Festival 2024 Sponsors

For over 30 years, the Gemeinnützige Treuhandstelle Hamburg e.V. (GTS) has been the driving force behind a large number of social innovations in northern Germany. The GTS is supported by people for whom the cultural impulse of anthroposophy is a central concern.

The GTS is a non-profit association supported in partnership by over 120 member organisations and initiatives in northern Germany. Each member is distinguished by its commitment to different topics.

The GTS was founded in 1984 as the perception and regional organisation of the current GLS Treuhand in Bochum. In addition to the member organisations, the cooperation partners of the GTS are GLS Treuhand in Bochum, GLS Bank in Hamburg and Neuguss GmbH with its subsidiary Stockmar GmbH & Co. KG in Kaltenkirchen.

In addition, there are important network partners involved in adopting, accompanying and supporting regional or thematic projects on a larger scale. These include a large number of anthroposophical foundations in Northern Germany, contacts with politicians, entrepreneurs and private individuals who support the concerns of the GTS.

The Software AG Foundation (SAGST) is an independent non-profit civil-law foundation based in Darmstadt. It was established by computer pioneer Dr. Peter Schnell, who transferred all shares in the company of the same name to the foundation in the 1990s.

Since then, SAGST, which for many years was one of the main shareholders of Software AG but was never a corporate foundation, has provided around 250 beneficial impulses for the further development of people and society every year with the income from its foundation assets, which are now invested in a balanced manner and according to sustainability criteria in real estate, shares and bonds, as well as in corporate investments.

Its financial commitment, which is mainly concentrated in Germany and Europe, includes the financing of projects in the areas of care for the elderly and disabled, education, integrative/alternative medicine, children and youth, as well as agriculture and nature conservation. In terms of expenditure for its statutory and capital purposes totalling EUR 1.3 billion, SAGST is one of the largest foundations in Germany.

The fourth year of the Eurythmeum CH in 2023 not only contributed to the enthusiasm behind this initiative with its performances, but also donated part of the proceeds of its tour to the realisation of the first edition of the Festival.

Who will be next? It could be you...

The Checcacci Company has been operating in the musical instrument sector since 1976.

Starting from its first location in Poggibonsi, it has expanded considerably over time, and today has three sales outlets with Siena and Florence. While dealing with instruments of all kinds, it has the piano as the core of its business.

Thanks to its founder Gian Gastone Checcacci's experience and high professionalism as a piano tuner, it has been able to create the largest display of pianos in the whole of Tuscany. One can find both new and used instruments of the best brands, also directly imported.

In addition to sales, it also deals with rental, both for private individuals and for concerts, having instruments of excellent quality and above all providing a highly qualified assistance service.

Every year, MAHLE STIFTUNG supports around 150 projects worldwide. In doing so, it follows the guiding principle "Donate today with a vision for tomorrow": By supporting innovative projects, the future is made possible. In line with the anthroposophical thinking and actions of its founders, the guiding principles that form the basis of all the foundation's work are appreciation and a sense of responsibility towards people, the environment and nature.

In December 1964, Hermann and Dr Ernst Mahle transferred almost all of their personal property in the three MAHLE companies of the time to the non-profit foundation MAHLE-STIFTUNG GmbH. Today, the foundation holds 99.9 per cent of the shares in MAHLE GmbH and thus in the MAHLE Group, a leading international development partner and supplier to the automotive industry. Just as the two Mahle brothers combined entrepreneurial success with social responsibility by transferring their shares, MAHLE STIFTUNG has been using the dividends received from the Group for more than 55 years to promote projects and initiatives around the world that contribute to a development that puts people and their environment at the centre.

Within the scope of its statutory objectives, the foundation is particularly active in the areas of health and care, agriculture and food, education and training, and art and culture. It usually provides initial funding, but in some cases also supports long-term projects. For example, a central project was and is the construction and promotion of the Filder Clinic in Filderstadt-Bonlanden, near Stuttgart.

In particular, initiatives of institutions working on the basis of anthroposophy are supported. To this day, the MAHLE STIFTUNG considers itself bound by the awareness of its founders that Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy, provided a wide range of suggestions in his life's work that represent a fundamental and positive cultural and social renewal for many areas of life.

For more than 60 years, everything at GLS Treuhand has revolved around giving. It all started with the foundation of a school - today the GLS Treuhand covers many fields of activity with its foundations and areas of focus, from education to agriculture to ecological issues.

It all started with the desire of a group of people to support the financing of a free school. The motivation behind GLS Treuhand was to support people engaged in shaping society through projects and initiatives. For example, why shouldn't parents and teachers who want a new school with a more alternative educational approach take the construction into their own hands? What do doctors need to learn and apply alternative treatment methods? How can seeds be sustainably raised for agriculture? How can we help finance these projects? These and similar questions were asked by some socially committed anthroposophists in Bochum in 1961.

The answer was to found an organisation to support voluntary initiatives and projects: the GLS Treuhand, then known as Gemeinnützige Treuhandstelle, was born. It became an intermediary between people who wanted to donate money and initiatives that needed funding. More and more people were willing to use their assets or part of them for charitable purposes. This made the work of the foundation possible.

GLS Treuhand uses ideas and money to promote charitable projects for an active, democratic and open civil society. With its foundations, it supports the social, ecological and cultural fields of learning and development. It also supports and advises dependent and independent foundations. In cooperation with its numerous partners, it supports charitable projects through donations, gifts and legacies.

Donations are an extraordinary tool for strengthening social commitment and shaping our future in a positive way. To this end, we contribute to developing a donation culture that combines individual freedom with meaningful social action. Our focus is always on people and their interests. Together with founders and donors, we want to stimulate fundamental social change towards a socially just, peaceful and ecological world. We do this in our fields of activity by providing advice and support.

The Pereto Farm was established in 1991, in Serre di Rapolano, in the heart of Tuscany. The site is an old farmhouse dating back to the 1500s, surrounded by the soft lines of the hills in the enchanting landscape of the Crete Senesi. The aim is to practise organic farming, creating a microcosm that is ecologically, economically and socially sustainable. It is an innovative production model for the time, far removed from the diktats of conventional agriculture that were more widespread at the time. From the very beginning, local and ancient varieties are cultivated, excluding the use of fertilisers, chemical and synthetic pesticides, just as the first European regulation of 1991 on organic farming stipulated. Thus, already in 1993, the company acquired organic certification from ICEA.

The link with agricultural tradition and constant dedication to working the fields, supported by a new attention to the environment and the integrity of the ecosystem in which work is carried out, were soon noticed in the area. So in 1994, the Pereto Farm began collaborating with the Association of Guardian Farmers to promote the recovery and safeguarding of ancient seed varieties of Tuscan origin, precious witnesses to the richness of an ancient knowledge to be protected. These varieties are delicate and victims of the phenomenon of genetic erosion (loss of plant biodiversity). They can still be found today in the lands of elderly farmers, who have always cultivated the seeds of their ancestors so as not to lose their quality, value and taste.

Over the years, Pereto has continued to evolve, adding flour production to its supply chain of cereals and grain legumes, thanks to the purchase of a stone mill. Furthermore, in 2018 the company started a new, further project: the Lieve product line. Lieve is a line of short supply chain bakery products, based on the use of the company's flours for the production of biscuits, breadsticks, crackers and bread, so as to be able to provide the customer with a baked product processed with Podereeto's proverbial care at every stage of production, from the field to the consumer's table. At the same time, the company inaugurated a new fruit and vegetable processing workshop, ensuring the possibility of producing products such as tomato puree, sauces, ready-made sauces and fruit compotes in complete autonomy. After almost 30 years of production, the company is still expanding today, without ever having lost its concern for environmental sustainability, an essential cornerstone at the basis of every choice.