#3/24 with the reformed Klarna founder, Melinda Gates and the generosity epidemic

Dear Readers,

It feels hip and hygge at the Norrsken House in Stockholm. Niklas Adalberth proudly guides me and the other advisory board members of the Federal Government for Social Innovations around and explains how he ensures that there are three times more applications than places for the co-working space. Everyone in startup Scandinavia knows Niklas.

The founder of Klarna established a foundation with 125 million euros to support impact enterprises in Europe and Africa. He was 34 years old then and was no longer sure whether he had been "net positive" for the world so far. Eight years later, his "New Giving" is already having an impact. Three-quarters of Swedish startups say they work primarily for a better world.

I am sure this is due to role models like him. What do you think, who will be the German Niklas Adalberth?

Best regards, Felix

A number that sticks in your mind

12.5 billion euros additional funding for women's organizations worldwide. That is far more than all German foundations spend on grants. With her departure from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Melinda French Gates has secured a "golden handshake" for women's issues around the globe today is her last day of work at the foundation. In one fell swoop, she now wants to support organizations that are defying the trend of restricting women's rights, such as reproductive self-determination, or weakening women's opportunities, for example in political participation. She does this not only through major donations, but also through investments and political work from her fund Pivotal Ventures. Is there such a thing as divorcee philanthropy?

A person who inspires me: Zarah Bruhn. 

Zarah brought us together as the Advisory Board for Social Innovations; she is the Federal Government's first commissioner for the topic with the cumbersome name. With the other 100% of her time, she runs socialbee. The flagship social enterprise, honored by Ashoka among others, brings companies and refugees together. In the current legislative period, the 33-year-old has only a good year left to ensure that a future government cannot avoid promoting social entrepreneurship. I will leave it to her to share what we came up with in Stockholm - it is worthy of all support!

An idea to think further: Infectious Generosity.

TED founder Chris Anderson has written (yet) another book. This time, the title fascinated me immediately. No one knows better how "ideas worth spreading" (the TED slogan) work. And he believes he has found the most important idea that must spread unpredictably: "

Infectious Generosity is the idea that through the power of the internet, small acts of thoughtfulness spread to change lives at a scale never experienced before."

I noticed a small example of this in recent days: Paul Huizing founded the small online foundation Pabinoki Foundation with his family. He collects donations from his network, now also for every goal scored at the European Football Championship. Simple and personal, that's the start of a small epidemic.