Secret meetings of right-wing politicians that trigger mass protests for democracy and tolerance. Economic crises straining social cohesion. Problems and crises everywhere. But at the same time, there are numerous examples of voluntary initiatives and organizations that are committed to combating division and radicalization. What unites them all: Their passion often exceeds their budget.

 

Reason enough to link the large and small projects of these NGOs with experts from the creative industry – because truly creative ideas do not need a large budget to trigger emotions and spark fascination. This is where the non-profit initiative C_SR comes in: It is collaboratively organized and run on a voluntary basis, works independently, without party affiliation and does not pursue any commercial interests. On the platform www.c-sr.org, organizations can publish specific briefings for projects where they need support. These are reviewed and then shared with registered creatives. In this way, both sides quickly come together. Numerous creative agencies, media companies, the Bundesverband Digitale Wirtschaft (Federal Association of the Digital Economy), and the Deutsche Fundraising Verband (German Fundraising Association) are involved as supporting members or partners.

 

The Peter Schmidt Group is also one of the founding members: "As creatives, we have a core competency: ideas! A strong idea has the power to stimulate thinking and energize people positively," explains Managing Partner Lukas Cottrell. "There are many agencies that want to use their creativity to support positive change. C_SR accelerates this process and makes societal engagement easier." The platform itself was also the first project of the Peter Schmidt Group because it developed the design of the initiative: a colorful, optimistic, and attention-grabbing look that uses a dot grid as an abstract representation of crowds. This gridding can be used both as a stylistic motif in the style of a photo filter, but also respond to cursor movements or data. Responsible for the idea and implementation are Laura Ullmann, Ruediger Goetz, Simon Merz, and Sven Rieckmann. Read more at www.stern.de