The nonprofit organization, Selbst.Los! Kulturstiftung, was founded in December 2007 by Annelie Löber-Stascheit and Wilfried Stascheit. The organization, which operates throughout Germany, helps people participate in cultural activities who might otherwise be prevented from doing so because of poverty, age, illness, or other disadvantages.
Among the programs offered by Selbst.Los! Kulturstiftung is a theater program for senior citizens. Another project, with the motto "Children need books — poor children even more" provides books to disadvantaged children. The program was inspired by the fact that more than 1.8 million German children and adolescents do not own books because of their financial situation. The project collects new children's books from publishing companies and distributes them to families in need via soup kitchens and other nonprofit organizations.
Stifter-helfen.de IT for Nonprofits, the TechSoup Global Network partner in Germany, provided Selbst.Los! Kulturstiftung with Microsoft Windows 7 and Office 2007. The software has helped the organization improve its communications because all email is now viewed with Microsoft Outlook rather than through different private accounts. In addition, management of book donations has been streamlined through the use of standardized Microsoft software.