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They provide students financial aid for study abroad programs and research, support researchers with their projects and give instructors the opportunity to try out new ideas in their seminars: The 51 foundations at the University of Freiburg reflect the distinct nature of their respective founders. Sarah Schwarzkopf introduces several of the foundation in this series.

The Adolf Haeuser Foundation finances, among other things, university sports field facilities. Photo: University of Freiburg

The University of Freiburg founded the Adolf Haeuser Foundation in 1954 from the estate of Dr. Adolf Haeuser and Luisa Haeuser. The married couple wanted to promote not only science but also athletics at the University of Freiburg. It is the oldest foundation in the endowment fund. The money available in the foundation is divided into two parts per its bylaws.

The lawyer and chemist Adolf Haeuser from Hessen completed part of his law degree in Freiburg. He later made a name for himself as general secretary at the Frankfurt-based company Hoechst, one of the largest chemistry and pharmaceutical companies in Germany at the time. He was a member of parliament for the National Liberal Party and an active board member for various cultural and scientific institutions. Haeuser and his wife Luisa, née Koenig, laid the foundation in their will from 1934 for multiple foundations for art, culture, research and the needy, one of which is in Haeuser’s university town of Freiburg.

Printing costs and sports equipment

The University of Freiburg uses three-quarters of the foundation’s dividends to promote scientific research. Students and researchers are able to receive scholarships for their scientific achievements. Further financial support can be used to subsidize printing costs, but also for offsetting travel costs to conferences.

The businessman Adolf Haeuser laid the foundation in his 1934 will for multiple foundations for art, culture, research and the needy, one of which is in Haeuser’s university town of Freiburg. Photo: Europeana/Wikimedia Commons

The University funds athletic purposes such as trips, sports equipment or even sports fields with the rest of the money. “We purchase equipment or tools that we can use for the various gym courses at the university,” explains Armin Backhaus from the Department of Sports and Sport Science at the University of Freiburg. Through the Adolf Haeuser Foundation he has been able to finance mobile stereo equipment, training mats, surfboards and devices to analyze movement. The quarter of the money dedicated to athletic purposes, however, is not only limited to the sports department, emphasizes Jasmin Bernhard from the foundation administration. “It could just as easily be that a student from the math department places an application in order to organize an amateur soccer tournament – that would be eligible as well.”

The dean’s office of every faculty can submit an application to the foundation administration each year until the end of April. The three-person board of trustees has the freedom to dedicate more to athletic or scientific purposes in any given year, which is then balanced out the following year. In 2017 the Adolf Haeuser Foundation distributed around 6,500 euros.

The foundations at the University of Freiburg

The 51 foundations at the University of Freiburg go as far back as the late Middle Ages. The 17 oldest make up the United Academic Endowment Holding; the newer ones, with the exception of three, make up the endowment fund. The University receives the share capital in the form of monetary and non-monetary resources. It distributes two-thirds of each foundation’s dividends annually while the final third is reserved to account for inflation. The benefactors determine who is eligible for financing. As a rule, neediness trumps achievement. The benefactors have also defined their foundation’s individual purpose in the bylaws.

All the foundations at a glance