"Funding commitments will be upheld"

Is the Volkswagen Foundation able to honor its funding commitments? Without a shadow of a doubt: Yes! This applies both to projects that fall under our so-called General Funding as well as those funded in the context of Niedersächsisches Vorab. The reason there is no need to fear the contrary is because once the Foundation has agreed to fund a project, the necessary amount is set aside in provisions to cover the commitment. This means that the financing is reliably secured.

Why the distinction between "General Funding" and "Niedersächsisches Vorab"? These are the names we give to the Foundation’s two major funding areas. They are financed from two different sources. General Funding encompasses the vast majority of our funding initiatives, many of which have an international orientation. The projects in this area are financed from the ordinary income yielded by the Foundation’s wide-ranging investment portfolio amounting to more than three billion euros. And how is Niedersächsisches Vorab financed? In a nutshell, the funds for Niedersächsisches Vorab come mainly from the dividends earned by the over 30 million shares in Volkswagen AG that belong to the Federal State of Lower Saxony. The annual dividends accruing to the Foundation are reserved solely for the funding of science scholarships, and technology in the areas of research and education at universities and research institutes located in Lower Saxony. Here, the funding is provided in close cooperation with the Lower Saxony Ministry for Science and Culture. Could it be that the Foundation will not be able to support so many projects in future? We see no reason to change our policy in the area of General Funding. Anyone submitting a well-substantiated proposal under one of our funding initiatives will stand just as good a chance of being granted funding as before. Our projections over the next four or five years foresee around 70 million euros a year for funding new projects that fall under the category of General Funding. What about projects in the category of Niedersächsisches Vorab? Just how much will be available for funding here depends to a great extent on the amount yielded by the VW dividends. One shouldn’t however forget that around 10 percent of our other revenues are also allocated to Niedersächsischs Vorab. As I already said: All grants approved in the past are fully financed already. Nobody has to fear that an approved grant will not be upheld. On other fronts, we have to wait and see how things develop at Wolfsburg. Here, too, we are in close liaison with the Ministry. You are sounding the all clear, then? At all events, as I already pointed out, all clear for new projects in the category General Funding. That there is no need to hit the brakes due to lack of finance is shown by the fact we are continuing to announce new calls for proposals. I can perfectly understand why recent headlines triggered uneasiness among our target groups. A lot of that is because many people erroneously believe we are a corporate foundation directly linked to Volkswagen AG. That, however, is not the case. Rather, we are the largest independent private Research funding organization in Germany. And we will continue to be so in the years to come. The questions were put by Jens Rehländer, Head of Communications at Volkswagen Foundation.