In February 2022, four days after Russia’s full-scale invasion into Ukraine, the ProjectTogether team decided to use its convening power and brought together 80 participants in a virtual meeting. This was the start of the Alliance4Ukraine which, only a few weeks later, had grown to a network of 450 organizations from civil society, business and public sector. After two weeks, the team realized that pooling funds would also be crucial in quickly supporting civil society initiatives, leading to the establishment of the Alliance4Ukraine fund. This fund pooled money from over 25 funders (foundations, corporates, private wealth owners) and supported more than 80 projects with a record-breaking two-week application to disbursement funding turnaround through the end of the year. Over time, with the arrival of over 1 million people from Ukraine to Germany, the mission recognized the broader challenge of integrating a growing refugee population into the social fabric of the country. In 2023, the mission changed its name to Welcome Alliance and expanded its remit to creating humane, needs-oriented, and sustainable integration and participation processes for all newly arrived people in Germany. Today, the Welcome Alliance provides a network where citizens, civil society organizations, and state and economic actors can come together to strengthen services and support to new arrivals in Germany. With the methodologies and approaches created by ProjectTogether, people from different sectors meet and take joint action. Areas of action include education and the labour market, political participation, housing, information and counselling, encounter and engagement, and mental health. One example of a CAP that is supported through the Welcome Alliance is a digital matching platform for refugees with private hosts, called “Helfende Wände”. Together with the private company Wunderflats, the Ministry of the Interior, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees as well as civil society organizations such as the International Psychosocial Organisation (IPSO), this platform was established to mobilize and build a central point of contact for civil society reserve in terms of private accommodation and actively matches refugees with private flats and rooms every day. Thousands of refugees have already found accommodation through the platform. Another example of a CAP is Patenmatch, a platform that supports the matching of volunteers and refugees with hundreds of tandem partnership and mentoring organizations in Germany. The platform is offered in nine languages and has supported thousands of matches. Matching a local and a refugee is a scientifically proven, very effective method to support the arrival and participation process. The Alliance4Ukraine fund also evolved into the Welcome Alliance fund which is a public-private funding initiative led by the Welcome Alliance in collaboration with the German Federal Ministry of the Interior and supporters from the business sector, private foundations and individual philanthropists. To date, the Alliance4Ukraine Fund and Welcome Alliance Fund have pooled a total of €3.5 million in private and €1 million in public money. The Welcome Alliance fund provides a tailored and efficient funding mechanism for migration and integration projects, combining public and private resources to be deployed flexibly and effectively to specific projects in a faster, less bureaucratic and more effective manner. This approach strengthens resilient structures in migration and integration. To maximize flexibility, the fund currently tests five different types of funding mechanisms, such as prize money and scholarships for private individuals. It is the first public-private fund of its kind and a pilot to test how public money can be spent in a non- bureaucratic, fast and crisis-appropriate way. A public-private advisory board, comprising 12 experts from various sectors and fields of expertise related to migration and integration, including lived experience, meets bimonthly to issue funding recommendations. This diverse board explores innovative approaches to forward-looking funding and cross-sector collaboration. The Welcome Alliance is also represented by a group of ambassadors who advise the team and network partners on concrete implementation projects. Ambassadors have themselves experienced the challenges of arriving in Germany, and through their personal and professional backgrounds, they provide valuable and important advice for the Welcome Alliance’s work. If the pilot project is successful, this model could be adapted to address other societal crises and challenges, serving as a key component of a collaborative state-civil society interface. In 2024, the fund supported 41 projects, events and individuals with over €1.7 million from public and private sources. This financial backing strengthened initiatives to promote integration and participation for refugees and migrants.CASE STORY The Welcome Alliance mission Anita Back The Future is Collective: Case Studies of Collective Social Innovation 41

The Future is Collective Case Studies of Collective Social Innovation 2025