[11] Against this background and because he believed that the state must be able to count on its citizens' willingness to assume responsibility and take the initiative, Mohn founded the Bertelsmann Stiftung on 8 February 1977.

[16] One of the Bertelsmann Stiftung's first activities was the baseline study Kommunikationsverhalten und Buch ("Communication Behavior and the Book"), which was prepared in cooperation with Infratest.

In the report's foreword, Karl Carstens, president of the Federal Republic of Germany, praised the "achievement of foundations in the public sphere.

In addition to Reinhard Mohn and Hans-Dieter Weger, the board's members were Kurt Biedenkopf, Gerd Bucerius, Friedhelm Farthmann and Eberhard Witte.

[22] Today, the award continues to honor internationally renowned figures who have developed pioneering solutions to social and political challenges.

[23] In addition to working in Germany, the Bertelsmann Stiftung initiated several international projects in the 1980s,[12] such as the Kulturraum Europa (European Culture Space).

The former foreign policy adviser to Helmut Kohl became managing director of the Bertelsmann Stiftung in early 1991 and began focusing on the foundation's internationalization.

[35] In the same year, Reinhard Mohn transferred the majority of the capital shares in the Bertelsmann Group to the foundation, a move intended to ensure continuity at the company.

[37] In the 1993 transfer agreement, however, shareholdings and voting rights were strictly separated, so that the foundation cannot exercise any significant influence on the Bertelsmann Group,[9] which is still largely controlled by the Mohn family.

[43] As an interim step, at the end of 2000 Reinhard Mohn became chairman of both the executive committee and the board of trustees, until Gunter Thielen succeeded him in both positions in mid-2001.

[60] The Bertelsmann Stiftung is overseen by the district government of Detmold and engages in tax-privileged activities exclusively and directly in accordance with the relevant tax regulations.

The Bertelsmann Stiftung sets aside reserves as required by the relevant tax regulations in order to pursue its activities independently of current income.

In 1986, the Bertelsmann Stiftung moved to a historic building on Moltkestraße, which had been erected by a subsidiary of the Reichsbank in 1893 and was owned by the central bank of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia until 1985.

[76][77] For example, the Bertelsmann Stiftung produces studies and rankings,[78][79] conducts model projects,[80] shares knowledge and expertise,[81][82] organizes congresses and awards prizes.

[100] The Bertelsmann Stiftung is committed on both the national and the international level to strengthening democracy through the promotion of citizen participation in political decision-making and planning processes.

[117][118] It also promotes volunteer work and other activities that increase social cohesion,[119] in part by awarding of the "Mein gutes Beispiel" (My Best Practice) prize.

[120] Social justice and intergenerational equity are also important concerns,[121] and one of the reasons the foundation addresses these subjects is to narrow the gap between rich and poor.

For example, the Bertelsmann Stiftung is critical of the increase in child poverty in Germany and the way the country's pension system disadvantages families.

[146] It has repeatedly published analyses and studies on changes in the German labor market,[147] and the findings were partly incorporated into the Hartz reforms carried out during the Gerhard Schröder government.

[157] Published in 2010, the book "Bertelsmannrepublik Deutschland – eine Stiftung macht Politik" ("Bertelsmann's Republic of Germany: A Foundation Sets Policy") by author and journalist Thomas Schuler gained even greater attention.

He also noted that in the United States this would have a negative impact on the foundation's non-profit tax status; moreover, he argued that the situation does not reflect the "standard of efficiency" normally endorsed by the Bertelsmann Stiftung.

She suggested that the RTL and VOX television stations belonging to the Bertelsmann Group and numerous Gruner + Jahr magazines served the foundation by disseminating its messages.

In the United States, he noted, non-profit foundations are not permitted to hold more than a 20% stake in a company in order to avoid possible conflicts of interest; in addition, they have to provide a public accounting of their expenditures.

Commenting on the foundation's "engagement with civil society," Wolfgang Lieb, former state secretary in the North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry of Science, has argued that this legitimacy is being increasingly diminished, and even replaced by, economic power.

[169] By consulting with politicians outside of government settings, Lieb suggests, the Bertelsmann Stiftung is pursuing a "privatization of politics," a situation that offers mutual benefits: civil servants and politicians are given a protected space where they alone are provided with information free of charge and where they can engage in discussion, while the Bertelsmann Stiftung secures access to all the projects it wants to influence.

[171] In 2012, Josef Kraus, president of the German Teachers' Association [de], spoke critically about the influence of the Bertelsmann Stiftung on education policy.

[verification needed] Lobbycontrol criticizes, for example, the "Standortcheck" (Business Location Check), which it says amounts to a canonical neoliberal reform.

[175][176] The practical implementation of this principle, however, has been questioned from several sides, in particular because the foundation has only established contacts with "radical supporters of market policies" among left-leaning parties.

According to Schumann, the "shadow government in Gütersloh" runs on de facto on public money, because Reinhard Mohn saved an over €2 billion in inheritance and gift taxes when he transferred three-quarters of the Bertelsmann Group capital shares to the foundation.

[186] The Bertelsmann Stiftung has always rejected these accusations, noting that its non-profit status has been recognized by the tax authorities and is reviewed on an ongoing basis.