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With Sebastian Gröger, general manager of Jet Aviation, Dusseldorf, and Dr. Olaf von Maydell, partner in the office of Schomerus, Berlin, we gain two board members with competence and heart.

Finally a letter of intent from the owner flickers in our mailbox.

Greige acquaints us with the publicist Ralf Grauel which gives us strategical advise. Dr. Olaf von Maydell undertakes the function of our tax accountant and brings cumulative experience in the nonprofit area.

Under supervision of a notary, we found the Social Return nonprofit GmbH.

Staff of the Tempelhof Projekt GmbH lead us through the former workshops of the old airport Tempelhof. It’s love at first sight. All right. The rooms, the location, even the smell of oil and metal. Now it’s vital to to ask friendly once a month.

We hold talks with all major non profit institutions in Neukölln, Kreuzberg and Tempelhof. And with district offices and city councils. Our particular interest is to push at this point not a project that someone else is already making, perhaps even much better than we. Unlike in the private sector applies here that competition or too similar projects are rather bad for business. But it turns out quickly: Social Return fills a gap.

We move into our office in the Mommsenstraße in Charlottenburg.

We have a face. Logo and look are from Birthe Haas and Mark Kiessling from the design office Greige. We decide to travel the onward journey together.

We know Berlin from a different perspective. Talk with authorities, with schools, social institutions and experts. We also talk with Wolfgang Buescher (Arche) and Klaus Lehnert (Campus Rütli). Our question: What is needed? Where and how can we help? Our niche early becomes apparent: There are hardly any offers in the category of technical and craft occupations at the focal points.

We have had enough of the bad news around “Rütlischule”, Neukölln and youth unemployment and decide to engage us. We want to be socially active in Berlin. We want to change something. There, where we are needed. And we want to offer something that others do not offer. This means that we need to find out what the others do.