#1/24 Let’s go – Issue 1 is here!

Once a month, bcause co-founder and managing director Felix Oldenburg shares his thoughts and food for thought on the small and big questions surrounding generosity, our relationship with money, and the many people and organizations that want to improve our world.

Dear readers,

is there really a need for another newsletter? Yes, because I feel there is far too little food for thought on the – sometimes uncomfortable and often very personal – questions surrounding generosity, our relationship with money, and the many people and organizations that want to improve our world.

How much and to whom should I give? Who else is doing it? Why me, when there is the state and much wealthier people? And what does "giving" actually mean today when it can also be about impact investing and returns?

It is a vast field in which I would like to offer orientation and also a bit of food for discussion. Find out for yourself, subscribe and recommend. I'm glad you're on board.

Best regards, Yours Felix

A number that sticks in your mind: 12 percent

This is the decline in the volume of donations in 2023 according to a press release from the German Donations Council (Deutscher Spendenrat e.V.) from February. Most commentaries explain this using economic uncertainty (more on this in the last part of the newsletter) - I am not convinced. If you exclude the special effects of some disasters, the number of donors has been falling for many years, and their average age has been rising. NGOs must ask themselves the uncomfortable question of what a more convincing offer of meaning could look like for a younger generation.

After all, if a car manufacturer sells fewer cars, we don't look for the responsibility with the customers, but with the company.

A person who inspires me: Janina Breitling

The founder of nookees, an innovative click-in period underwear. And part of a new generation of entrepreneurs who are tirelessly searching for ways to make a positive contribution to society with their business.

Janina's mission: end Period Poverty. Because: “In the Global South, young girls and women are often unable to participate in public life and/or go to school because they do not have menstrual products. Consequently, they miss a large part of their education, and their future prospects are drastically reduced.” With a share of the sales from purchases via the nookees online shop, Janina therefore supports effective organizations in this field.

Fortunately, Janina is not alone. Almost every day I see examples of small and micro-entrepreneurs who incorporate social commitment right from the very start. And who see their target group not just as customers, but as co-creators of their mission. What we hear from them time and again: An online foundation is exactly the uncomplicated impact vehicle I was looking for to support my involvement. I would be delighted to hear from anyone who would like to find out more about the individual possibilities of corporate involvement on bcause.

An idea to ponder “Fear vs Hope”

Larry Fink's 2024 letter makes me think.

The Blackrock CEO's letter to CEOs has become one of the most important annual thought provokers. Whatever you think about the world's largest asset manager, the last letters have effectively encouraged the investment world towards sustainable and impact investments.

This year, it's about an even more fundamental question: Why are fewer and fewer people investing for the long term in the first place? Fink answers with a number that makes me think: “Four-in-10 Americans say it’s hard to have hope for the world”.

Whether it's saving for retirement or making investments that will only pay off for the planet in decades to come: to commit money in the long term, you first need hope that it can be worth it at all.

We need to shift our focus away from the ups and downs of the financial markets and the daily crises and towards the big topics that we can now predict with great certainty: "We KNOW that cleantech investments pay off multiple times over compared to the subsequent costs of climate change. We KNOW that donations to effective health projects save millions of children's lives. We KNOW that direct cash transfers, especially to women, reduce extreme poverty.”

How do we turn a perception of petty uncertainty into a belief that we can make a difference on a grand scale?

For me, Vaclav Havel gave the best answer: “Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.”