The Foundation
The Dewender‑Stiftung was established in 2012 by Norbert Dewender as a legally independent civil-law foundation in Wachtendonk. At the time of its establishment, it was endowed with initial capital of EUR 50,000. Its purpose is to support young people and to strengthen education, cultural participation, sport and civic engagement in the region.
The foundation supports projects, institutions, and initiatives in its core areas of support:
- Education – especially school-based and extracurricular educational support
- Upbringing & Training – support for young people on their educational journey
- Arts & Culture – cultural programmes, artistic activities and local cultural work
- Sport – support for community sports, youth sports and club sports
- Civic Engagement – initiatives that strengthen social cohesion
The Dewender-Stiftung is primarily active in the municipality of Wachtendonk. In the field of education, it cooperates with universities in the Lower Rhine and in Aachen.
As a grant-making foundation, the Dewender Foundation supports a manageable number of carefully selected projects, often over several years. At present, no open calls for applications are being issued. The board identifies suitable projects independently or receives recommendations from its network. The aim is to enable sustainable development and to take responsibility in a reliable manner.
The foundation is led by a sole voluntary board member. It is subject to supervision by the Düsseldorf District Government, which monitors the lawful, secure, and sustainable fulfilment of the foundation’s purpose. It is listed in the North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry of the Interior’s foundation register.
The foundation is also firmly rooted in the region: the municipality of Wachtendonk lists the Dewender Foundation on its website under Life & Social Affairs > Partners & Associations > Foundations.
Transparency is a core principle of the foundation’s work. Key figures, statutes, official notices, and annual reports are publicly accessible.
The Dewender Foundation operates entirely on a voluntary basis and without its own office. The vast majority of available funds goes directly toward fulfilling its charitable funding purposes.
Administrative costs arise only to the extent necessary for proper, legally compliant, and transparent foundation work, for example general administrative and safeguarding costs of the foundation.
The Dewender-Stiftung sees itself as an expression of independent, self-funded and long-term commitment.
We are a comparatively small foundation within the German foundation landscape and focus on reliable, targeted support locally.