That's important to Cornelia
Projects and Organizations that are dear to Cornelia's heart
"There are currently so many things to fight for or against. I am especially involved with women's and children's rights, with environment protection and biodiversity conservation. But that's just a fraction of a large number of projects that need help and support.
We cannot leave the responsibility for the world to others, because most often it is the ruthless people who rule it. We can all do our part to make the world a better place not only for ourselves, but for all its inhabitants."
Rim of Heaven Cornelia's Foundation
Maybe an initiative that encourages immigrant children to put their stories into words? Or an organization, that supports students to finish high school with a program focused on art and creativity? Or how about an environmental group, that makes a city more livable by planting trees? There is hardly any occasion, Cornelia and her foundation Rim of Heaven would not be open to.
Cornelia would like to help those who help others in creative, joyful and inspired ways. Maybe she can help to make their important work a little bit easier ...
Rim of Heaven is of personal concern to Cornelia. It fills her with joy to give back a little bit of what life is giving to her.
The foundation has four legs, on which it stands, we like to say: Visual arts, as Cornelia is an illustrator. Storytelling, as Cornelia is also a writer. Music, as Cornelia believes that to be the most powerful form of expression we humans came up with so far. The fourth leg is conservation, of wild beasts and wild places, and the attempt, to make children and teens aware how much they lose if all they
know are manmade things.
As an artist, Cornelia believes that without nature we don’t understand the circle of life on this planet and what inspires our creativity.
The foundation also supports young artists by an Artist in Residence project. Cornelia invites young artists, who stay for a week or maybe even longer in one of her guest apartments on her former Tuscan farm, to create together or to just get inspired by that place.
Refugee Aid Project, RAICES San Antonio, Texas
Founded in 1986 as the Refugee Aid Project by community activists in South Texas, RAICES has grown to be the largest immigration legal services provider in Texas. RAICES is an acronym for the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services. It offers free and low-cost legal services to immigrants and refugees. RAICES offers consultations for immigrants filling out residency or citizenship applications. It also offers legal services to asylum-seekers eligible for relief, victims of crime or Texas residents at risk of deportation. In 2017, RAICES staff closed 51,000 cases at no cost to the client.
Southern Poverty Law Center Montgomery, Alabama
The Southern Poverty Law Center was founded in 1971 by Civil rights lawyers Morris Dees and Joseph Levin Jr. to ensure that the promise of the civil rights movement became a reality for all. Since then, they’ve won numerous landmark legal victories on behalf of the exploited, the powerless and the forgotten.
GO Campaign Santa Monica, California
GO Campaign was founded in 2006 by former attorney and Hollywood screenwriter Scott Fifer. His vision is "that we continue to meet the needs of children around the world in the most compassionate, efficient, and holistic way possible without encouraging dependency on aid."
The nonprofit organization is based in Santa Monica, California and raises awareness and funds to help orphans and vulnerable children throughout the world. The organization supports projects at the grassroots level that bring direct relief to children in need of education & vocational training, medical care, enrichment programs, and basic human rights.
Ecologia Youth Trust Forres, Scottland
Ecologia Youth Trust is a small Scottish charity that supports disadvantaged youth in many countries of the world to realise their full potential. Every child deserves a loving home, a family and an education so that they can grow up to become fulfilled individuals who make a valuable contribution to their society. The charity organisation works with local organisations that share their aims and values.
Mission Blue Napa, California
Led by legendary oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle, Mission Blue is uniting a global coalition to inspire an upwelling of public awareness, access and support for a worldwide network of marine protected areas – Hope Spots.
Bärenherz Wiesbaden, Germany
The German charitable trust Bärenherz (BearHeart) supports institutions for families with seriously ill children, particularly children's hospices. Bärenherz is a shelter that provides comfort and protection for families, whose children are terminally ill. The hospice offers advice, qualified and loving care, relief and comfort, from diagnosis to death and beyond.
Los Angeles Community Garden Council Los Angeles, California
The LA Community Garden Council is a small non-profit project by a handful of paid employees with support from a wider network of local board members with ties to various organizations such as the LA Food Policy Council. Since 1998, LA Community Garden Council has helped build 38 community gardens and has offered gardening and community organizing advice to more than 125 community gardens in LA County. The goal at the Los Angeles Community Garden Council is to ensure that all people in LA County can grow healthy food in their neighborhood.
Kinderschutz-Akademie Niedersachsen Niedersachsen, Germany
Children have rights! Children have the right to live in a safe environment, free from any type of discrimination. They have the right to an adequate standard of living, including access to safe food and water and medical care and education. They have the right to be heard. That's what the UN Convention on the Right of the Child says and to which the Kinderschutz-Akademie in Niedersachsen/Germany is committed.
Green Communication Initiative Los Angeles, California
Green Communications Initiative is a nonprofit public benefit corporation, committed to people consuming less. Communicating through arts, media, culture and education they are committed to actively benefit our environment. By supporting positive consumer behaviors and encouraging necessary change, by creating a dialogue between people and makers of green products about the way we consume them, they create a partnership for the stewardship of our planet.
Häusliche Kinder-Krankenpflege in Hamburg, Germany
The Häusliche Kinderkrankenpflege Hamburg e.V. (Domestic Children's Nursing Hamburg) is the oldest Pediatric Intensive Care Service in Hamburg, caring for sick children and their families.
Cornelia has taken on a patronage of the Domestic Children's Nursing to support their important work, so that the children can receive care in the comfort of their own homes.
826LA Los Angeles, California
826LA is a non-profit tutoring center for students ages 6 to 18. It specializes in after-school tutoring, evening and weekend workshops, in-school tutoring, help for English language learners, and assistance with student publications. The students are encouraged to be creative and once a month one of their stories gets published and put into the store for people to purchase.
The Book Truck Los Angeles County, California
The Book Truck is a non-profit organization that gives away free books to teens in under-served communities. Cornelia joined forces with bookseller and librarian Elizabeth Dragga to create this very special organization. The mission is to empower each teen to find the books that nourish their heart and mind, to build a community of readers.
Conservation International Arlington, Virginia
Conservation International (CI) is a nonprofit environmental organization that has its main offices in Arlington, Virginia.The organization believes "that human beings are totally dependent on nature — and that by saving nature, we’re saving ourselves. To that end, CI is helping to build a healthier, more prosperous and more productive planet."
CI employs more than 1,000 people and works with more than 2,000 partners in 30 countries and has helped support 1,200 protected areas and interventions across 77 countries, safeguarding more than 601 million hectares of land, marine and coastal areas.
wünschdirwas e.V. Cologne, Germany
wünschdirwas (Make a Wish) is a German non-profit association. wünschdirwas wants to fulfil the wishes of ill children, help them master the difficult time in Hospital and to help them not to loose the will for life. wünschdirwas finances its work through individual contributions, through dedicated patrons and sponsors. The volunteers talk quite open and empathetically with the children about their dreams and wishes, to get to know the children better and to give them an impression of the organization's work. When a child has confided his or her dream to wünschdirwas, with the agreement of parents, therapists and physicians they will go to any lengths to fulfill this dream. In 2007, Cornelia became the patron of wünschdirwas.
Cornelia Funke Tree House Dorsten
When Cornelia was a child, there was that magic day once a week, when she and her father went to the public library to borrow piles of new books. That library was built on stilts and had a spiral staircase. To Cornelia it looked like a tree house.
The old building is still there, on the very spot in Cornelia's German hometown Dorsten, though for a long time it did not accommodate Treasure Island, Villa Villekulla, Apache-chiefs or magic wardrobes, but only the city council's printing machines.
Then one day, the local newspaper's editorial staff and the mayor of Dorsten had an idea: what about turning the old library into a tree house again, filled with books, a place for readings and lectures and literary events ...
In April 2008, the mayor of Dorsten met Cornelia at her home in LA and she was enthused about the project.
The old 'Baumhaus' had been cleared out and renovated, an association had been founded and the Cornelia Funke Treehouse was officially inaugurated in June 2010. Cornelia’s hometown has gained a creative centre for children, young people and families.
You can find all current events and news on the German Baumhaus website. And maybe one day you will visit that place and sit there on the stairs with a book, like Cornelia did back then, "scratching the neck of the old tree".
Wildpark-MV Güstrow, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
The Wildpark-MV is a public and nonprofit organization, which aims to present the visitors a respectful and sustainable relationship with nature. It combines local nature and animal welfare. All enclosures are designed as to meet the biological requirements of the animals and to come close to matching their natural habitats. One of the park's most exciting experiences is the wolf camp, which includes night walks, campfire, wolf stories and, of course, the Guestrow wolves close-by.
Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights Chicago, Illinois
The Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights was founded in Chicago in 2004. It is a human rights organization that advocates for the rights and best interests of immigrant children. It gives students the unique opportunity to work one-on-one with unaccompanied immigrant children who come to the United States without a parent or legal guardian to flee violence, abuse, and/or poverty. Young Center attorneys and social workers, along with bilingual volunteers, are appointed as Child Advocate (guardian ad litem) by the Department of Health and Human Services.