Pro Bono

UP Micro-Loans (www.up-micro-loans.de)

UP (=Unlimiting People) is a non-profit foundation established in 2000. It is largely financed by P+P through cash and non-cash benefits. We provide the foundation with office space, facilities and contacts and facilitate its projects by providing financial resources necessary for micro-loans. UP funds and monitors micro-loans projects primarily for women and families in cooperation with local organisations (NGOs).

So far UP has supported 66 projects in the rural areas of 17 countries, most of them in Southeast Asia, and has helped about 13,800 people who were living below the poverty line to establish their own businesses in sections such as animal rearing, crop growing, crafts and small shops. Families, single parents with children, and other persons in developing countries receive small loans to start a business, to buy a pig or seed, etc.

A German charitable foundation with funds of a few millions Euros and a dedicated person are involved in moving this project forward, together with local partners (NGOs) like Terre des Hommes, Menschen für Menschen, etc. The recipient countries include Cambodia, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Montenegro, Pakistan, Romania, Thailand and Vietnam.

Max Planck Foundation (MPF) (www.maxplanckfoerderstiftung.org)

The German Max Planck Foundation (Max-Planck-Förderstiftung) is supporting groundbreaking research in Germany. The Max Planck Society is a leading research institution with almost 80 institutes in Germany and abroad. The researchers supported by the Foundation achieve outstanding research results. Now and in the future, the Max Planck Society should be in the position to contribute to the necessary innovation of the country and, thereby to protect business in Germany. Leading-edge research needs private sponsors inspired by an enthusiasm for basic research and encouraged to make a financial commitment. This way, they offer new possibilities beyond the current limitations. The non-profit foundation is supported by a nationwide initiative of private sponsors. Its aim is to make financial funds available in order to support leading-edge research expeditiously and flexibly. With this approach, junior researchers will be trained, elites fostered and top researchers won over in order to protect the competitiveness of the Max Planck Society internationally.

MPF's monthly newsletter provides information on current projects and plans.

We support the foundation in many ways and make available, at no cost to the foundation, a full-time employee and other staff and all office facilities. The foundation is one of the largest private scientific foundations in Germany.

Foundation ex oriente (www.china-stiftung.de)

Ex oriente is promoting international cultural and educational relations between Germany - particularly Munich and Bavaria - and Eastern Europe as well as Eastern Asia - particularly China.

Our aim is to make a contribution to international understanding by focusing on language and culture as a basis for cross-cultural communications. We succeeded in establishing Chinese as a foreign language in school curricula, especially in the Bavarian Abitur as an elective core language. We also organize school partnerships between Germany and China. We therefore arrange exchanges each year during which students are able to practice their language skills.

On our Jours fixes held monthly (each second Friday in a month) in our offices, we offer an opportunity for exchange and discussion with lectures on history and culture, science, art and business matters. People with various backgrounds give an inside look on these topics. Musicians and other artists present themselves to a wider audience. The Education's Confucius Class in Munich
(www.konfuzius-muenchen.de) is affiliated with the Chinese Ministry of Education (Hanban). It has become a certified test center for the Chinese Proficiency Test. The "Chinese Proficiency Test" (HSK - Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi) is a standardized test of Mandarin Chinese proficiency for non-native speakers. It corresponds to the German TestDaF and the English TOEFL. After successfully passing the HSK, every test taker gets a worldwide approved certificate. The test aims to be a certificate of language proficiency for higher educational and professional purposes.

We support the foundation by providing it with office, event, seminar and exhibition space as well as with facilities.

CONTACT PERSON: Karin Theede Phone: +49 (89) 24240-610 kt@maxplanckfoundation.org

INVESTMENT OFFICER: Franz Gaul Phone: +49 (89) 24240-605 fg@maxplanckfoundation.org