TRANSPARENCY
More information on our income and expenditure
We drop our pants.
If you decide to make a donation, you also want it to be used conscientiously.
When Project Wings was founded in 2019, we set ourselves a clear goal: to channel private donations as directly as possible into our project work, while keeping administrative and infrastructure costs to an absolute minimum.
We are therefore always on the lookout for new sources of income and creative ideas to generate more revenue. This means that donations from private individuals can be used where they are most needed.
Our statutes
Project Wings is working from Germany to Indonesia on its mission to make environmental protection socially acceptable. To achieve this, we need to implement (environmental) education work with children and young people and protect unique ecosystems with a holistic approach.
You can find our articles of association and partnership agreement here:
Our goals:
- Combining development cooperation with nature and animal protection
- Environmental education for children, young people and adults
- Building the world’s largest recycling village
- Establish waste management systems where there are currently no adequate solutions for waste produced
Facts & figures from our
Project report 2024
Revenue
To ensure that we can implement our environmental protection projects in Germany and Indonesia reliably and over the long term, our funding is based on several pillars. An important contribution comes from dedicated individuals, foundations, and companies that support our work through donations – whether on an ongoing basis as private supporters, through one-off donations for special occasions and campaign days, or through corporate and foundation funding.
In addition, we generate our own income through our business activities. This includes, for example, targeted sponsorships as well as revenue from our Wings Coin sustainability tool for the hospitality industry. A smaller share comes from interest and other income. No public funding was applied for.
Expenditure
Within our project work, expenses are distributed across various areas of activity. The largest share is dedicated to the development and operation of our Recycling Village. Other key areas include nature conservation, waste management, and the implementation of various educational programs.
All our projects are designed to create long-term impact and achieve the greatest possible effect with the resources available. Our project funds in Germany are primarily used to support our environmental education programs in schools. The full 2024 Project Report will be published shortly.
Allocation
Transparency is important to us. We want you to be able to see how your support makes a difference. Thanks to the income generated through our business activities, we are able to cover our administrative costs and use donations specifically for our charitable project work in Germany and Indonesia.
A portion of the donations is also carried over to the following year when ongoing projects are implemented over several years. This enables us to carry out our projects reliably over the long term and without interruption.
Project and Financial Report 2024
*The annual report is only available in German at the moment.
Transparency under the ITZ Standard
Transparency matters to us. That’s why we want to sign up to the self-commitment statement of the Initiative Transparente Zivilgesellschaft (ITZ), and we’ve applied to be added to the list of signatories. We promise to make the following ten pieces of information available to the public and to keep them up to date.
Last updated: 07.10.2026
1. Name, Location, Address and Year Founded
Project Wings gGmbH
Löhrstraße 87a/b, 56068 Koblenz
Founded in March 2019
Registered at the Koblenz local court under HRB 26691
2. Articles of Association and Organisational Goals
What we want to achieve and how we go about it is laid out in the “Mission and Vision” chapter of the 2024 annual report. You can read our full articles of association online here.
3. Tax Exemption Details
Under the appendix to the corporation tax notice from the Koblenz tax office (tax number 22/651/50906), dated 12.11.2025, Project Wings gGmbH was recognised as a charity for the 2024 tax year. We support environmental protection, including climate protection (Section 52(2) sentence 1 no. 8 AO), and are therefore exempt from corporation tax under Section 5(1) no. 9 KStG.
4. Names and Roles of Key Decision-Makers
Marc Helwing, Managing Director (Finance)
Leonie Deimann, Authorised Signatory (Public Relations, Marketing, Team Lead)
Shareholders: Marc Helwing and Erich Stieb, each holding 50 percent of the shares
5. Activity Report
This annual report is our activity report for 2024. The “2024 at a Glance” chapter gives you a quick overview. For the details, have a look at the chapters “Recycling Village”, “Waste Management”, “Education”, “Environmental Education in Germany”, “Volunteering” and “Kitchen and Restaurant”, as well as the “Projects and Programmes 2024” overview.
*The annual report is only available in German at the moment.
6. Our team
Project Wings gGmbH had 8 people on the payroll in 2024: 2 full-time, 5 part-time and 1 on a mini-job. One of them, our project manager Johann Heinze, was based in Indonesia and was our link to YASPI. On top of that, we had 11 interns and 8 volunteers helping out.
We run our projects in Indonesia together with our partner organisation YASPI. They had 30 people working for them in 2024, including teachers, rangers, and people in waste management and the kitchen. They’re employed by YASPI, not by Project Wings gGmbH. We also welcomed 155 international volunteers who took part in our volunteering programme. They aren’t employees.
7. Where our money comes from
Our income for 2024, according to the annual accounts:
Donations: €381,267.58Public funding: €0.00
Commercial activities: €109,511.90
Interest and other income: €9,542.29
Total income: €500,321.77
8. How we spent our money
Here’s what went out in 2024, based on the annual accounts:
Project work in Indonesia: €280,734.08
Project work in Germany (environmental education in schools): €45,557.88
Admin, advertising, fundraising and our business activities (including depreciation): €105,823.07
Taxes: €3,990.97
Total spending: €436,106
Surplus for the year: €64,216
Balance sheet as at 31.12.2024
What we own
Fixed assets: €6,236.01
Receivables and other current assets: €18,038.66
Cash (bank and in hand): €141,071.27
Total: €165,345.94
How it’s funded
Equity: €143,163.81
Provisions: €8,219.79
Liabilities: €13,962.34
Total: €165,345.94
You’ll find the full breakdown in the “Financial Report 2024” and “How Donations Were Used in 2024” chapters.
9. Links to other organisations
Project Wings gGmbH doesn’t hold a stake in any other organisation, and we don’t have a parent or subsidiary company. We run our projects in Indonesia together with our partner organisation YASPI (Yayasan Sayap Proyek Indonesia), which is an independent Indonesian foundation. There’s no corporate link between Project Wings and YASPI, and neither of us owns a share in the other. Our project manager Johann Heinze coordinates the work on the ground, and he doesn’t hold any role on YASPI’s boards.
10. Payments of more than 10 percent of our total income
In 2024, nobody paid us more than 10 percent of our total income. Our biggest single contribution came from Stiftung RTL – Wir helfen Kindern e.V., who gave us €50,000. That’s 9.99 percent of our total income. There were no big private donations of that size.
Our work promotes environmental and climate protection, and according to the latest exemption notice we received from the Koblenz tax office (tax number 22/651/50906, dated 12.11.2025), we’re exempt from corporation tax under Section 5(1) no. 9 KStG. We’re also exempt from trade tax under Section 3 no. 6 GewStG.
FUNDRAISING
MARKETING AND VISIBILITY
Hardly anyone in the region knows about Project Wings Sumatra yet, which sometimes leads to misunderstandings about what we do and who we are. We also have a few hurdles to get over, like checking the quality of organic products and getting access to funding. Through targeted social media campaigns, workshops and local outreach, we want to get Project Wings Sumatra better known in Bahorok, Medan and beyond. At the same time, the team is working on finding new partners and funding opportunities, and on building up our internal setup so we can keep growing for the long haul.
INTERNAL FUNDRAISING
Selling Project Wings Sumatra’s offers and products has a lot of potential for building income that lasts. We’re constantly tweaking how things run and making our organic and botanical products better. At the same time, sales have already been going well, especially in the busy season, and we’re setting up a more organised way to sell organic veg. Tourism, environmental programmes and regional organic and medicinal plant products open up new ways to keep more of the value in the local community and create something lasting for locals, students, organisations and businesses.
EXTERNAL FUNDRAISING
Project Wings Sumatra wants to grow its network of partners, businesses and other supporters, so we can bring more people into our programmes and activities and open up new sources of income at the same time. We’re putting a special focus on working with hotels, and the aim is to win over three of them as our first WingsCoin partners in Asia. On top of that, more and more people are showing an interest in events at the Recycling Village and in joint projects with our Indonesian organisation, which opens the door to new partnerships and fundraising opportunities. The goal is to build long-term cooperation and put the funding for our programmes on a solid footing.
That’s not it yet!
What else are we doing for transparency?
WE SHOW OURSELVES!
Whether at a festival stand, an event or a lecture: we show ourselves in public and answer your questions!
WE GET AUDITED
Our projects and funds are regularly reviewed as part of the various grants and partnerships we're involved in, and everything is documented in line with each one's requirements.
WE'RE A TEAM
We're big on swapping ideas and working with other organisations, and we share what we've learned with NGOs in Indonesia and Germany. One example is our free Ecobrick handbook, which makes practical experience and tried-and-tested methods available to other initiatives.