That is why we center our activities on Aaron Antonovsky’s concept of salutogenesis. Our goal is to promote the development of health in a holistic sense and in the most varied areas of life.

The projects supported or initiated by the Chaja Foundation offer a taste of how broad and varied our activities are. Salutogenesis – with its three pillars of comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness – forms the common thread.

Like Antonovsky, we focus on every individual’s present and possibilities, without disregarding the overall conditions. For this reason, self-efficacy, self-determination and self-awareness are extremely important to us.

To foster comprehensibility, we promote research and scholarship as well as education and training in areas ranging from medicine, biology and psychology to history and the social sciences. Special attention is paid to projects for health and health promotion. Examples are our support for the project “Screen-free ’til three” and the work of the “Traumatic Stress Research Consortium”, as well as our work establishing and funding the Polyvagal Society in Germany.

With a view to manageability, we promote the development of self-efficacy. Individuals are all shaped by their own history and own experiences. Every individual therefore needs an individual way to develop abilities, spontaneity, health and well-being – regardless of age and stage of life. This might be through the fields of education and training, sports, art and culture or in other areas of life. A good example of our activities in this regard is our advocacy for the concept of Positive Health in Germany.

We promote meaningfulness in particular by supporting participation, exchange and dialogue. Lived democracy gives citizens a stake in social decision-making through knowledge, transparency and joint decision-making opportunities. After two world wars, dictatorships and the Holocaust, it is important for people to meet, exchange and communicate across borders. The “Chat-Net” and “Shared Reading” initiatives exemplify this ethos.

You can find a list of the causes we support in accordance with the Fiscal Code of Germany (Abgabenordnung, AO) under “Funding” below.