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This year, too, our work was impacted significantly by COVID-related restrictions and regulations. Even though all participants had become somewhat accustomed to the situation, many activities could not be implemented or only to a very limited extent.
After all, the educational programmes the Foundation offers our target groups are based on personal encounters, and personal exchange is indispensable if the Foundation wants to foster international understanding and an international mindset.

The focus this year remained on constructing a site for intercultural residence, work and everyday encounters.
Our application for a building plot in Baumschulenweg, in the district of Berlin Treptow-Köpenick - part of a tender process (a German "Konzeptverfahren") initiated by BIM Berliner Immobilienmanagement GmbH in 2021 - was up for decision.
The planning consortium Projekt Radix, founded together with the partner Genius Wohnungsbau Genossenschaft, suffered a setback at the beginning of the year. BIM awarded the contract to another applicant in the tender who had offered a higher rate of payment for the ground rent of the site. The planning consortium Projekt Radix only made it to second place.
The strenuous application process thus proved unsuccessful and the efforts to hold funds back for this purpose were ultimately in vain. As a result, the Foundation had to pay a high amount in custodian fees to credit institutions.
Later in the year the Foundation attempted to arrange a cooperation with the winner of the afore-mentioned tender.

As an alternative, the Foundation also intensified a contact that had been initiated in 2021 with the cooperative "Genossenschaft Selbstverwalteter Projekte (GSP eG)" in Berlin.
The Foundation discussed the possible acquisition of a plot of land for housing construction in the area of Wallensteinstrasse/Tannhäuserstrasse, in the district of Berlin Karlshorst.
The GSP had been in concrete purchase negotiations with the owner, Deutsche Bundesbahn, for some time. The Foundation was hoping to acquire an independent co-ownership share. Together with the initiator of the project, the non-profit association Campus Cosmopolis e.V., the Foundation held extensive negotiations on meaningful participation in the project, including the option of joining the GSP cooperative.
The Foundation carried out a successful support campaign to raise funds to be provided in the event of the acquisition.
Unfortunately, this project also failed, since the project partner GSP eG did not guarantee in the final version of the purchase agreement the necessary independence in the project development of the planned co-ownership share through the Foundation and the partner Campus Cosmopolis e.V. Moreover, it was not possible to eliminate critical risks (including the lack of a building permit for the building plot) in advance.

In November, the Foundation and its cooperation partner Campus Cosmopolis e.V. were approached by trnsfrm eG in Berlin - Neukölln. There is a new construction project on the site of the former Kindl brewery in Neukölln, Am Rollberg, which may be seeking new user groups.
Initial talks have been held and possibilities for future cooperation have been identified. Many questions about potential participation remain open, but as of the end of 2022 it had not been ruled out.

As in the previous year, the Foundation invested a large quantity of our available resources in the preparatory work described above, leaving fewer resources for other activities, such as fundraising.
In terms of content, the Foundation focused on advisory services for and with other non-profit organisations in the field of intercultural understanding and education.
The Foundation was able to continue to build on the efforts made in the previous year, for example advising and mentoring other initiatives in concept development, the start-up phase, organisational development and financing. There is still a great need for our experience and knowledge, as provided by our volunteers.
The Foundation also received requests from already existing non-profit organisations at the end of the year.

Our volunteers and our cooperation partners prepared, organised and carried out four workshops on intercultural education and encounters. The topics have not changed during the past years. In addition to teaching everyday and social skills, the Trust Foundation primarily aims to promote intercultural and socio-political exchange.
In this way, too, the Foundation seeks to bring about a reduction in xenophobia and discrimination in society. To this end, the Foundation continues to work together with other civil society actors in a binding network.

As was the case throughout society as a whole, the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic affected all of our activities. We were forced to significantly reduce, adapt and in some cases heavily modify our annual programme.
We also had to develop work and communication methods that did not depend on face-to-face contact. This called for a great deal of creativity and flexibility, since our objectives are in fact based upon direct communication and personal interactions in the first place.

This year focused on the strategic realignment needed for the central task of constructing a residential and neighbourhood building to serve as a place for intercultural communication, interaction and habitation.
After our repeated unsuccessful attempts to acquire the property in Berlin-Neukölln (Jerusalem V cemetery), the Foundation participated in a tender that was part of a conceptual procedure, which evaluates the entire concept of the proposed project in terms of various aspects such as sustainability, social mix and impact on the neighbourhood.
The Foundation made a bid for a suitable building plot in Baumschulenweg, in the district of Berlin Treptow-Köpenick, which was offered by BIM Berliner Immobilienmanagement GmbH. Due to the size of the area and the detailed requirements for the planned development and use of the site the Foundation had to find new and suitable cooperation partners for this project.
In order to participate in this tendering process, the Foundation Board and the Founder decided to establish and join the planning consortium Projekt Radix. Genius Wohnungsbau eG, a cooperative based in Berlin, joined as a general partner.
All members of this cooperative are non-profit social work organisations that plan to develop and utilise parts of the space for their client base, providing the ideal mix of tenants and the cooperative social structure of the applicants as required in the call for tenders.

The tender required the extensive preparation of planning documents for architecture, financing, land allocation, guarantees of use, living environment, etc., and thus the involvement of experts from all of these fields.
The Foundation had to invest a large share of our available resources in these preparations. Furthermore, BIM GmbH's call for tenders required the Trust Foundation to provide proof of its own funds, which had to be available at all times during the entire process. BIM extended the deadline for the application several times, thus postponing the contract award to 2022.
In addition to the great deal of effort that was invested in the promising application procedure, the delays forced the Foundation to continue to hold assets for short-term use vis-à-vis the co-financing banks.
As a precautionary measure, the Foundation also made initial contacts with the cooperative "Genossenschaft Selbstverwalteter Projekte (GSP eG)" in Berlin.
Another social building project is being planned on a former Deutsche Bundesbahn site in Wallensteinstrasse/Tannhäuserstrasse in the district of Berlin Karlshorst, and the Foundation hoped to clarify whether participation in the planned housing construction would be worthwhile. Negotiations with the organisation have been launched.

Thanks to another generous single donation, the Foundation was able to continue many of the activities of the previous years - to the extent that this was allowed and even possible at all in light of the severe COVID-19 restrictions.
The type and scope of activities thus resembled those already described for 2020 only in terms of content.
Online meetings in a wide variety of forms became the rule, with all their familiar disadvantages, for which we need not go into detail here. We also refrain from repeating the content already published elsewhere and refer to the descriptions for 2020.
This mainly concerns digital educational formats, online events, online seminars, lectures and workshops focusing on cultural exchange and social integration, which, in the meantime, are all being carried out in cooperation with other non-profit partners, such as the non-profit associations Campus Cosmopolis e.V., absent friends e.V. and Bildungswege e.V., which also serves as fiduciary.

The network the Foundation has established with other providers and institutions is becoming more reliable, resilient and rewarding, also as a result of the advisory services it offers to other actors in the field.
The number of initiatives, organisations and other socio-political groups the Foundation advises on the setting up and founding process, organisational development and financing is growing. This also includes interested parties who plan to become active in the field of international understanding and intercultural work for the first time. The Foundation is considering making knowledge transfer a future focus.
There is clearly a great demand from committed individuals, as well as from already existing non-profit corporations.
The Trust Foundation sees such activity as a social necessity, as well as providing an opportunity to help combat xenophobia and discrimination.

With its experience thus far, the Foundation has been able to directly support the spread of charitable social commitment.

The Berlin-based non-profit association Bildungswege e.V. became a fiduciary for the Trust Foundation at the beginning of the calendar year. Preparations for the change had begun early in 2019, enabling the management as well as the legal representation of the corporation to be handed over smoothly without any problems.
The former (founding) fiduciary, the non-profit association Praktische Pädagogik e.V., shifted its focus to promoting youth welfare. The Board of Trustees and Founder agreed on this change as a step towards achieving their objectives. The members of the Board of Trustees remained the same and were able to continue their work without disruption.

The activities carried out in previous years were continued and further developed in 2020. Many of the services provided, such as workshops, seminars, advisory services and lectures, were aimed predominantly at refugees and people with a migration background and/or in precarious living situations.
Another target group was civil society actors, usually non-profit organisations, who pursue similar intercultural goals and aim to facilitate mutual understanding between different ethnic groups, for example through educational programmes and encounters.
Our dedicated volunteers continued their work in the implementation of these different activities, enthusiastically contributing their extensive practical and professional knowledge in the areas of economics, moderation/mediation, business administration, communication, and intercultural work.

The Trust Foundation was thus able to continue offering its traditional services in the field of intercultural education and cultural exchange to promote greater mutual understanding in society. The main topics included:

• Living in a multicultural neighbourhood
• Culture and everyday life
• Finding and applying for housing
• Language barriers in everyday communication
• Financial planning for intercultural projects
• Social participation and transparency
• The emergence of xenophobia and how to deal with it
• Self-organisation and initiative

An increase in the number of staff involved in support and counselling has improved the quality of the services, each of which is usually organised and carried out by at least two volunteers. Experience has shown that intensive personal supervision of participants is necessary to ensure that all measures effectively promote intercultural exchange. The volunteers' workload has therefore increased significantly. Plans were also developed for another training programme for future team members and seminar leaders.
The Foundation has learned from our educational work and all intercultural offers that the professional and social competence of those involved in the implementation of the measures is decisive for their success. Accordingly, the Foundation has been in discussion with other social work organisations to design introductory training offers.

The planning and preliminary work for one of our core projects, the development of an intercultural housing and neighbourhood project, unfortunately failed to achieve any foreseeable success this year.
The Foundation was unable to prepare a valid building plan for the planned "Allerwelt-Viertel" on the property of the Evangelical Cemetery Association Berlin-Brandenburg in Berlin-Neukölln due to regulatory issues. However, competent construction support for the planning association was secured with the addition of SelbstBau eG to the project.
The Foundation plans to more intensely pursue the necessary approval procedures for the former cemetery site Jerusalem V on Hermannstrasse together with our previous partners, the non-profit association Campus Cosmopolis e.V. and the Selbstbaugenossenschaft Berlin eG.
If the problems with the authorities involved cannot be resolved in the foreseeable future, the Foundation is willing to consider a fundamental revision of the previous strategy in the future. However, the realisation of the building project remains a central concern of the Founder and the Foundation itself.

The Foundation further intensified cooperation with the non-profit association absent friends e.V. this year. The Trust Foundation significantly contributed to ensuring that the organisation continued to provide care and support for refugees in their own flats in Eberswalde (Barnim).
This proved to be a very practical way to strengthen the structure of all measures locally and thus stabilise and expand needs-oriented support. The Foundation also made a significant contribution by providing expert advice.