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Maecenata / Research and Work Programme

Research and Work Programme

The following list illustrates the range of research and thematic priorities of the Maecenata Foundation.

Philanthropy

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Transational Giving
Programme: Promoting Cross-Border Philanthropy / Transnational Donation Transfer Programme

Cultural History of Philanthropy (self-funded)

Germany section of the Charities Aid
Foundation’s World Giving Report (external funding)

“The Structure and Funding of Civil Society
Gender Equality Initiatives in Germany” in collaboration with
FAIR SHARE of Women Leaders e.V. (external funding)

SCOPE – Strengthening Civil Society and Philanthropy through
European Adult Learning, in cooperation with the Institut
français du monde associatif (IFMA) and other European
partner organisations (external funding)

Further development of Philanthropy Insight (external funding)

Contested Civic Space

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Monitoring and reporting (own and third-party funding)

“The Anti-NGO Discourse” – a research priority in response to the rise in NGO-bashing (in-house funding)

The podcast “The NGO Debate” (own and third-party funding)

Legal opinion on ‘Legal safeguards for state funding in critical regions’ in collaboration with Campact e.V. (external funding)

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Civil society: framework conditions and data

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Monitoring and comments on the framework conditions for civil society in Germany (own resources)

Monitoring and comments on the framework conditions for Muslim civil society in Germany (own resources)

Civil Society in Germany 2026 (Metadata Analysis: Framework Conditions and Trends in Civil Society) (Externally funded)

Civil Society Radar: A monitoring initiative in cooperation with the Society for Civil Liberties and the Bertelsmann Foundation (external funding)

Public perception of civil society in collaboration with dpart and, where appropriate, CommsHub (surveys, focus groups, panels) (external funding)

Analysis of data on transnational donations by German donors (own funds)

Monitoring Action for Civic Space (MACS), a consortium comprising nine European organisations (including the European Civic Forum, the European Centre for Not-for-Profit Law, etc.) (external funding)

Mainstreaming Extremism Index in collaboration with the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) (external funding)

Project title

Civil society internationally

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The Germany chapter of the European Civic Forum’s annual Civic Space Report (externally funded)

‘Backsliding Democracy’ series (USA, Turkey, Israel, Slovakia, etc.) (own resources)

German partner, new edition of the Johns Hopkins Comparative Non-profit Sector Project (a collaboration between the International Society for Third Sector Research and Concordia University, funded by the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council) (external funding)

Governance in International NGOs (Collaboration between Prof. Dr Helmut Anheier and Transparency International) (external funding)

Project title

Civil society and …

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Civil Society and Security Policy (own resources)

Civil society and intercultural dialogue in/with the
Middle East (own resources)

Civil society and social entrepreneurs in partnership with Ashoka (external funding)

Civil Society and Political Processes (external funding)

Civil Society and Research into Loneliness (external funding)

Project title

Support for
early-career researchers

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Research College for Doctoral Students
(since 1999) (self-funded)

Teaching at German universities (including the University of Münster and the HWR/HTW Berlin) (self-funded)

Hosting of international researchers under Alexander von Humboldt and/or EU grants; currently one EU Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellow (external funding)

Collaboration with the European Wasatia Graduate School for Peace and Conflict Resolution doctoral programme, Europa University Flensburg (external funding)

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