Has Cleft-Kinder-Hilfe in Germany obtained the Central
German Institute for Social Questions (DZI) seal of approval?
As an internationally established organization it is very difficult to obtain a German seal of approval. It would only be possible for a national organization and would reveal little about the overall performance of the organization, which operates on a global scale. Furthermore, it involves an enormous bureaucratic investment that could hardly be managed by such national organizations as they mainly only have one full-time employee.
In addition, the DZI does not grant the seal for free. The initial application costs as much as two operations, i.e. 1000 euro. What is more, the DZI also requires a share of the donations to the tune of 0.035% (up to a maximum of 7000 euro). Therefore, we have not applied for the seal. The reasons are as follows:
- CCI Zurich, as the parent organisation, and all its national organizations are subject to very critical control by the foundations supervisory body of the Swiss Federal Department of Home Affairs in Bern.
Inspection by the German tax authorities is equally valid proof of the efficiency of our work and of the proper use of the funds entrusted to us. - The costs of the testing procedure are so high that we cannot expect donators to cover these purely administrative expenses.
We hope that you agree with this decision. Incidentally, the seal of approval is not a hundred percent guarantee. Recent incidents on the so-called donations market may attest to this.
For the same reasons we have not applied for the ZEWO seal of approval in Switzerland. CCI Zurich provokes administrative expenses of approximately 9%. The foundation is subject to control of the Swiss federal foundation supervision (Department of the Interior) in Bern.