How we work - „Ein Herz für Kinder“

Every cent of your donation is used for directly funding aid projects for children. That is the central promise of BILD hilft e.V. „Ein Herzfür Kinder”. To ensure that this is fulfilled, the association has subjected itself to strict rules. And every year all income and expenditure is examined by an auditor. Below you can read about the most important questions and answers concerning audits and the use to which the donations are put.

WHO AUDITS THE ASSOCIATION?

All expenditure is set out in an annual report audited in detail by theHamburg firm Stiehler-Vietzen-Nolte-Burgmann, which specializes in the lawgoverning non-profit organisations. This reportis then submitted to the tax office for Hamburg-Nord (tax number 17/400/03832),which then certifies the association’s charitable status with a valid notice ofexemption pursuant to sections 52 ff. of the German Tax Code (Abgabenordnung) –most recently on 2 March 2016.

WHO BEARS THE CURRENT EXPENSES?

The personnel expenses and administrative costs incurred by „Ein Herz für Kinder” are covered by a large donation from AxelSpringer SE and the interest earned on this according to size. We can therefore channel every single cent of your donation straight to fund children’s aid projects.

HOW HIGH ARE CURRENT EXPENSES?

The personnel expenses and administrative costs amounted to a total of € 799.678 in 2019, which corresponds to an administrativecost ratio of 3,1 per cent in relation to the donations received in 2019.

WHO PAYS THE MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL?

All five members of the Executive Council and the Board of Trustees work on an honorary basis.

WHAT HAPPENS TO THE DONATED FUNDS?

BILD hilft e.V. “Ein Herz für Kinder” uses the funds collected every year during the TV gala along with other donations primarily to finance projects in Germany. Further funds are used to finance international children’s aid projects, which are usually carried out by reputable partner organisations working internationally on their own responsibility. When they apply for the funds, the project partners already have to make a written commitment to disclose their cost and investment schedules in detail and to submit regular progress reports showing the success of the projects and the effects achieved. The funds collected every year during the TV gala along with other donations are used within one year to fund the projects and cases supported by “Ein Herz für Kinder”.

WHO DECIDES ON THE DISTRIBUTION?

Every day „Ein Herz für Kinder” receives dozens of requests for funds from projects all over the world. Each individual request is subjected to an examination procedure. On this basis, the association’s Executive Council then decides how the donated funds are to be distributed.

The charter of the BILD hilft e.V. associationas a download

Transparency and control

We are committed to the efficient and transparent treatment of the donated funds entrusted to us. In view of this commitment, BILD hilft e. V. has installed various control and monitoring mechanisms, for instance in the form of guidelines, work instructions and compliance standards. We therefore for example invariably request informative documents and performance reports from the project organisers and the fund recipients on the basis of detailed check lists in order to ensure that the aid money is used for its intended purpose and every cent of your donation reaches the children’s aid projects that we support.

In 2013, the association’s Executive Council also issued an anti-corruption handbook and introduced a notification system for reporting breaches of the code of conduct, the internal guidelines or the statutory provisions – also anonymously if necessary.

The anti-corruption officer is:

Florian von Götz
Chief Compliance Officer
Axel Springer SE
Axel-Springer-Straße 65
10888 Berlin

Guidelines forcombatting corruption as a download

The data protection officer is:

Andreas Macke
Betrieblicher Datenschutzbeauftragter
andreas.macke@axelspringer.de
Axel Springer SE
Axel-Springer-Straße 65
10888 Berlin

BILD hilft e.V. has been a member of Deutscher Spendenrat e.V. (the German Donations Council) since 16 June 2016.

Deutscher Spendenrat e.V. is the non-profit umbrella organisation of non-profit organisations that collect donations. Its member organisations providing help and assistance in many different areas of social life have been working to increase the transparency of German fundraising activities for more than 20 years. Deutscher Spendenrat e.V. has defined a set of ethical principles for fundraising with which its members have undertaken to comply with through a voluntary Declaration of Commitment. The high standards are bound by including the greatest possible degree of transparency, efficiency and sustainability in the handling of donations. Its members in particular undertake to disclose their structures, activities, projects and finances in an annual report. This is also intended to represent a stand against excessive administrative costs and unfair fundraising, not least in order to preserve and encourage people’s willingness to donate in order to support good causes.

To guarantee transparency, you can find here a breakdown of the income and expenses according to areas (in a similar way to the segment accounting of Deutscher Spendenrat e.V.).

In accordance with point 7 of the voluntary declaration of commitment towards Deutscher Spendenrat e.V., BILD hilft e.V. guarantees the following:

We will not carry out any advertising that offends against accepted standards of public decency and honest practices.
We will not carry out any membership recruitment or fundraising with gifts, benefits or the promise or grant of any other advantages which are not directly connected with the purpose set out in the charter or which are disproportionately expensive.
We will refrain from selling, hiring out or exchanging the addresses of members or donors and will not offer or pay any commission for the seeking of donations, in accordance with the principles of Deutscher Spendenrat e.V.

Moreover, the Hamburg firm Stiehler-Vietzen-Nolte-Burgmann confirms the following: “My audit has not produced any findings which, in my opinion, indicate any violation of the Voluntary Declaration of Commitment insofar as this concerns the accounting of the association BILD hilft e.V.” (Ulf Nolte, auditor)