Our aid for children with cleft lip and palate is based on strong structures in an international network. Our committed employees and many passionate partners drive our mission forward. In our project countries, more than 250 local doctors, therapists and project staff provide accessible medical care for patients in need, even in remote regions. German doctors support our local partners on a voluntary basis with their specialist expertise. Cooperations with international aid organizations enable us to substantially expand our projects worldwide. Numerous funding partners at home and abroad, committed companies and many private donors have supported us continuously and sometimes for many years, resulting in a sustainable aid effort.
Our charity is based in Freiburg im Breisgau. Eight permanent employees, some of whom work part-time, are responsible for the management, development and coordination of our aid projects, fundraising, communication and donor support.
You can download the complete charter here (only availabe in German).
Help and heal sustainably – that is the motto of the Deutsche Cleft Kinderhilfe Foundation, which supports selected projects of our charity. The foundation was established by the Stuttgart oral and maxillofacial surgeon Dr. Dr. med. Heinz Lübbe, who was a board member of the German Cleft Kinderhilfe e.V. from 2005 until his death in September 2015.
Heinz Lübbe was not only an excellent doctor – he was also a visionary and worked as an active manager for the charity. He was committed to ensuring that cleft children in developing countries have access to qualified and comprehensive treatment. The establishment of the foundation was his last major initiative, which he initiated despite a serious illness.
Therwil and Dornbirn – our two partner associations in Switzerland and Austria are pursuing a great goal with us: to give children with cleft lip and palate a chance in life. Our Austrian partner association was only established late last year under the name Austrian Cleft Children’s Aid and is currently still organizing itself. Further information will follow shortly.
In cooperation with Swiss doctors, the board and employees of Deutsche Cleft Kinderhilfe founded a partner association in Switzerland in 2008. The Swiss Aid Society for Cleft Children (Schweizer Hilfe für Spaltkinder, SHfS), based in Therwil near Basel, was created to generate additional funds in Switzerland to aid cleft children. Since December 2013, the SHfS has financed more than 200 operations in our Indian treatment centers every year. This funding currently benefits the cleft center in Patna. The Swiss team works on a voluntary basis.
As per our statutes, we act as a health insurance for needy patients with cleft lip and palate. With your donations, we finance the treatments and maintain our aid structures in the project countries. The senior surgeons are reimbursed for their work. Our partner hospitals often provide us with the necessary medical infrastructure at below the usual market rate. Every treatment is documented in our patient database by the doctors on site. After verifying the documentation, we reimburse the costs from Germany directly to our project partners every month.
We measure our success primarily by the number of operations carried out in our projects. In the past three years we have been happy to see a large increase in the number of operations. With 6,280 operations, 2019 was the most successful year in our history to date. Most of the money donated to us goes directly into our global aid projects. In 2019, 81.3 percent of our expenditure went into our projects: EUR 1.702 million for direct medical aid, EUR 307 thousand for project coordination and support, EUR 11 thousand for specialist information as per our statutes.
We can’t do our work completely without spending money on advertising and administration. Without, we would be unable to raise donations and organize their use. Nevertheless, we try to keep this spending as low as possible. We do not use giveaway items such as pens, stationery or other “incentives” in our fundraising that unnecessarily cause costs through their production and in postage. To win new supporters, our TV spot is an incredibly valuable tool. This spot is aired free of charge on various TV stations of the RTL media group, a huge gesture of support for which we are deeply grateful.
In 2019, the share of spending on fundraising and advertising was 15.4 percent, and administrative costs accounted for 3.3 percent of our spending.
A token of dependability: Since 2012, we have been proud bearers of the DZI seal of approval for our responsible use of our donors’ funds. The first award was based on an audit of our 2010 spending and the certification process is repeated annually. The seal is awarded by the German Central Institute for Social Issues (DZI), based in Berlin. The DZI seal of approval certifies that the organization bearing it is responsible and careful in the use of the donations entrusted to them.
Our annual financial statements are audited by an external company in accordance with the exacting DZI guidelines. This detailed financial report is published on October 1 of the following year in our online annual report, which you can also download as a PDF below. In the preliminary version, the focus is on a comprehensive review of the year with impressions from our project countries. You can also order this preliminary report from us in printed form. Simply use our contact form.
Only the annual reports since 2018 are available in English. You can download older reports in German from the German version of our site.
As a promotor of charitable purposes and public health, Deutsche Cleft Kinderhilfe e.V. is exempt from corporation tax in accordance with Section 5 (1) No. 9 of the Corporation Tax Act and exempt from trade tax in accordance with Section 3 No. 6 of the Trade Tax Act (exemption notice from the Freiburg-Stadt Tax Office, tax number 06469/47127, November 18, 2019 for the last assessment period 2016 to 2018).
Due to our nonprofit status, we can issue donation receipts for donations received. In order to reduce the administrative burden, these are sent out collectively at the beginning of the following year for all donations made by a donor in the previous year.
