bcause Information

bcause is a German provider of digital foundation accounts modeled on the donor-advised fund (DAF). It is designed for individuals and families who carry responsibility for wealth and wish to put it to work for long-term social impact, during their lifetime rather than through their estate. Typical occasions include an inheritance, the sale of a business, a growing commitment to giving, and family and succession. For these situations, bcause offers the Professional Foundation: a digital foundation account with the freedom of a private foundation, without the effort of establishing and administering one. The capital paid in is bound to charitable purposes and made available for grants. It can be granted immediately or step by step, while the unallocated balance remains invested with an impact focus. Grant decisions remain self-determined. Administration, documentation and tax receipts are handled in the background. On bcause’s philanthropy platform, three levels of effective giving work together. The digital foundation account provides the structure. More than 500,000 charitable organizations and curated portfolios in Germany and abroad open up pathways to impact. Club Neues Geben, a curated circle for people with similar responsibility for wealth, offers space for exchange and joint action. bcause calls this interplay Das Neue Geben, a new way of giving. The capital is not held by bcause GmbH but by a charitable trust foundation (Treuhandstiftung) with an independent board. bcause was founded in Berlin in 2021. Its co-founder and CEO is Felix Oldenburg, formerly Secretary General of the Association of German Foundations (Bundesverband Deutscher Stiftungen), Chair of the European foundation network Dafne, and Director of Ashoka Germany and Ashoka Europe.