Transparency and finances
Transparency International Deutschland e.V.
There are no uniform disclosure requirements for non-profit organizations in Germany. Anyone working for the common good should nevertheless tell the community exactly what goals the organization is pursuing, where the funds come from, how they are used and who the decision-makers are.
At Transparency International Deutschland e.V., numerous actors from civil society and academia have defined ten basic points that every civil society organization should make accessible to the public. These include: the articles of association, the names of key decision-makers and information on the source of funds, use of funds and personnel structure.
Signatories to the initiative voluntarily undertake to publish these ten pieces of information on their own website in an easily accessible form. Burundikids e.V. participates in this initiative.
1. Name, registered office, address and year of foundation
Burundikids e.V.
Agrippinawerft 6, 50678 Köln
Founded in 2003 in Euskirchen, Cologne Register of Associations VR 19365
Contact person: Harald Ernst, harald.ernst@burundikids.org
2. Statutes and information on the objectives of burundikids
to the statutes (PDF) (DE) from Nov. 2021
Burundikids e.V. is a non-profit, denominationally and politically independent
independent association, which was founded in 2003 by the architect
Martina Wziontek. Its partner in Burundi is the local
local organization Fondation Stamm. Its director Verena
Stamm, who has lived in Burundi since 1972, and her team ensure
that funding and donations flow directly and without detours
flow directly into the project work. To date, this has enabled schools, children’s homes, a hospital
with a modern operating theater and laboratory, as well as various microeconomic
projects have been realized. A team of volunteer helpers
ensures and documents the association’s successes.
BURUNDI KIDS deliberately focuses its work on supporting the independence of particularly disadvantaged people. The promotion of girls and young women, health, education, child protection, women’s rights and combating poverty are the overarching goals of the practical work on the ground. Many of the young people supported in the past are now actively involved in the aid projects. The idea of helping people to help themselves is thus also visible to outsiders and sponsors of the initiatives.
3. Information on tax concessions
The association Burundikids e.V. (tax no. 214/5851/0819) is recognized as serving directly charitable purposes according to the exemption notice of the Cologne-Altstadt tax office dated 08.10.2021 on the basis of the promotion of public health care and education and vocational training and is exempt from corporation tax for 2019 in accordance with Section 5 (1) No. 9 of the Corporation Tax Act and from trade tax in accordance with Section 3 No. 6 of the Trade Tax Act.
4. Name and function of key decision-makers
Chairwoman: Martina Wziontek
Deputy Chairwoman: Gabriele Hahn
Treasurer: Bärbel Zimmermann
Secretary: Harald Ernst
The association is represented by the chairperson, the deputy chairperson and the treasurer, each by two persons acting jointly.
5. Activity report
see the annual and financial reports (DE) of previous years.
6. Personnel structure
- Board and all association members work on a voluntary basis
- Since 1.02.2015: a permanent employee in Germany for communication, fundraising and project management
- The working group in Karlsruhe works on a voluntary basis
7/8. Information on the source of funds / use of funds
- For a detailed list of the source and use of funds, see the 2023 Annual Report (DE) (page 29 ff.).
- In addition to private donations, the proceeds from various events organized by our supporters contribute to our donations.
- Products from Burundi are sold in our Etsy store. We also run an online shop in which symbolic items are sold.
Current assets at the end of 2022:
| Account | 1.1.2021 | 31.12.2021 |
| Cash on hand | 715,16 EUR | 1099,91 EUR |
| GLS …100 | 84433,73 EUR | 118688,73 EUR |
| GLS …101 | 53700,00 EUR | 53700,00 EUR |
| GLS …102 | 13084,22 EUR | 12442,84 EUR |
| GLS …103 | 14226,49 EUR | 6986,39 EUR |
| Paypal | 8163,17 EUR | 2901,39 EUR |
9. Corporate affiliation with third parties
There are no contractual relationships with third parties that have a significant influence on decisions made by our organization.
10. Grants higher than 10%
The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) is supporting the development of agricultural cooperatives in northern Burundi with EUR 147,817.00 in 2021.
WHY WE DO NOT USE THE DZI SEAL
Burundikids e.V., like several other renowned organizations, has decided to forego the donation seal of the “Deutsches Zentralinstitut für Soziale Fragen” (DZI) foundation. The reasons for this include the high (regular) costs for the seal, the enormous (administrative) effort involved in applying for the seal, which would simply hamper our voluntary work, and the fact that the seal can be applied for despite an administrative cost share of “up to 30 percent”, which we believe is too high.
In addition, Burundikids e.V. conducted a survey among its donors for and against the DZI donation seal. The result was clear: we would do without the expensive and complex seal and use the funds for project work instead.
As a registered association, we comply with all legal (and voluntary) obligations. All information about our work and structure is documented and publicly accessible. We publish our annual reports online. In addition, a tax consultancy firm prepares a separate and independent annual report every year, which is mandatory for associations and is also sent to the tax authorities – as a condition for the regularly renewed exemption certificates. The local court also regularly receives the information required for associations about the administrative work of the association and any changes to the board.
As a self-evident commitment, we are a signatory to the “Transparent Civil Society Initiative” of Transparency International Germany.
FINANCES & REPORTS
In the annual reports, you can follow the development of our non-profit organization – from the history of our projects to an overview of the annual donations and how they are used.
Older annual reports on request post@burundikids.org
