Organisation

How we’re set up

LFCA is two legal entities, not one. A non-profit association holds the purpose, the assets and all the shares. A wholly owned company carries the work that generates revenue. They pursue the same mission and are kept strictly apart.

Registered non-profit association

LFCA Umweltschutz e.V.

Holds the charitable purpose, the assets, and all shares in the GmbH. Recognised as tax-exempt for the promotion of environmental and climate protection.

holds 100% of the shares

Limited company, wholly owned by the e.V.

LFCA GmbH

Pursues the same overarching mission, with a wider scope of action: fee-based services, direct work with companies, and a financial base that does not rest on voluntary contributions alone.

The shareholding is held as part of the association’s asset management. There is no outside shareholder, and no route by which one could acquire the operating company.

Kept strictly separate

  • No overlap in management

    The association and the company are run by different people. Neither management sits on both sides.

  • A usage agreement

    Governs what the company may use of the association’s work - brand, content, platform.

  • A service agreement at arm’s length

    Any services flowing between the two are contracted and priced as they would be between unrelated parties.

Why there are two

A vision only counts for something if it survives contact with how organisations actually work. Ours requires getting our hands dirty - sitting inside real companies, with real budgets and real consequences, rather than describing from a distance what they ought to do differently.

A German charitable association is not built to do that at scale, and it should not be. So we built a second entity to carry the part of the work that needs to happen inside the economy, and kept the purpose, the assets and the control where they belong.

Change happens inside the economy, not alongside it

Our whole argument is that ownership, governance and how value gets shared are where economic change actually bites. That is not an argument you can make credibly from the outside. It has to be tested inside real organisations, with real money and real consequences - which means being in commercial relationships rather than commenting on them.

A wider scope of action

The GmbH pursues the same overarching mission: accelerating climate protection and sustainable transformation. What it adds is room to act - offering services for a fee, working directly with companies, and standing on a financial base that does not depend on voluntary contributions alone. Over the past two years in particular we have seen demand grow, from practitioners and leadership alike, for new narratives about sustainability and economic value.

And the non-profit status stays clean

For work of a more commercial nature - consulting, paid networking formats for companies - an external panel of tax, non-profit and commercial law specialists advised us not to run it inside the association. Keeping it in a separate company means the association’s charitable status is unaffected and the tax risk is avoided.

What each one does

LFCA Umweltschutz e.V.

Holds the charitable purpose, the assets, and all shares in the GmbH. Recognised as tax-exempt for the promotion of environmental and climate protection.

  • Sets the mission and holds it in place
  • Carries out the charitable programme work: research, education, campaigns, open tools
  • Publishes the annual reports and financial statements
  • Holds the shareholding in LFCA GmbH as part of its asset management

LFCA GmbH

Pursues the same overarching mission, with a wider scope of action: fee-based services, direct work with companies, and a financial base that does not rest on voluntary contributions alone.

  • Runs the LFCA Community and its membership programme
  • Offers fee-based services and networking formats for companies
  • Keeps us present in business, where the deeper transformation has to land
  • Employs the team that operates the community day to day

You can find out more about the company’s work at lfca.earth.

Who decides what

Both entities have the governance bodies their legal form requires. Control runs from the members of the association, through its board, to the management of each organisation - and because the association is the sole shareholder, no decision about the company’s ownership can be taken anywhere else.

LFCA Umweltschutz e.V.

  • Members’ assembly (Mitgliederversammlung) - Elects the board, approves the annual accounts, decides on changes to the statutes
  • Board (Präsidium) - Boris Wasmuth (President), Ferry Heilemann (Vice President), Jan Christoph Gras (Treasurer), Timo Müller, Philippe Singer, Doreen Rietentiet, David Wortmann
  • Managing Director - Timo Müller

LFCA GmbH

  • Shareholders’ meeting (Gesellschafterversammlung) - The e.V. is the sole shareholder and holds all voting rights
  • Managing Director - Philippe Singer

Where to check this

  • Our statutes (Satzung) - the charitable purpose and the governance of the association, in full
  • Transparency - the ten points we publish as a signatory of the Initiative Transparente Zivilgesellschaft, including the personnel structure and the sources and use of funds
  • Tätigkeitsbericht 2024 - the most recent annual report