Statutes
Dr. Birk Foundation

Preamble

Everyone has the right to education and the free exercise of religion, as set out in Articles 18 and 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the UN Charter. In accordance with their fundamental rights, all dimensions of education should be open to all people, taking into account their abilities and achievements, and should enable them to fully develop their personality.

Education, as it is understood here, aims to enable people to live a life of self-determination, to lay the foundation for lifelong learning, to lead a life as economically independent as possible through career choice and integration into the labour market, and to anchor meaning and orientation towards humane, peaceful, and responsible coexistence in the horizon of life through integration into a proven tradition of religion and wisdom.

The Founder, Dr. Manfred Birk worked for several years as a development aid worker in various countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. During this work, his basic conviction matured that education in the comprehensive sense described above is a decisive prerequisite for breaking the obvious interrelationship between ignorance, dependency, poverty, violence, and abuse. With the establishment of the Dr. Birk Foundation, the Founder has taken account of this conviction and the resulting, in his personal view irrefutable, concerns.

The Foundation’s work focuses on the countries of India, Nepal, and Thailand. As in other developing and emerging countries, people here, especially children and young people, are particularly exposed to the impositions of poverty and violence. Children often have to scrape a living as child labourers to ensure their family’s survival. Instead of attending school or pursuing an education and a profession, they work as cheap labour in quarries, factories, brickworks, rice fields, cotton plantations, or on the streets. Or they become victims of child trafficking, one of the worst forms being forced prostitution.

In addition, there is usually a structural lack of spiritual inspiration. In the remote mountainous regions of Nepal or the desperately poor rural areas of India or Thailand, access to knowledge and the practice of spiritual, religious traditions is often difficult or even impossible. In Nepal, severe earthquakes have also destroyed numerous small monasteries, temples, and similar places of practice. Many regions and villages have thus lost their spiritual heart: places (gompas) where lamas perform rituals and ceremonies, where knowledge is transmitted to the practicing layly (ngakpas), or where village assemblies can take place. Therefore, it is a particular concern of the Dr. Birk Foundation to also enable or restore access for affected people to places where their spiritual tradition is in active practice.

§ 1
Name, legal form, registered office

The Foundation bears the name “Dr. Birk Foundation”. It is a foundation having legal capacity under civil law with its registered office in Berlin.

§ 2
Purpose of the Foundation

2.1 Sponsoring foundation

The purpose of the Foundation is the fostering of education, development cooperation and religion, as well as the promotion of charitable purposes. This is to be achieved by providing financial support to individuals, but above all to children and youth, especially in India, Nepal, and Thailand, in exercising their rights to participate in education at all levels and also to participate in the religious knowledge and traditional wisdom of the individual home countries, especially the Buddhist religion, as a sponsoring foundation. Support is provided through financial measures at home and abroad.

2.2 Eligibility for funding

People of all ages in developing and emerging countries who are unable to participate in education due to their economic or social situation, or who find it difficult to do so, are eligible for funding. In particular, it is about their right to participate in

• elementary and primary education,
• technical or vocational training,
• the knowledge of proven religious and wisdom traditions.

2.3 Priorities

The Dr. Birk Foundation sets the following priorities:

• The target group focus is on children and youth;
• - The spiritual focus is on the Buddhist religion;
• - The regional focus is on India, Nepal, and Thailand.

2.4 Realisation of purpose

The Foundation’s purpose is realised in particular through action-related financial contributions to non-profit organisations that have been carrying out operationally proven project work for many years, including in regions and fields corresponding to the purpose of the Dr. Birk Foundation.

These include, among others:

• terre des hommes Deutschland e.V.
  Hilfe für Kinder in Not
  Ruppenkampstraße 11a
  49084 Osnabrück
• Kindernothilfe e.V.
  Düsseldorfer Landstraße 180
  47249 Duisburg
• Plan International Deutschland e.V.
  Bramfelder Straße 70
  22305 Hamburg
• DESWOS e.V.
  Deutsche Entwicklungshilfe für soziales Wohnungs-und Siedlungswesen e.V.
  Innere Kanalstraße 69
  50823 Köln
• Himalaya Hilfe e.V.
  c/o Sabine Wollmann und Ulli Göbel
  Wisentweg 20
  13503 Berlin
• Chogyal Rinpoche Association e.V.
  c/o Dr. E. Steinbauer
  Zossener Str. 40
  10961 Berlin
• Himalaya Haus e.V.
  Gießener Straße 52
  35435 Wettenheim/Gießen
• Sukha e.V.
  Hilfe für Indien und Nepal
  Heyestraße 67
  40625 Düsseldorf
• Dandelion – Hands on Charity International e.V.
  Finsinger Weg 1a
  82008 Unterhaching (München)

The Dr. Birk Foundation supports the following purposes and measures:

2.4.1 Education and fostering of charitable purposes

Charitable purposes and education are fostered by providing financial support for the education and training of individual people in need, in particular by taking on long-term sponsorships.
The focus of the support is on socially or economically particularly disadvantaged children and youth
who

• in economically disadvantaged families or
• as orphans or separated from their families in homes or care facilities or
• as street children or
• in broken families or families with only one parent

have no or only limited access to elementary and primary education, technical or vocational training, or spiritual/religious education.

For these purposes, the Dr. Birk Foundation provides funds for the following measures:

2.4.1.1 School and basic education for children

Despite compulsory schooling, school attendance often fails due to the family’s lack of financial resources.
School fees, educational materials, and class uniforms have to be purchased. Food money, travel expenses, or accommodation costs must also be paid in some cases.
Sustainably invested donations, in particular by taking on educational sponsorships, enable the respective children to receive an assured basic education.

2.4.1.2 Vocational training for youths

During vocational training, youths do not yet have an income and often even have to pay apprenticeship fees.
Grants, in particular by taking on sponsorships for vocational training, help people to take up a profession and stand on their own two feet in the long term.

2.4.1.3 Education in a monastery

Convent schools and monasteries are often the only way to receive an education, in particular for children from very poor families,. The respective monastery also provides the nuns and monks with all the necessities of life, such as accommodation, meals, and clothing.
Sustainably invested donations, in particular through sponsorships for individual nuns and monks, help to ensure that the respective monastery can fulfill these tasks.

2.4.2 Education and promotion of development cooperation

The promotion of development cooperation and education takes the form of grants or loans for projects that give people the structural prospect of sustainably improving their living conditions.
For these purposes, the Dr. Birk Foundation provides funds for the following measures:

2.4.2.1 Education infrastructure

Projects to improve the infrastructure of the education system that
- create, re-establish or expand places of knowledge transfer (e.g. kindergartens, schools, training centres),
- enable or improve the work of teaching staff (e.g. teachers, trainers, coaches) or
- create, prepare, or provide teaching materials (analog or electronic) appropriate to the target group.

2.4.2.2 Vocational training

Projects to support vocational education and training that help people to qualify their workforce and integrate into existing or new labour markets.

2.4.2.3 Entrepreneurial self-employment

Projects to promote self-employment that support people in earning their own living independently and on their own responsibility.

2.4.3 Education and fostering of religion

The fostering of religion and education takes place through donations for events, materials, or facilities for spiritual/religious teachings, in particular within the Buddhist religion.

For these purposes, the Dr. Birk Foundation provides funds for the following measures:

2.4.3.1 Places for religious practice

Construction, expansion, maintenance, or establishment of sites for the transmission of religious knowledge and wisdom; these include temples, gompas, meditation sites, as well as buildings, facilities, or relics with sacred significance.

2.4.3.2 Events

Organisation of courses, lectures, or exhibitions serving the study and practice of spiritual development.

2.4.3.3 Teaching staff

Recruitment and support of religious, especially Buddhist, teaching staff.

2.4.3.4 Knowledge transfer

Grants for knowledge transfer projects through which supra-regionally significant spiritual scriptures or bodies of knowledge are made more accessible to the general public (also interculturally). This includes, for example, the establishment and maintenance of media libraries, the preparation and realisation of publications, or the translation of important texts not yet available in any European language.

2.5 There is no legal entitlement to the allocation of foundation funds.

2.6 The Foundation pursues exclusively and immediately charitable or benevolent purposes within the meaning of the section “Tax-privileged purposes” of the German Tax Code.

2.7 The Foundation is selflessly active. It does not primarily pursue own economic purposes. Unless specified in these Statutes, the Executive Board shall decide how the Foundation’s purpose is to be realised in detail. This must not jeopardise the Foundation’s tax shield.

§ 3
Foundation assets

3.1 The Foundation’s assets consist of the assets donated to it by the Founder in the foundation transaction. Endowments are permitted. The basic assets must be maintained undiminished. Reallocation of assets is permitted.

3.2 Only the use of the endowment assets and any donations may be used to fulfil the purpose of the Foundation, unless these are intended as endowments to increase the endowment assets. The Foundation may also allocate donations without a specific purpose to the basic assets on the basis of a disposition upon death and free reserves within the meaning of Section 62 (1) No. 3 AO. In addition, surpluses from asset reallocations may be used both to increase the capital stock and to fulfill the purpose of the Foundation while ensuring the preservation of the basic assets. The formation of reserves is permitted, provided that this does not impair the tax concessions of the Foundation.

3.3 The Foundation’s funds may only be used for statutory purposes. No person may benefit from expenses that are alien to the purpose of the Foundation, or from disproportionately high remuneration.

3.4 The Founder and his heirs shall not receive any benefits from the Foundation’s funds.

§ 4
Financial year

The Foundation’s financial year is the calendar year.

§ 5
Executive Board

5.1 The sole governing body of the Foundation is the Executive Board.

5.2 The Executive Board consists of one person.

5.3 The founding Executive Board is appointed by the Founder in the foundation transaction. Subsequent board members shall be appointed by the founding Executive Board or by Landesbank Berlin AG / Berliner Sparkasse after the founding Executive Board leaves office or if the founding Executive Board does not make an appointment upon leaving office.

5.4 The term of office of the Executive Board is five years. Reappointment is permissible. In deviation from this, the founding Executive Board is appointed for life. Otherwise, the Executive Board shall continue in office after expiry of the term of office until its reappointment or until the successor takes office.

§ 6
Tasks of the Executive Board

6.1 The Executive Board represents the Foundation in and out of court. It has the status of a legal representative. In this capacity, the Executive Board is exempt from the restrictions of § 181 BGB.

6.2 The Executive Board manages the Foundation in accordance with the Foundation Statutes. In doing so, it must fulfill the will of the Founder as effectively and sustainably as possible. The Executive Board may use the services of third parties to fulfil individual tasks. For its activities, the Executive Board receives an annual expense allowance of 0.4% p.a. of the Foundation’s total assets plus VAT, the Foundation’s funds permitting.

6.3 The Executive Board is only personally liable for damage caused to the Foundation in the course of its work as a Board member through intent or gross negligence.

6.4 The resolutions of the Executive Board must be documented in writing and retained.

§ 7
Management of the Foundation

7.1 The Foundation’s income and expenditure must be recorded and the receipts collected. At the end of each financial year, statements of the Foundation’s income and expenditure and its assets as well as a report on the fulfilment of the Foundation’s purpose shall be prepared.

7.2 The Executive Board shall examine and adopt the statements referred to in paragraph 7.1 sentence 2 as an annual report.

§ 8
Dissolution or annulment of the Foundation

8.1 If the Foundation is dissolved or annulled or if its tax-privileged purposes cease to exist, its assets shall be transferred to a legal entity under public law or another tax-privileged corporation for the purpose of supporting directly and exclusively charitable purposes within the meaning of § 2 of these Statutes, or purposes that come as close as possible to these. The decision to dissolve the Foundation requires the approval of the regulatory authority. In the event that the Foundation is dissolved, the details of the Foundation’s assets shall be determined by the Executive Board.

8.2 The resolution on the determination of the beneficiary of the Foundation’s assets requires the approval of the responsible tax office to be effective.

§ 9
State supervision

9.1 The Foundation is subject to state supervision in Berlin in accordance with the provisions of the Berlin Foundation Act.

9.2 Pursuant to § 8 StiftG Bln, the Executive Board is obliged

a. to notify the regulatory authority without delay of the respective composition of the Executive Board, to provide evidence (certificates of appointment, declarations of acceptance or resignation, or other evidence) and to disclose the address of the Foundation and the residential address of the Executive Board;

b. to submit to the regulatory authority the annual report resolved in accordance with § 7 paragraph 7.2; this should be done within six months of the end of the financial year; the resolution of the Executive Board must be attached.

9.3 Resolutions on amendments to the Statutes, the dissolution of the Foundation or its transfer to or merger with another foundation require the approval of the regulatory authority.

§ 10
Validity of statutory provisions

Insofar as nothing is stipulated in these Statutes, the provisions of §§ 80 ff. BGB and the Berlin Foundation Act, as amended, shall also apply.

§ 11
Entry into force of the Statutes

The Statutes shall enter into force upon recognition of the Foundation as having legal capacity by the competent regulatory authority.