Private sponsors drive sustainability initiatives at Goethe University / Goethe University seeks new supporters for further projects
Goethe University Frankfurt is continuing to expand its commitment to sustainability – and is deliberately seeking the support of private donors in the process. Private donations in particular enable many of the projects that make environmental and climate protection visible and tangible on campus.
An impressive example of this are the newly created Tiny Forests – small, fast-growing mini-forests that not only create habitats for animals but also improve the microclimate. After just a few years, Tiny Forests can bind comparable amounts of CO₂ as conventional, significantly older forest areas and are therefore particularly suitable for urban areas with little space and open areas. They also serve as real-world laboratories for biodiversity, climate research and participatory environmental education.
The impetus for the first four Tiny Forests on three campuses came from private sponsors Claudia and Hendrik Leber. ‘Their support has literally taken root. It shows that our sponsors not only support our goals in research, teaching and transfer, but also sustainability. In this area in particular, we as a university can launch pilot projects and evaluate their impact in order to propose simple solutions for our society,’ says the university’s president, Prof. Enrico Schleiff.
The Tiny Forests are examples of various measures that Goethe University is pursuing as part of its comprehensive sustainability strategy. This strategy formulates ways to make research, transfer, teaching and study, our campuses, structures and culture continuously more sustainable. Private funding is an important source of support for the implementation of effective projects.
Under the umbrella of the Goethe Sustainability Fund (GNF), funds will be made available in future to support initiatives by employees and students. These include projects such as the use of reusable laboratory materials, bee-friendly planting in institute courtyards and the expansion of the bicycle repair shop run by the AStA. ‘Sustainability thrives on many small steps that together have a big impact,’ says Fabienne Beck, head of the university’s sustainability office. ‘The GNF aims to enable and highlight precisely these movements.’
To advance these projects, Goethe University is placing this year’s Christmas donation mailing entirely under the motto of sustainability. The university is looking for supporters who, with their donations, will enable mini forests and other ecological initiatives on campus – and thus also support new, creative project ideas from the university community.
Here, too, there is additional impetus from the support of a company: Merz Lifecare – known for brands such as tetesept and Merz Spezial and based in Riedberg – is so convinced of the campaign that it will finance another mini forest on the Riedberg campus as soon as the first one is realised through private donations.
You can find Goethe University’s appeal for donations here.
Please share it with people who care about sustainability and who want to help turn good ideas into concrete measures for a more sustainable future – at the university and beyond.
More about the Tiny Forests at Goethe University.
Contact: Susanne Honnef, Private University Funding, Fundraising/Sponsorship Officer, Goethe University Frankfurt. Telephone +49 (0) 69 798 12433 | Mobile +49 (0) 172 3136781. Email: honnef@pvw.uni-frankfurt.de
