Our areas of work

100% Project support

The Friends of Waldorf Education provide support funded exclusively through donations. This distinguishes us from trusts or endowed foundations, in that we do not have capital that belongs to us. Our income is derived solely from the donations of many individuals, Waldorf Schools and our other partner institutions and foundations. Since we started working we have passed on 100% of the received donations.

Over 95% of all the donations we receive are designated for specific purposes. Donors support projects because a report has moved them to help, or perhaps because they have a personal connection with the project.  Thus we have many regular donors supporting for example the Favela Monte Azul Project in Sao Paulo, or the Waldorf Schools in Windhoek or Katmandu, just to mention a few.
We work together with foundations and other aid agencies in order to make larger investments possible.
>> List of all projects supported last year.

The International Support Fund - help where help is needed

We receive requests of varying degrees of urgency almost daily.  Here we are able to help by using the undesignated funds we have received, which total approximately 80,000 Euros annually.  At our monthly board meetings we discuss all requests and decide how best to assist.

The International Support fund has, for example, helped to equip a new curative education centre in El Salvador, and is funding new Waldorf initiatives e.g. in China or Pakistan, particularly in crisis situations (such as loss of a building through fire). We also provide urgently needed funding necessary to train staff and cover travel costs for tutors and advisors, etc.
Twice annually we launch appeals on behalf of the various projects and work areas, the International Support Fund, the grants and sponsorships, and additional specific projects.  Since these appeals cannot be funded through our normal budget, we make an exception to our principle of forwarding 100% of all donations received, and use these to cover the external costs (such as design, printing, postage, etc) of our appeals.

BMZ co-financed projects - multiplying your donations

Through joint projects with the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation (BMZ) we are able to increase the value of donations fourfold. The BMZ provides NGOs (non-governmental organisations) with an annual budget in order to support projects in developing areas of the world. For the selected projects the BMZ provides in most cases 75% of the total funding, while we and our partners locally provide the remaining 25%.

We have been cooperating with the BMZ in this way for many years and we provide our part of the work with the help of our voluntary co-workers.

You can find reports about our BMZ Projects in recent newsletters: Dassenberg/South Africa, Hermanus/South Africa and Bucharest/Romania.

Voluntary service - helping others, gaining experience

Since 1993 Friends of Waldorf Education has been recognised as a facilitator of "Anderer Dienst im Ausland" (alternative service abroad) and since 2002 for the "Freiwilliges Soziales Jahr" (voluntary social service year). Alongside these options, we also offer other voluntary work programs. All of our services are organised through our Karlsruhe office and have seen dynamic development in recent years

Each year we send approx. 500 young people abroad. Through their service they make a significant contribution to both the international Waldorf Education and the curative education movement ... and also gain invaluable experience themselves.
>> Detailed information about our voluntary services.

Sponsorships - help specifically

Our individual sponsorships are a very specific way to help. Waldorf education was created to be accessible to all children regardless of their social status or background. A child´s ability to attend a Waldorf school should not depend on his or her parents income. This naturally poses difficult questions for a struggling school in a lower income community, perhaps in South America, Africa, Eastern Europe or Asia. What can be done if the school receives no financial support from the state, and if the parents cannot afford to pay even a fraction of the costs? This is where individual sponsorships can help - not only the specific children, but also the schools they attend.
We directly facilitate more than 300 individual sponsorships. These help support about 30 schools, for more than 10,000 Euro monthly. These schools are distributed throughout  Mexico, Columbia, Peru, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Tanzania, Namibia, South Africa, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Armenia, India, Nepal and Vietnam. 
>> More about individual sponsorships.

Partnerships and Exchange - nothing is as valuable as meeting people

Meaningful meetings with people in other countries and cultures can be a lifelong treasure. It is always worth the effort to make contact and build partnerships with schools abroad. Following each visit abroad, students, parents and teachers return with new impressions, a new perspective on everyday life, and new friendships. If you are interested, we are happy to recommend institutions that currently seek partnerships.
An ideal opportunity for a first encounter is a social service internship, or perhaps a group project and trip designed for the upper levels of your school. For example, you can help an Eastern European Waldorf school as they renovate their class rooms or even build new facilities.
>> Suggestions for such projects and reports from other schools.
>> Reports about school partnerships.

Each contact strengthens the international Waldorf movement. In order to put like-minded people in contact with one another, we provide a wide range of Links, and we are willing to offer our help and advice.

Emergency Education - for children in crisis situations

Many terrible things happen in the world - and it is most often children who suffer the most. While we were hosting a meeting in Berlin in 2006 for eight Waldorf aid organisations, an educator told us about her work with traumatised children in Kosovo ... and the idea of Emergency Education was born. Following the war in the Lebanon we had a pilot project in October 2006 and thanks to several voluntary co-workers we could work with children there for three weeks. A second deployment followed in April 2007. We hope to extend this area of our work - and to help more traumatised children through educational and therapeutic work.

Student Grants - because we need teachers

Waldorf education can expand internationally because it has a base of committed and well trained teachers. Without Waldorf teachers, there would be no Waldorf schools. Yet in many countries motivated potential teachers can barely find the basic resources to fund their initial training or continuing education. In many situations teachers have to travel to the capital to partake in such programs, or they may even have to travel abroad. So much rests on these future teachers! For this reason we find it very important to award modest grants to fund their training and development.

Outreach work - for Waldorf world wide

The international Waldorf movement is based on the principle of fraternity and mutual interest. However, one can only show active interest in the international movement when one is informed. For this reason we lay heavy emphasis on informing people about our work and the international developments. This is the primary aim of our free newsletter, which appears twice a year in Spring and Autumn….and of our website, which was newly launched in March 2007 and includes an extensive (and ever-growing!) database of reports on various projects around the world.
In order to make the Waldorf movement better known, we have created an exhibition, published two books, and have made a video.

Our exhibition, which consists of 41 informational panels, has travelled the world since 1994 (you can find more information here).
Our book "Waldorf Education" has been translated into 16 languages and offers 40 double pages of useful and accessible information about the many aspects of Waldorf Education. Our 200 page publication "Waldorf Education Worldwide" (2001) includes contributions of authors out of over sixty countries, discussing the historical and contemporary developments in Waldorf Education throughout the world. Both publications are available online.
>> More about our publications.

Co-operation with UNESCO

We have been in ‚official relations’ with UNESCO since 2001. The UNESCO General Assembly in May 2001 in Paris voted to accept our request for official relations, and in doing so reflected positively on past cooperation between UNESCO and Friends of Waldorf Education. Through our support for a child-centered and future-orientated education, we adhere to the same fundamental principles and aims as UNESCO.
Meanwhile around 25 Waldorf schools have joined the network of over 7,500 UNESCO Project Schools. Any school can join this network, which facilitates innovation projects focusing on intercultural education, peace education, environmental education, or education towards democracy (for further information see www.unesco.org/education/asp).