Dornier Claim

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Peter Dornier

Peter Dornier Foundation
(1917-2002)

Maja Dornier

Maja Dornier
Hospice Foundation

Foundation prize 2016

Peter Dornier Foundation

For a long time, Peter Dornier considered charitable contributions to be an entirely personal matter. It was a family custom that on Sunday mornings he would withdraw to his study, and there he would make considered gifts to charitable organizations and non-profit initiatives. This form of philanthropy assumed a larger dimension in 1985 when in the wake of the corporate wrangling with Daimler-Benz AG he established the Peter Dornier Foundation. From now on, one tenth of everything he and his employees at LiDO earned would be directed to the public good. Initially, Peter Dornier shunned any publicity, holding true to the biblical maxim: "But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth." But he quickly realized that the company employees who benefited from local and regional projects supported by the foundation should be informed about its purposes. Over the decades of its existence, Peter Dornier’s private act of charity became a highly respected source of funds for non-profit projects in and around Lindau.

The purpose of the foundation, the foundation objectives often also reflect the personality, preferences and visions of its founder. So the Peter Dornier Foundation also affords a glimpse of the wide ranging sensibilities of the man. It reveals his feeling of responsibility toward the weak, the disadvantaged and those in need of help in society. For example, as a man with a vivid imagination he was keenly affected by the thought of being blind or mentally disabled. Accordingly, he gave instructions for donations to be made to caregivers in facilities for the disabled as a mark of his high regard for this demanding work.

Regarding social justice, he was deeply moved by the misery of the starving and refugees, most particularly of homeless children. Correspondingly, projects in this field were funded successfully in Mexico, Bolivia and elsewhere. His special relationship with Nature, particularly trees, is the reason why protection of the rainforests remains an important pillar of the foundation to this day.

Conservation of a livable planet for future generations was always an objective close to his heart. Other foundation donations reveal his respect for ethnic and cultural diversity, his love of music (classical and jazz) and the aesthetic arts. This last also embraces the preservation of cultural heritage with protection for memorials and historic monuments. Consequently, since the German Reunificaton foundation funds have been directed to volunteer programs to restore fieldstone churches in the former GDR and make them usable for religious and cultural gatherings. For Peter Dornier, who had a keen eye for elegant and original architecture, this was a particularly satisfying field of activity. During his lifetime, the founder also expressed the wish to establish a prize to recognize to young people engaged in technical activities, both research and practical. This wish will be realized for the first time on the occasion of his 100th birthday.

Peter Dornier approached his life as a businessman and an engineer with passion and compassion, without fear or favor. This is also how he led his foundation. And this is how it will continue.

"It is and will always be our mission to preserve the memory of the founder and ensure that his creation remains powerfully relevant in a changing world."

The Foundation board of directors

Maja Dornier (Chairwoman of the Board), Univ. Professor em. Dr. med. Wolf Mutschler (Director)

The Foundation management board

Peter D. Dornier, Kerstin Dornier, Karin Preisser, Aimée Dornier, Hans-Jürgen Schmidt (treasurer)

Supported projects

Hospice Center Lindau am Bodensee

LIVING UNTIL THE END

Deep in the Lindau-Aeschach hinterland, surrounded by apparently enchanted gardens, stands the imposing old merchant's house "Brög zum Engel". It was a stroke of luck for the visiting service of Kranke und Sterbende e. V. that in January 1996 they were able to rent the house for the long term with aid from the Peter Dornier Foundation. As a result, the hospice group founded in 1986 by Maja Dornier und Christa Popper, one of the first of its kind in Germany, had more than just a meeting place. Here, the wish for a residential facility inspired by many years of caring for the dying and their close friends and family would also be met for the future. Thereafter, the residential facility complemented the organization's outpatient work, relieved the patients' families of some of the burden, and afforded patients with no support network security and a home.

Through the Association of Patrons and Friends of the "Haus Brög zum Engel Hospice Center", founded in February 1996 with former district chief executive Klaus Henninger as its chairman, in January 1998 the house could be opened to accommodate five to six residential patients. This would not have been possible without donations from industry and private individuals, grants from the State of Bavaria and foundations, volunteering work by local individuals, particularly the Aeschach Men's Club and the enormous commitment the visiting service, which to this day provides indispensable assistance in the running of the house through voluntary work.

More about the Hospice Center

"Haug am Brückele", Lindau

A FARMHOUSE FOR YOUNG AND OLD

Generations of residents of Reutin and Lindau can still remember the days when the farm "Haug am Brückele" on Köchlinstraße was a sight to behold. But throughout the 1990s it was not managed, and by 2002 the property was in a serious state of disrepair and even in danger of collapse.

That the farm compound has been saved is due to the energy of three Lindau residents, Luise Mussack, Anneliese Spangehl and Maja Dornier.

This in turn provided the necessary environment for the association and other interested parties to create a farm property for children, families and the elderly, whose luxuriant, gaily colored garden now delights young and old.

More about "Haug am Brückele"

Hohentwiel steamship company, Austria

ALL ABOARD THE SHIP OF DREAMS

Whether at dock or in the middle of Lake Constance, the steamship "Hohentwiel", which first ran down the slipway in 1913, is a vision of regal elegance. It is often literally preceded by its legendary call even before it comes into sight: the rumbling basso profondo of the ship's foghorn which Captain Adolf F. Konstatzky occasionally sends out over the lake, drawing the gazes of people on the land and on the water. Then, in a fairytale apparition, the paddle steamer from the Belle Époque makes its stately entrance, a vision unmatched except in images of an era long past.

More about the Hohentwiel

"Green Gold", worldwide

EVERY TREE IS PRECIOUS

For more than 25 years, the tropical forest foundation OroVerde has worked to preserve and protect the tropical rainforests. Pilot projects are conducted jointly with local partners and residents, many of them in rainforest regions or enormous ecological diversity.

More about the Rainforest Project

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