All in the same boat

Acting with the future in mind means taking responsibility for the common good, because companies and society are now in the same boat.

Dr. -Ing. h.c. Jochen Opländer

The Family Foundation

Dortmund entrepreneur and benefactor Dr.-Ing. h.c. Jochen Opländer, together with his children, established the Wilo-Foundation (which until 2015 was called Caspar Ludwig Opländer Foundation) in January 2011. The motivation was to ensure that Wilo SE would remain an independent company, aware of its social responsibility, and also provide financial support to the founding family and its descendants.

In the fourth generation of the Opländer family, the company Wilo was thus transferred to the family foundation. Since then, the foundation has been the main shareholder of the international pump manufacturer and pump system specialist WILO SE, which has its headquarters in Dortmund. In 2019, Oliver Hermes, President and CEO of WILO SE, took over as successor of the business and also became Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Wilo-Foundation.

In addition, the foundation takes on social responsibility and provides financial support for initiatives and projects in the areas of science and research, education, art and culture, sports and other fields of social welfare. Geographically, the foundation’s engagement focuses on the Wilo Group’s international sites.

Moreover, the Wilo-Foundation is the trustee of the WILO-Stiftung, a non-profit foundation established in 2015 by the Opländer founding family. The WILO-Stiftung supports projects in the areas of science, education and youth welfare and international understanding.

Focus topics

Right from the start, we have focused on three thematic areas in our funding activities: environmental protection, climate action and, in particular, water as a resource. Wilo, as a family-owned business, has a long tradition in engineering. Therefore, technical issues and, today, also the digital transformation and experimental ways of learning play a pivotal role in the foundation’s work.

The foundation also attaches particular importance to building entrepreneurial skills and promoting start-up initiatives that aim to sustainably improve human wellbeing. In all funding areas, its work is inspired by fundamental values that build on the Opländer founding family’s principles of life and on Wilo’s corporate culture.

Achieving more by working together

The Wilo-Foundation would like to thank all its funding partners that work towards a better future, initiate valuable projects and act with competence and trustworthiness. They enable us to make a contribution in a spirit of solidarity and work for the common good.

In order to further increase the impact of its funding activities and expand its activities in a meaningful way, the Wilo-Foundation is an active member and contributor of local and global networks.

Foundations 20

The Wilo-Foundation is a member of the partner circle of the international foundations platform Foundations 20 (F20). The aim is to promote transnational cooperation to contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris climate agreement. The platform is intended to be a space for strategic cooperation on the topics of climate change, environmental protection and renewable energy and build a bridge between the twenty most important industrial and emerging economies (G20), the private and financial sector, and civil society.

TO THE WEBSITE

Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtschaft im BDI e.V.

(Association of the German Economy at the Ferderation of German Industries e.V.)

For many years, the Wilo-Foundation has been a member of the Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtschaft im BDI e.V. (Association of the German Economy at the Federation of German Industries), the longest-standing institution for entrepreneurial support of the arts in Germany. The foundation supported, among others, the international music format “embassy concerts”, which enabled award-winning young musicians to give concerts at international venues.

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Stiftungsnetzwerk Ruhr

The Wilo-Foundation is a member of the steering committee of the Stiftungsnetzwerk Ruhr (Ruhr Region Foundations Network) launched in 2016. Since then, the network has been the central platform for foundations from the region for exchanging experience and knowledge and forging networks. In addition to its own website, which was set up with support from the Wilo-Foundation, the network organises meetings twice a year in order to foster the exchange between members. These meetings are being co-sponsored by the Wilo-Foundation.

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Dortmunder Stiftungstag

Building networks between the 150 foundations based in Dortmund and the surrounding region and giving them a platform to exchange ideas and experiences is the underlying idea of the Dortmund Foundations Day, which was launched by the City of Dortmund in 2016. It is implemented with financial support from the Dortmund-Stiftung (Dortmund Foundation), Sparkasse Dortmund (Dortmund savings bank) and the Wilo-Foundation. As a platform for a fast exchange of information, there is also the Dortmund foundations portal.

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Science Master Plan Dortmund

With the Science Master Plan Dortmund, a project was launched in 2011 to further strengthen the interaction between science and urban society and sharpen Dortmund’s profile as a city of science. One highlight is the annual science conference on topical issues in the city of Dortmund. Alongside the financial support that the Wilo-Foundation provided at the start of the project, the foundation is now an active member of the board of trustees and in thematic groups.

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Our commitment in figures