Our answers to frequent questions

Donations are voluntary benefits in the form of donations of money or material (also mentioned money grant or factor in fact). In order for the tax office to accept the donations, the respective donation, i.e. the donation, must be aimed at a tax -privileged or non -profit organization. This can be, for example, churches, foundations, political parties and non -profit organizations or associations. Terre des Hommes is a non -profit organization.

Individuals, foundations, companies or associations can assert donations to the tax office. Terre des Hommes exhibits donation certificates as a non -profit donation organization.

In order for your donation to be recognized as tax deductible by the tax office, you need a donation confirmation, also mentioned. From an annual donation of 20 euros, you will automatically receive a donation certificate from Terre des Hommes for all donations made of a calendar year. You will automatically receive this by post in February of the following year. Among other things, the donation receipt contains the annual donation and is the proof that the donation is only used for tax -privileged purposes. It should be enclosed with the tax return as proof of your donation.

No donation receipt may be issued for the donation amount from donation collections, because every donor has the right to request a donation receipt. People who have participated in a donation collection can therefore request a donation receipt for the individual amount that they donated to the collection. Therefore, no donation receipt can be issued via the total amount.

In principle, donations in kind can also be deducted from the tax. Terre des Hommes Germany, however, only accepts donations in kind in exceptional cases and after prior arrangement. In principle, our project partners are bought on site to strengthen the domestic economy.

If you have moved or have made a bank change, you can inform our donation service at any time about these changes so that they can be taken into account in the future:

Email: Donation@
remove-this. tdh.de Telephone: 0541 / 7101-128
Post: Ruppenkampstr. 11 A, 49084 Osnabrück

To the contact form

If you have given us a direct debit authorization for a regular donation, you are welcome to send your change requests to our donation service via the following channels:

Email: Donation@
remove-this. tdh.de online: Change permanent donation online
phone: 0541 / 7101-128
Post: Ruppenkampstr. 11 A, 49084 Osnabrück

Report change

Many people take over a child sponsorship because they want to provide concrete help: support a child in Africa or Latin America, secure their training and thus invest in their future. The advantages are apparently obvious. The donor knows exactly where his money is going and takes over "real responsibility" with the personal commitment to the godchild. Sometimes she or he even gets letters from the godchild.

The employees of Terre des Hommes also receive inquiries about children's sponsorships every month. People are often disappointed because we generally do not convey child sponsorships and do not advertise with them.

As a child rights organization with decades of experience, Terre des Hommes consciously made this important decision. In our opinion, children's sponsorships are not compatible with the public presentation of our proven principles of effective and sustainable development cooperation.

Help must be based on the community

Already in the 1970s and 1980s there was a broad debate among the aid organizations about the mediation of sponsorships. At that time it was mainly criticized that

• A sponsorship is individual aid that does not deal with the causes of poverty and development problems,
• Isolating the sponsorships and creating envy,
• Children accommodated in homes in homes and thus family and social structures are destroyed,
• Sponsorships cause high administrative effort and are therefore expensive.

For these reasons, Terre des Hommes decided in 1975 - not least at the request of his project partners - to hire sponsorship programs.

There has long been agreement that effective help must be oriented towards the community and promote self -help. Only an equal development partnership can be successful in the long term. In this understanding, there is little space in this understanding. A small example: Instead of only making a single child attending school, it makes more sense to repair a village school and train and further train teachers.
 

Sponsorships or project funding?

Children's sponsorships appeal to our feelings, our protective instinct and our willingness to donate. This becomes problematic if the advertising with you creates a wrong impression of the help on site. If advertised for individual partnerships, but practically project funding takes place, Terre des Hommes cannot represent this. This is also why we do not advertise with sponsorships, but leave no doubt about the fact that we always support groups and communities of people - be it students, village communities or people who are committed to the rights of others. Terre des Hommes is the carrier of the DZI donation seal, which confirms a responsible handling of donations. The "true, clear and factual advertising in word and image" . Terre des Hommes feels committed to this criterion in his reporting and choosing his advertising material.
 

Help may not promote competition

In his public relations work, Terre des Hommes also makes it clear that help is achieved in such a way that no competition among the recipients is promoted. It is particularly important that

• The commitment of people in the projects becomes clear. They are not alms recipients, but can take their fate into their own hands thanks to our support.
• Local partner organizations with which we work closely on site are not neglected in this representation.
• the causes of poverty and conflicts are also named.

Terre des Hommes is not about quick, media -effective success, but about effective and sustainable changes.

More information

The educational scientist Annette Scheunpflug, professor at the Otto Friedrich University Bamberg, presented a critical inventory of the public presentation of child sponsorships in a study. Annette Scheunpflug, owner of the chair for general pedagogy, has investigated the question of the influence of advertising for child sponsorships on the image of development cooperation in the German public.