Stiftung Apfelbaum – Partner für ein ZusammenWachsen von LebensWelten

The Apfelbaum Foundation is a non-profit family foundation based in Cologne that promotes long-term and community-oriented development processes. Through the symbol of the apple tree, it commits to the enduring value of continuously sowing and planting, growing and maturing, nurturing and harvesting – despite disorder, disasters, and death. The foundation organizes its funding activities into three program areas: “One World & Empowerment,” “Society & Generations,” and “Culture & Music.” It supports projects, awards, and initiatives that, for example, aim at development cooperation, intergenerational justice, interreligious dialogue, or contemporary music education.

"To plant an apple tree, even when there is an apocalyptic mood" – this is the guiding principle of the Apfelbaum Foundation. With its funding, the foundation aims to plant something sustainable and create something lasting that bears fruit repeatedly and points beyond death. The apple tree symbolizes the cycle of life, growth, death, and new life, and calls for responsibility for the whole as well as a life in community.

The Apfelbaum Foundation is aimed at non-profit organizations, initiatives, and individuals whose projects focus on long-term development processes and collaborative interaction. Support is provided to actors in the areas of "One World & Empowerment" (e.g., development cooperation, educational work, dialogue between religions and science), "Society & Generations" (e.g., intergenerational justice, multi-generational projects, civic engagement), as well as "Culture & Music" (e.g., contemporary music education, intercultural exchange, concert pedagogy).