands out like no other institution in Germany when it comes to promoting education, science, and research in the field of family business. Furthermore, the regular events encourage networking between businesses and entrepreneurs. This exchange among like-minded individuals is so valuable because family businesses operate significantly differently from capital market-driven companies.

Florian Rehm

Entrepreneur and Chairman of the Supervisory Board Mast-Jägermeister SE

The WIFU Foundation is our trusted place for exchanging ideas on all matters relating to business and family, as well as a valuable scientific sparring partner – with practical relevance – for a wide range of topics within our corporate group.

Andreas Krengel

Board Member of the WEPA Group

The combination of a scientific perspective on the peculiarities of family businesses, coupled with a great platform for trustworthy exchange among them, makes the WIFU Foundation particularly special to me. This fosters mutual learning and strengthens family businesses, which are so important to our national economy.

Claus Heinemann

Member of the Management Board of Gebr. Heinemann SE & Co. KG

The themes and challenges faced by long-established family businesses are remarkably similar. This is a realisation one gains every time they take the time to attend an event organised by the WIFU Foundation. There, you meet fascinating, mostly modest personalities from the business world (keyword: Hidden Champions), who are not often heard of in public but have a great deal of valuable information to share. For a medium-sized international trading house like ours, spontaneous encounters and exchanges outside the set agenda are particularly valuable.

Kim Höhne, née Kirchhoff

Member of the shareholder circle and 5th generation of the KIRCHHOFF GROUP and 4th generation and Managing Director within the Lobbe Group

The WIFU Foundation facilitates valuable exchange among family business members, for family business members, through the design and scientifically sound moderation of diverse event formats. From the MidGen working group, I always gain exciting impulses for individual tasks and reflections on my own role in businesses and families.

Christoph Harras-Wolff

Managing Director of Dr. August Wolff GmbH & Co. KG

Die WIFU-Stiftung stellt sich mit ihrer wissenschaftlichen Expertise den Fragen und Bedürfnissen von Familienunternehmen und greift dabei Themen auf, die einerseits auf den Erfahrungen aus den Fragestellungen der letzten 20 Jahre beruhen, andererseits Themen, die bereits hochaktuell sind oder absehbar werden und ist somit ein verlässlicher Seismograph für Familienunternehmen und Unternehmerfamilien. Wir unterstützen deshalb seit Jahren die Arbeit der WIFU-Stiftung.

Dr Manfred Wittenstein

Owner and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of WITTENSTEIN SE

The successful handover to the next generation is a major and often underestimated challenge for a family business. The WIFU Foundation performs an important task for our society by analysing the succession process in theory and supporting it in practice. Personally, I am very grateful to the WIFU Foundation for this.