Welcome to GuideStar Deutschland!
Hier geht’s zur deutschen Seite! 
Who are we
Our national project is located at the heart of continental Europe. Our mission is to increase the visibility of all German nonprofit organisations through one public website.
GuideStar Deutschland hosted by DZI (Deutsches Zentralinstitut für soziale Fragen), an independent documentation and information center on social work and charitable organisations. DZI will be responsible for the market validation of the German pilot service, including execution of the pilot, stakeholder engagement, user consultation and evaluation. Moreover, it will contribute to the business and deployment plan for the trans-European service and disseminate the results of the project.
Maecenata Institut (Maecenata Institut für Philanthropie und Zivilgesellschaft), an independent political think tank, will provide central research support for GuideStar Europe and the German project and will use its networks to showcase the proposed service. Both will also provide content for the database.
Status
GuideStar Deutschland has been hosted by DZI since May 2006. It was among the first exploration phases of the worldwide GuideStar International network. eTEN funding shall now help to gather the necessary momentum for specifying the requirements for a sustainable online information service in Germany.
Key development steps of the project:
- Exploration phase (June 2005): Presentation of the feasibility study for Germany funded with seed-money from GuideStar International.
- Development phase I (Sept. 2005-Feb. 2006): Business plan and cooperation in R&D phase of the database, project hosted by Maecenata Institute, funded by GuideStar International.
- Development phase II (May 2006-March 2007): Fundraising, institution building and participation in R&D phase of the database, project hosted by DZI, funded by German corporate sponsors.
- Current phase (April 2007-October 2008): Market validation of bottom-up approach of reporting, roll-out of pilot service as part of national strategy, sustainable funding and stakeholder engagement, supported by eTEN funding.
Project Progress - a two-fold strategy
Since April 1, 2007, a two-fold process in under way: While playing an essential role within "GuideStar Europe", we are at the same time utilising the momentum and public recognition of being funded by the EU to pursue our strategy of a nationwide roll-out for a GuideStar online database. Both parts of this process are meant to interact and mutually reinforce each other.
1. GuideStar Europe - Germany as a possible role model: One of our key objectives during the 18 month project period will be to demonstrate the interoperability and the adaptability of the system. We will validate how the GuideStar idea and its technology fit within the context of various European countries with differerent transparency cultures and will contribute to the development of common standards of reporting that enable a European search,
2. GuideStar Deutschland - nationwide roll-out: Another important goal of the current phase will be the launch of a pilot project. A "real-life" German version with data from local non-profit organisations will allow for a better demonstration of the advantages and functionalities of the already existing database technology. Due to the fact that it would take very long to collect a critical mass of data for a German-wide start, we will focus on the city states of Berlin or Hamburg.