2/26 Get on board instead of getting out! My climate list
Hello! You are reading Das Neue Geben currently with 5,666 others. 📖 This Friday, February 27, 2026 issue has approximately 2,230 words · reading time ~9 minutes
I was pleased to receive so much positive feedback on this expanded newsletter - and will keep going. My essay is called Empathy instead of Outrage and is an exploration of the temptation to withdraw in light of the current world situation. To counter this, at the end of the newsletter, I list organizations that are fighting climate change smartly. And I celebrate someone who found the right words for today 100 years ago.
✍️ ESSAY: Getting in instead of getting out.
Children at a train station in the morning sun 463 million euros less. A nine percent decline in private donations in Germany last year, to the lowest level since 2013. 848,000 fewer people who donated at all. This is a quiet disaster. Because the numbers do not just measure money. They measure connection. Anyone who donates says: I am part of something bigger. Anyone who stops says: I'm out. And I can understand it.
The exit It is tempting to withdraw right now. And it is only too understandable. Because the others are doing it too. Companies are rolling up their ESG promises. Governments are cutting development aid and climate protection. Even democracy seems to be withdrawing from its own defense: it cannot create its own prerequisites, as Böckenförde taught. But it can indeed abolish them.
In the media public, you can only lose anyway. In a media Trumpism in which everything can be claimed without having to prove it, silence is the rational strategy. Make yourself less vulnerable. Step out.
This is especially true for those who could give more. Because they are under observation. Viewed with suspicion by the majority of society as "the rich". Put under moral pressure from their own camp with campaigns like taxmenow. Locked between successful predecessor generations whose wealth fuels expectations, and a successor generation that does not know how high the firewall of their own wealth needs to be to protect against a hostile world. The retreat into the private sphere is more than a reflex. It is a protection program.
The outrage But the more people withdraw into their own little bubbles, the easier the logic of escalating outrage over the Others has it. You don't see them anymore. And that then hits the remaining committed people.
How dangerous this is has just been impressively traced by the “Alliance for Legal Certainty in Political Will-Formation”. A year after the minor inquiry with which the CDU and CSU specifically targeted 17 non-profit organizations in February 2025, the balance sheet is shocking: 314 parliamentary inquiries against committed associations last year – one per business day, 94 percent of them from the AfD. The number has nearly doubled compared to the previous year, and tenfold in individual federal states. 30,000 associations now remain silent on political issues, also for fear of losing their non-profit status. Small initiatives against right-wing extremism had to stop their work after funding was cut under the pretext of a lack of "neutrality". The mechanism is always the same, and it is well documented internationally: defamation, defunding, delegalization.
(I discussed this for the Club Neues Geben with Hanna Gleiß and Rupert Strachwitz – the corresponding podcast episode will be released next week, ending the winter and thinking break)
The entry What is the answer to this? Perhaps surprising: I do not believe that sticking to the democracy and sustainability rhetoric of the last twenty years helps. Not because the values are wrong. But because the populists win the debate about the more beautiful past – with a nostalgia that cannot be outdone by appeals to the rules-based order. Anyone who says "There used to be more ESG" has already lost.
Instead: Forward. Three words that describe entry for me.
Empathy. In his recently published book "Love! An Appeal", Daniel Schreiber describes how powerlessness has become the basic political feeling of our time – and why the retreat into the private sphere cannot be a solution. His counter-design: love as a political practice, in the sense of Hannah Arendt and Erich Fromm. Not as a naive feeling, but as an attitude that deprives hate of its foundation. Translated into the language of giving, this means: empathy instead of outrage. Do not moralize, but try to understand. Do not accuse, but build bridges – also and especially to those who are currently withdrawing.
Entrepreneurship. Not the distribution battle over the shrinking cake. But a courageous reinvention. A debate on how we respond to climate change without relying on state bans. How we live democracy locally, even if there should be an AfD in the federal government. How we scale solidarity when the state generation contract no longer pays off. This is not libertarianism. This is the realization that private initiative and public action must complement each other – and that the private side is particularly in demand right now because the public side is weakening.
Experimentation. Entrepreneurship researcher Saras Sarasvathy has described how, at the beginning of their founding phase, entrepreneurs usually do not have a clear picture of the path they are taking. She calls this "Effectuation": You do not start with a grand plan, but with what you have – your own abilities, your own network, your own willingness to fail. And shape something new out of it. This is also the right attitude for giving in a world where nobody can claim to have the perfect plan anymore.
The epidemic Doing nothing is contagious. We know this from donation research, from psychology, from our own experience. If everyone around me stops, why should I, of all people, keep going?
But action is too. When it becomes visible.
The average donation per donation act rose to 46 euros last year – a record high. Those who give, give with more conviction. The 40 to 49-year-olds increased their average donation amount by 28 percent. So it exists, the counter-current. It is just still too quiet.
That is why the fourth E is perhaps the most important: Epidemic. An epidemic of action. Giving that shows itself. Not as self-promotion, but as a signal: I am still here. I am still responsible. Founding a foundation and talking about it. Starting a Giving Circle and inviting others. Committing to a pledge, even if you don't know exactly where to go yet. It doesn't have to be mountains that are moved. Pebbles are enough. But pebbles that can be seen.
Getting in instead of getting out. Right now.
Club Neues Geben
Effective giving is a complex and personal task. The Club Neues Geben offers orientation and guidance through networking. No expensive consulting. No fundraising. Instead, personal experiences and knowledge.
The other day, someone in the group asked: “Can I actually collect donations even though the foundation process is still ongoing?” A group of startup visionaries wanted to build a non-profit subsidiary for the IE.F (Internet Economy Foundation) to stand up for Europe's technological sovereignty. But how can they accept the major donations that have already been promised if it is unclear how long the foundation process will take? The solution was simple: The managing director launched the Innovate Europe Foundation on bcause in the summer of 2025, so that donation receipts could be issued for donations in this tax year. The gUG of the same name was just recognized, and he can call up the funds he needs now. (The rest remains and generates regular yields in the bcause account.)
Is there an impact project in your environment that would like to collect donations already in the idea or founding phase?
An idea to think further
In the last newsletter, I asked for ideas for my list of organizations with smart work in the climate sector. And I received many. Special thanks go to Judith Hartmann, Active Philanthropy (and their Climate Solutions Hub) and Bastian Guenther.
As always, these are not recommendations researched objectively against a specific impact standard, but simply a personal selection of organizations that have impressed me recently.
GermanZero ensures that climate protection is not just promised, but written into law. With concrete legislative proposals and a lot of voluntary commitment, the initiative puts cities and the federal government on a clear course toward climate neutrality – so that goals become binding rules.
Green Legal Impact fights in court for clean air, clean water, and real climate protection. When laws are disregarded, the organization helps those affected and initiatives to enforce their rights – and shows: environmental law is not a paper tiger.
AMES Foundation supports projects that let nature flourish again. Whether forests, soils, or coastal regions – the foundation helps regenerate damaged ecosystems and combines environmental protection with new perspectives for local people.
Urgewald looks where others look away: at the money flows behind coal, oil, and gas. With persistent research, the organization makes visible who finances climate destruction – and moves banks and investors to rethink.
Gesunde Erde, gesunde Menschen shows that environmental destruction affects all of us – specifically our health. The organization advocates that politics and business think about environmental and health protection together.
Mission 1: The Shield (Capacity.eco) protects natural areas that can store particularly large amounts of CO₂. The initiative makes climate protection tangible by supporting projects that preserve forests, soils, or other ecosystems – and thus have a long-term impact.
Generation Restoration invests in projects that strengthen nature and communities simultaneously. Whether in particularly vulnerable regions or in crisis areas – the foundation helps rebuild livelihoods and enable a future.
Mission: Wertvoll by Maja Göpel invites us to rethink wealth and responsibility. With impulses, talks, and educational offers, the initiative encourages shaping economy and society more sustainably.
Pro Ocean collects plastic waste where it would enter the sea. At the same time, the organization creates fair local jobs – and thus combines active environmental protection with social impact.
Mission to Marsh is committed to the protection and revival of moors. Because moors are real climate protectors – if they stay wet. The initiative works with farmers so that drained areas become living landscapes once again.
A number that sticks in your mind 5%
And because the best business in economic history is lurking in the area of climate change, if you factor in the costs of inaction, smart work can also pay off. Please excuse the advertising for bcause, which is otherwise rare in this newsletter, but it simply belongs here.
From the bcause account, you can not only donate but also invest. Also in companies that drive smart climate solutions forward. Now this has become particularly easy because in our asset investment “bcause impact” we invest in some funds that would not be open to smaller sums at all. Here you can finance leading funds like Planet A, Norrsken Accelerate Impact, and Carbon Equity with any amounts. The returns then land back in the bcause account and can be donated further or reinvested. And 5% is our target yield, which we have even been able to exceed so far.
A person who inspires me Khalil Gibran
“Is your hunger never sated? Is your thirst never quenched?” – “Yes, I am full, I am tired of eating and drinking; but I fear that tomorrow there will be no more earth to eat and no more sea to drink.”
So begins the Lebanese-US poet, philosopher, and painter Khalil Gibran his poem “The Plutocrat”. 100 years ago! And I found no better words to write in my Handelsblatt column (“What is enough? Three models of how the rich give up their money”) about the question of what is actually “enough”. And I describe three models with which well-known people make decisions about the proportion of their wealth they want to use for good causes.
Offer for non-profit organizations
bcause enables non-profit organizations to collect donations digitally and generate interest, manage them centrally, and retrieve them with pinpoint accuracy. Fundraising and the use of funds no longer work separately, but hand in hand.
An example: The Learning Lions. A campus set up a few hours outside Nairobi (Kenya) to give children skills they need in the globalized world: programming, website design, project management. They use bcause as an organization because of the easy integration of the donation form and the low costs. Recently there was a worth-watching report on ARD Weltspiegel about the organization.
🗓️ Partner News and Dates
📚 Multi-Capital Strategies for Wealthy Individuals Club Neues Geben partner Dr. Falko Paetzold from CSP Global offers international courses for philanthropic strategies, including “Introduction to Multicapital Strategies” on May 2 in St. Gallen and “Investing for Systems Change” on May 4-6 in Zurich. Find out more
💻 Threats to Democracy: How political can and must philanthropy be? Club Neues Geben Masterclass with Tim Göbel (Schöpflin Foundation) and Dr. Maximilian Oehl (Brand New Bundestag, Media Force) on April 13, 2026, 12:00-13:00. If interested in these and other Masterclasses, including Dr. Eckart von Hirschhausen and Dr. Maja Göpel: email katharina.bauch@bcause.com.
⛏️ DUG UP
#3/24: “The Generosity Epidemic” (June 2024) About Klarna founder Niklas Adalberth, Melinda Gates, and the question of why generosity is contagious – the direct preliminary history of the “epidemic of action” in the current essay. Read more
#2/24: “Kant and Climate Change” (May 2024) Why climate change is not a moral but an economic reality – and what that means for trust in NGOs and moral purity in non-profit work. Read more
💡 MORE FROM FELIX
🤵 FO Foundation on bcause My own little online foundation has a new focus: climate. See list above. Earlier focus points with recommendations on the topics of poverty, democracy/journalism, development work, nutrition, and feminism can be found here. Next, I am looking for outstanding organizations in the field of education - and look forward to recommendations to fo@bcause.com
📰 Handelsblatt Column “Das Neue Geben”
Feb 11 “What is enough? Three models of how the rich give up their money”
Feb 20 “Epstein shows the cluster risk of billionaires as founders”
📅 Upcoming Appearances:
March 13 ThinkFWD Summit, Bankhaus Hauck Aufhäuser Lampe June 1-3 German Fundraising Congress, Berlin May 21 German Foundation Day, Hamburg July 17 United Philanthropy Forum, Washington DC
Felix Oldenburg is an initiator in the field of social entrepreneurship and foundations. 🔗 Order the book "Der gefesselte Wohlstand" here 🎧 Or as an audiobook while jogging, cooking, driving... 📱On Instagram and LinkedIn for daily thoughts and impulses for discussion.
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Felix Oldenburg CEO bcause · board member gut.org · Author "Der gefesselte Wohlstand"
Newsletter
So much is written. About everything. Except about giving. Every day I meet people who want to and can give more. Ideas and organizations that make a difference.
In my newsletter, I talk about topics that otherwise remain unexplained: Why people give or don't, which paths and wrong turns they take, how the market of giving works - with surprising numbers, inspiring portraits, and provocative ideas.
