Partners in confronting collective atrocities e.V. is a German non-profit and charitable society. It benefits from a special status, granted by the German tax authority, which allows it to issue tax certificates to its donors, which can use these for tax deduction purposes. PCCA is also exempt from paying corporate taxes. These privileges are granted and maintained on the basis of PCCA’s charter, that strictly stipulates for which purposes PCCA may spend money, namely: “planning, preparation, organization and evaluation of conferences in accordance with the Group Relations Model, which serve the purpose of working through events at a personal and especially at a group level, as well as through publications, which make the concepts and outcomes of this work public. In this way, the society pursues an educational purpose.”
In the course of the annual assembly meeting, the chairperson reports on PCCAs activities in line with this charter. The treasurer presents income received and expenses made throughout the year and makes proposals with regards to the financial result of the year. The financial report is audited by a member of the board and approved by the annual assembly. Every three years these reports serve as the basis for a filing with the German tax authority, which will evaluate the appropriate use of funds (correctness, compliance with purpose) and – if positive – approve and extend the charitable status of PCCA for another three years; just as recently, in January 2019, when the decision was re-issued.
The financial affairs of PCCA are simple and straight forward to understand. Once a year, PCCA meets for its annual assembly for three days to review its work, discuss current societal trends relevant to its work, plan future events and develop its strategy with regards to achieving social impact. “Corporate housekeeping” as mentioned above complements the agenda. Typically, PCCA requires up to € 5.000 for this annual event to compensate travel expenses. € 2.000 – 3.000 are being spent for various informational cost, such as newsletters, brochure design, website maintenance etc. All other expenses, such as insurance, office materials, bank fees etc. are usually limited to less than € 1.000. These recurrent costs are covered by the contributions of active members and supporting members, donations, sponsors and surpluses that may result from conferences with a high participation rate. If the financial year is closed with a surplus, this amount is allocated to a reserve, which serves as a financial “cushion” in case conferences turn out not to be cost-covering or in case other unforeseen expenses have to be made. As the recent conferences were very well attended, a financial result was achieved that enabled PCCA in 2019 to invest into a re-launch and long due overhaul of its website.
Stronger financial support would be welcome, as that would create the financial conditions to plan activities a bit longer term and strengthen the work in the area of publications, research and preparation of new conference topics.
Christoph Freytag