Anyone who talks about trust, empathy, and responsibility should also live up to these values when the spotlight isn’t shining. That is why Dr. Nikolai A. Behr has been regularly supporting a number of nonprofit organizations for many years—through donations, volunteer work, and what he does best: communication.
This selection is no coincidence. It follows three recurring themes that run through his life: journalism, his background; the children and young people who have been denied a secure start in life; and the elderly who lose their memories—and with them, the language that connects us all.
On this page, we highlight the projects that Dr. Nikolai A. Behr regularly supports.
Aid from Journalists
SOS Children’s Villages
German Alzheimer’s Association
Peter Maffay Foundation
Rotary Munich International
International Committee: Aid from Journalists
In July 1993, media professionals in Munich founded an association. The idea behind it was simple: those who report on hardship can also actively work to alleviate it. This led to the creation of the International Committee: Aid from Journalists. The association helps people who have fallen on hard times through no fault of their own. It also supports victims of crime.
The committee deliberately operates on a small scale and in a direct manner. All members serve on a volunteer basis. Furthermore, the projects are funded almost exclusively by donations. As a result, aid goes to places where members are familiar with the situation firsthand.
This led to school projects in Kenya, Sri Lanka, and India. Later, Myanmar and Zambia were added to the list. The organization also helped orphans in Tanzania. For example, a youth center near Manila received a new roof. Survivors of Srebrenica also received reconstruction aid.
For Dr. Nikolai A. Behr, this commitment is particularly personal. He serves as the organization’s executive director and vice chair. As such, he has been supporting the organization’s work on a volunteer basis for years.
Link: http://www.journalists-committee.com/
SOS Children’s Villages
The idea is now nearly 80 years old and has lost none of its power: Children who cannot grow up with their biological parents do not need a home, but a family. In 1949, Hermann Gmeiner founded the first SOS Children’s Village; in 1956, the first German village was established in Dießen am Ammersee. Today, SOS-Kinderdorf e.V. is headquartered in Munich and operates at several hundred locations throughout Germany.
The children’s village has long since evolved into a broad network of social services: children’s village families and youth group homes, outpatient support for families in crisis, parenting and family counseling, mother-and-child centers and multigenerational homes, training centers for disadvantaged youth, and village communities for people with disabilities. Internationally, the organization is active in well over a hundred countries.
What impresses Dr. Nikolai A. Behr about this work is its pragmatism: It’s not about pity, but about reliable structures. It’s about adults who stay. And it’s about young people who are taken seriously as experts on their own lives—a fundamental idea that closely aligns with his own approach to communication on an equal footing.
Link: https://www.sos-childrensvillages.org/
German Alzheimer’s Association
Dementia is a disease that attacks the very things that communication depends on: memory, words, orientation, and the ability to recognize familiar faces. Well over a million people in Germany live with dementia, and more than 100,000 of them are under the age of 65. About two-thirds are cared for by family members—often around the clock, often to the very limits of their own strength.
Founded in 1989, the German Alzheimer’s Association is the national umbrella organization for local Alzheimer’s associations and self-help groups. It provides counseling to people with Alzheimer’s and their families—including through its nationwide, toll-free Alzheimer’s hotline—trains family caregivers, raises public awareness, and advocates for the interests of people with Alzheimer’s in the political arena—for example, in the steering committee of the National Dementia Strategy. Its goal is a dementia-friendly society in which a diagnosis does not mean the end of participation.
For Dr. Nikolai A. Behr, this brings things full circle: His professional life revolves around how people understand one another. This organization cares for those who are gradually losing their ability to understand—and for the families who stand by their side.
Link: www.deutsche-alzheimer.de
Peter Maffay Foundation
Violence, abuse, the loss of a parent, a serious illness, fleeing a crisis-stricken region: The children and teenagers who come to the Peter Maffay Foundation carry with them experiences for which there are no words at their age. The foundation creates places for them where they can take a break from their hardships for a while.
These places are called Tabaluga Houses. They are deliberately located in natural settings—on Lake Maising, at the Dietlhofen Estate near Weilheim, at the Tabaluga House in Jägersbrunn, in the Transylvanian Radeln region of Romania, and on Mallorca. Small groups of up to 14 children spend therapeutic, experiential stays there together with their caregivers: working with and in nature, creative activities, plenty of space, peace, and quiet. Another children’s home is scheduled to open in Pöcking on Lake Starnberg in early 2027.
Dr. Nikolai A. Behr knows Peter Maffay and his foundation’s work from personal encounters. What impresses him is the consistency behind it: Here, celebrity status is not used as a stage, but as a lever—over decades, with its own facilities and established structures.
Link: www.petermaffaystiftung.de
Rotary Club Munich International
The Rotary Club Munich International was the first English-speaking Rotary club in Germany—making it a natural fit for someone who works internationally and coaches in multiple languages. Rotary International connects more than 1.2 million members worldwide across more than 36,000 clubs and approximately 200 countries under the guiding principle of “Service Above Self”: selfless service, both in one’s own community and globally.
The Munich club combines both levels. Locally, it supports social institutions in the city, promotes youth and educational projects, and brings people from a wide variety of backgrounds together. Internationally, it contributes to Rotary’s major areas of focus: peace and conflict resolution, disease prevention, water and sanitation, maternal and child health, basic education, economic development, and the environment. The best-known of these initiatives is “End Polio Now,” the global fight against polio—one of the largest and most enduring health projects ever undertaken by civil society.
For Dr. Nikolai A. Behr, Rotary is one thing above all else: a network that puts responsibility into practice. It’s not about talking about values, but about projects that can be counted at the end of the year.