The Potential of German Community Foundations for Community Development

The present study aims to determine the potential community foundations in Germany have for community development. Therefore six randomly chosen small-size community foundations were interviewed regarding their financial settings, level of professionalization and their commitment towards community development. By using qualitative content analysis this article assesses the relevance of reaching their defined goals in contrast to the need of satisfying the demand of current and potential donors. The results indicate that small foundations initially depend highly on the involvement of voluntary board members and on the independence of political authorities. Furthermore, the results show that a process of professionalization is necessary already in the first years of existence