On May 21 and 22, the Cologne University Foundation participated in the 2025 German Foundation Day in Wiesbaden. The event’s theme was: “Inspiring Courage: How Foundations Strengthen Community”—a guiding principle that also shapes our daily work.
Former Federal President Joachim Gauck opened this year’s German Foundation Day with inspiring words. In his speech, he passionately called for moral courage, solidarity, and the courage to actively help shape our open society. One sentence in particular stuck with me:
“There is a form of lasting happiness.”
A happiness that arises when we get involved—in education, in science, and in our democracy.
This is precisely what the Cologne University Foundation stands for: We want to encourage people to take on responsibility and help shape change—in Cologne and beyond.