Origin of the objectives () | Hans Hermann Voss-Stiftung

How the foundation came to its objectives

The foundation's objectives reflect the person Hans Hermann Voss and the ideas that were important to him: Due to his enthusiasm for sport, Hans Hermann Voss's donation activities had been focused on the support of youth sport even before the foundation was established. He was also committed to making it easier for young people to enter (professional) life and to providing seniors at the end of their working lifes an appropriate place in society. These topics, as well as funding for the promotion of distinctive local architecture and heritage, were therefore laid down by Hans Hermann Voss in the statutes when the foundation was established in 1992: "The objective of the foundation is the promotion of youth welfare, the promotion of youth sports, the promotion of care for the elderly, the promotion of local heritage, in particular of the townscape of Wipperfürth with special consideration of typical regional building structure". With this in mind, in Wipperfürth, where his father had been mayor and Hans Hermann Voss had become native, the foundation supported for example the restoration of the fountain on the market place, originally dating from 1331. 

From the year 2000 onwards, Hans Hermann Voss reconsidered the foundation's objectives. He added to the objectives the promotion of natural science and research in order to include his interest in funding inventive spirit and technical progress in the foundation’s statute. His awareness of the importance of good education was enshrined in the new objective education and training and became from then on a central funding topic. The promotion of young people and assistance for elderly person’s welfare, including the promotion of age appropriate club sports, were summarized in the wording "youth and seniors". He removed the objective promotion of local heritage and included instead the support of charitable causes. Since 2006, the statutes have read accordingly:

"The objectives of the foundation are promotion of natural science and research; promotion of education and training; promotion of youth and seniors; (case by case) support of charitable causes."