Rupert Graf Strachwitz, Ph. D., is co-founder and shareholder of HUMBOLDT-VIADRINA Governance Platform gGmbH.

He was born in 1947 and has been involved with civil society for nearly 40 years – as a volunteer, staff member, consultant, researcher, and lecturer. From 1989 – 2011, he was managing director of Maecenata Management, a specialized consultancy for civil society and philanthropy. Since 1997, he has been the director of the Maecenata Institute for Philanthropy and Civil Society, Berlin. He is also Executive Director of the Maecenata Foundation, Munich. As a volunteer, he is Deputy Chairman of the German-British Society, Berlin, Chairman of the Board of the Fliege Foundation, and Deputy Chairman of the Board of the ADAC Foundation, and the Wilhelm Kempff Cultural Foundation. Today, his special interest lies in promoting European integration.

He studied Political Science, History, and History of Art at Colgate University, USA, and in Munich, Germany and graduated with a thesis on The Levellers, a 17th century English citizens’ action group. After serving at World Headquarters of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta in Rome, he became regional director for the Order of Malta Relief Service in Bavaria. Subsequently, he was President of the Duke of Bavaria’s Administration while serving on the board of a number of NGOs, including German Caritas, where he was Vice-President in 1984/85. After becoming an independent consultant in 1989, he became increasingly involved with Third Sector research and chaired the German advisory committee of the Johns Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project from 1995–2000. From 1999 to 2002, he served as member of the German Federal Parliament Commission on Civic Action. He chaired the European Policy Working Group of Europa Nostra (from 2004–2010), and sat on the board of the Fondazione Cariplo, Milan/Italy (from 2000–2007), and a number of other nongovernmental organizations at home and abroad.

His approx. 500 publications, in German, English as well as other languages include books and articles on foundation issues as well as European and cultural policy, the third sector, and civil society.

For more information: www.strachwitz.info

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Quelle Innovationsstiftung, a major shareholder in the HUMBOLDT-VIADRINA Governance Platform, is closely aligned with the Maecenata Foundation, the activities of which it supports.

The Maecenata Foundation is a think tank that focusses on civil society and related issues. It pursues its aims by way of four programmes:

• the Maecenata Institute for Philanthropy and Civil Society, an independent research centre,
• the Transnational Giving Programme which facilitates donating across national borders,
• the Europe Bottom Up Programme, a programme of activities towards European integration,
• the Tocqueville Forum for networking between academia, the public sphere, and the field and for support of civil society research.

For more information: www.maecenata.eu