The Schader Foundation is a non-profit foundation under civil law based in Darmstadt, Germany, which was established in 1988. The purpose of the foundation is to promote the social sciences through communication and cooperation between the social sciences and practice. This involves discussions in dialogue formats such as workshops, panel discussions, conferences or networking meetings, jointly developing ideas, evaluating results and promoting implementation processes.

WDC 2026

The Schader Foundation is organising several thematically relevant events throughout the World Design Capital 2026 event year: Among other things, the ‘Next Quality Circle’ event series will discuss quality requirements in connection with design, and the “ExLibris” literary series will focus on current publications on the topic of ‘Design for Democracy’.

The Schader Festival will take place in September, offering a different way to experience the WDC26 theme – including other Darmstadt WDC projects. Furthermore, a film forum with an accompanying programme will be held in autumn. In winter, the Schader Foundation will organise formats on the topic of ‘Network Research – The Shape of Society and Democracy’ as well as the annual human rights conference with a focus on design opportunities for participatory and democratic processes.