The staff in our office conduct the association’s operations on a full-time basis. Our Executive and Advisory Boards as well as our members work in an honorary capacity.

GSO is largely financed by nonprofit program-based activities with funding partners, i.e. we devise and manage funding programs that are financed by foundations. The percentage incurred for our operations accounts for an average of 20 percent of overall costs and thus falls below the DFG’s Program allowance for indirect project costs. At present, we are funded by the Klaus Tschira Stiftung gGmbH, the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung, the Schader-Stiftung and the Dr. Wilhelmy-Stiftung. In the past, we have cooperated, among others, with the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach-Stiftung, the Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung, the Robert Bosch Stiftung, the Joachim Herz Stiftung and the Stifterverband. Alongside foundations also the Helmholtz Association and Max Planck Society support select projects.

»We want to support researchers to be more independent, promote their scientific courage, connect them across borders, and help building sustainable networks. Our three programs with GSO – the Klaus Tschira Boost Fund, the Leadership Academy and AlumNode – are perfect to achieve this. This is how research should look like today!«
Beate Spiegel, former Managing Director of Klaus Tschira Foundation

As part of our career advice services, we refer to the option of a membership at The German Association of University Professors and Lecturers (Deutscher Hochschulverband, in short DHV), specifically when it comes to legal questions and questions regarding professional negotiations. Additionally, we refer to services by Enago, a supplier of editing services for academics, when using their content.

In the context of our business operations we receive fees for services, such as career workshops and consultancy, moderating panels and supporting marketing campaigns for calls. Our clients include universities and research institutions as well as other public bodies and foundations. We also receive a very small volume of donations from private individuals and organizations.

With this income we finance the activities that are not covered by programs, such as preparing digital content on career topics and consultancy, ongoing office expenses and unpaid moderation, panel discussions etc.