Aktive bürgerschaft: Innovations for civil society in Germany

Abstract

“Aktive Bürgerschaft: Do good things even better! We make innovativeengagement concepts work in practice and implement them together with partnerson the national or regional level.” In line with its mission statement, Aktive Bürgerschaft(Active Citizenship) gives a fresh impetus to the further development of civilsociety. The promotion of community foundations is one example of this. With thefoundation of the association Aktive Bürgerschaft, Germany entered new ground:a nonprofit association that promotes civic engagement on the national level and issupported by a group of banks. With its roots in third sector research, Aktive Bürgerschaftdeveloped in the mid-1990s as part of an innovative beginning to promotecivic engagement with a new approach. Annette Zimmer’s work paved the way forthis development.