Something Great is a registered cultural charity in Germany (gUG). With your support, we can keep art and culture accessible to all.
Ruhner Berge, home to our centre, is a rural municipality in northeastern Germany that, like many rural areas, faces challenges such as demographic change, limited jobs, and shrinking access to services and infrastructure. At the same time, it is a place of resilience, strong community, and great potential. Building on these strengths, our project invests in cultural infrastructure and programmes, attracts visitors, creates jobs, and helps make Ruhner Berge a place where young people, and the wider community, can enjoy new opportunities and a better quality of life.
Furthermore, in times of growing political divides, our activities as a cultural venue foster social cohesion by creating important spaces where people of different generations and backgrounds can meet, share experiences, and discover both common ground and new perspectives.
Your contribution helps us sustain this important work — locally and internationally — for the local community and the wider cultural field, strengthening the cultural and social fabric of the region and showing how art and culture can drive lasting revitalisation in the rural areas of eastern Germany that are too often overlooked.
As a donor, you’ll receive invitations to special events, small tokens of thanks, and full tax deductibility. We provide official donation receipts (Spendenbescheinigungen) for every eligible contribution.
Below, you’ll find details on how your donation can make a difference and the benefits available to you.
Where Your Donation Goes
1. Public Programmes & Community
Community Projects - Your support helps fund artistic education initiatives, including workshops and classes for all ages, with a focus on young people and women. It also enables public talks and discussions on social issues and supports participatory art projects where visiting artists collaborate with the local community.
Festivals & Events –Your donation allows us to present innovative performing arts and multidisciplinary works at Schloss Mentin and various locations across Ruhner Berge as part of the festivals and public events we are launching in 2026.
Free Events – Your contribution ensures that all our current and future public programmes are free and accessible to everyone.
Radio & Digital Outreach Platforms – Your support helps expand our internet radio and digital platforms, allowing us to invite artists and other guests to participate in our radio shows through artistic contributions or participation in talk shows on arts, culture, and social issues. This allow us to give space to diverse artistic voices and a reach a wider audience beyond our local community.
2. Arts Centre Development & Infrastructure
Creating new spaces for arts, culture, and community – Your donation will help renovate and repurpose the historic outbuildings of Schloss Mentin, transforming them into rehearsal and exhibition spaces for contemporary arts, culture, and local community events.
Expanding our accommodation facilities – Your support helps renovate our guest houses in Mentin and complete the restoration of the former distillery at Schloss Mentin. This will expand our capacity to host visiting artists and audiences, allowing us to expand our cultural offerings and host multiple activities at the same time.
Boosting the local economy – By donating to the development of our arts centre, you help create job opportunities in the region in cultural production, venue management, hospitality, and programming. Your support for renovations also provides work for construction and restoration professionals while strengthening local businesses and the economy of Ruhner Berge and the wider region.
3. Supporting Artists & Their Work
Residencies – By donating to support artists and their work, you help us provide free workspaces, accommodation, and better working conditions for them to develop their projects. Your support allows us to improve our spaces with better technical equipment and cover residency expenses, including running costs, travel, accommodation, per diems, and artist fees.
Commissions – Your donation helps us commission new artistic works from artists around the world, which will be presented at our centre and later tour internationally.
Representation – With your contribution, you can directly support some of our Associate Artists who lack the financial means to cover the basic monthly retainer fees needed to pay our dedicated staff for international distribution and tour production management of their work—costs that cannot be covered solely by commissions from their performances and tours.
Not sure where to allocate your donation?
A general donation supports everything we do, allowing us to direct your contribution where it’s needed most.
Your Tax Benefits
Donations to Something Great are fully tax-deductible in Germany with additional benefits available to donors in other EU and EEA countries, depending on their local regulations and agreements with Germany.
At a Glance
Detailed Tax Benefits
For Individual Donors (Germany)
- Donations up to €300: A bank statement or online payment confirmation is sufficient.
- Donations over €300: An official donation receipt (Spendenbescheinigung) is required.
For Corporate Donors (Germany):
- 20% of their total annual income
- 0.4% of total annual sales plus wages and salaries
For Foundations (Germany):
For Donors in other EU / EEA countries:
Donors based in EU/EEA countries may be eligible for tax deductions when donating to a German cultural charity like Something Great, depending on their country's tax laws. However, tax benefits, deduction limits, and procedures vary across EU/EEA countries.
Your home country’s tax authority may also require a comparability test to confirm that Something Great meets the legal definition of a charitable organization in your country.
To claim tax benefits, donors may need to provide documentation proving the German charity's status and their donation. This may include:
Contact
Rui Silveira
Founder & Executive Artistic Director
T: +49 30 2864 0944
E-mail
Founder & Executive Artistic Director
T: +49 30 2864 0944
Felix Franz Vogler
Donor & Sponsorship Relations
T: +49 30 2864 0944
E-mail
Donor & Sponsorship Relations
T: +49 30 2864 0944