The Board of Trustees discussed 106 applications with a total application volume of 2.7 million euros. A total of 710,000 euros was available.

49 applications were approved, while some applications were deferred for later funding. The circle of project sponsors is broad and ranges from cultural associations, shooting clubs, allotment garden associations, school associations, the hospice initiative and the care association to a wide variety of sports clubs. A list of the sponsored projects and charts showing the distribution of the funds are enclosed.

The Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Lord Mayor Klingebiel, commented: "I am delighted that we are able to support the voluntary work of our citizens for the 6th time with these project grants, not only through appreciative words but also through concrete actions. The foundation has already invested almost 6 million euros in charitable projects since 2013. This makes it one of the most important foundations in our region. I fought for a long time with the federal government to set up this foundation. I would like to take this opportunity to once again express my sincere thanks to local MP Sigmar Gabriel for his support in this matter at the time. As Federal Environment Minister, he was even my negotiating partner for a long time."

The Chairman of the Board of Trustees adds: "The deferred applications for 2018 can still hope to receive funding this year, as the foundation has already been paid around €21 million by the energy supply companies since the end of 2016 as part of the overall agreement with the federal government in accordance with the Act on the Reorganization of Responsibility in Nuclear Waste Management of 27.01.2017 and public-law contracts between the energy supply companies and the federal government as well as the private-law contracts between the federal government and the city of Salzgitter. Since then, I have been negotiating with the Federal Ministry for the Environment on the legal issue that these millions do not have to be repaid, even if the Konrad shaft does not go into operation. The municipal representatives on the Foundation's Board of Trustees agreed before the clear and negative resolution on the Konrad mine was passed by the Salzgitter City Council that funds from the federal government and the energy supply companies should currently only be used if they are not linked to the commissioning of the Konrad mine and in this respect there is no legal obligation to repay the energy supply companies or the federal government. I expect to receive corresponding legal information from the Federal Ministry for the Environment shortly, with whom I have been in talks since the end of 2016."

In conclusion, Klingebiel makes it unmistakably clear: "We have not allowed this foundation to buy our opposition to Schacht Konrad. And that will remain the case in the future. The Council and the Lord Mayor, as well as the city society, continue to emphatically demand a reassessment of the Konrad mine, abandoning the concept of non-retrievability of the waste."

As last year, the handover of the individual funding agreements is to take place again on Lake Salzgitter, this time at the Salzgitter Sailing Club, on 01.08.2018.