Harald Schmitz, 58, has been CEO of the Bank for Social Economy since 2014.
Image: Hannes Jung
Anyone who gives money to Turkey is very likely to pay it to the Bank for Social Economy. Here her boss Harald Schmitz talks about German generosity and the ideal donation.
Mr. Schmitz, when was the last time you donated a larger sum?
That was on the occasion of the tragic flood disaster in the Ahr Valley. I live in the region there, so it was particularly close to my heart.
There are always humanitarian catastrophes, such as the recent earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. Are the Germans generous donors?
The willingness to donate money is very high in this country. We have seen that in all the crises of the past few years, such as the war of aggression against Ukraine or the flood disaster. At such moments, the amounts in the donation accounts increase enormously. In general, we can observe two trends that at first glance seem a bit contradictory: The average amount that people donate is increasing. Older people in particular make a large contribution to the donation volume. Almost half of the donation volume comes from people over 70 years of age. On average, they donate more than 400 euros per year. At the same time, however, the total number of donors is steadily declining.
