Landgut Stober has prepared a balance sheet in accordance with ECOnGOOD criteria. Landgut Stober achieved an above-average result in its first audit in 2016 – and was able to improve significantly in the second audit. With 768 points, Landgut Stober achieved a high score in its ECOnGOOD assessment. Further information and evidence can be found here.

Michael Stober took over the estate in 2000 – with the vision of creating a place that focuses on responsibility, change and humanity. He was inspired by the spirit of the Borsig family, who set standards here in the 19th century with their social, reliable and innovative entrepreneurship.

ECOnGOOD is an alternative economic model that measures entrepreneurial success not by profit maximisation, but by contribution to the common good. It is based on values such as human dignity, natural long-term approach, solidarity, social justice and democratic participation. The ECOnGOOD Balance Sheet assesses this contribution against defined criteria and aims to encourage change in business and society.

With strong signals sent to Berlin and concrete proposals for solutions for the socio-natural transformation of the economy, the first GWÖ / ECOnGOOD Summit took place here on the estate on 26 and 27 November 2022. With almost 200 entrepreneurs, scientists and activists, ranging from two-person companies to medium-sized businesses with 2,000 employees, and with turnover ranging from €100,000 to €100 million, this year's ‘GWÖ / ECOnGOOD Summit ’ was the largest Germany-wide gathering of the grassroots movement, which wasactive in 35 countries at this time. In addition to an inspiring programme of talks by, among others, author Vivian Dittmar, business administration professor Dr Patrick Velte, telecommunications entrepreneur Alma Spribille and ‘business activists’ Jule and Lukas Bosch, the focus of the event was on providing a platform for precisely such successful companies and organisations. Over 30 practical examples of reliable business practices with high relevance for the transformation of our society were presented and honoured. The highlight of the two-day event was a festive evening event with recognition awards. The search engine Ecosia won the award in the Internet/Social Media category, while Munich's public swimming pools and the Baden-Württemberg

Forestry Commission shared the award in the public companies category. The municipalities of Willebadessen, Steinheim and Brakel were honoured in the municipalities category, Elobau in the companies category and the Samaritan Foundation in the NGOs category. ECOnGOOD sees itself as a non-partisan civil society organisation. For this reason, representatives of different political parties were invited to give a laudatory speech and present their personal views on ECOnGOOD. The following individuals were invited to participate: Bernd Lange, MEP for the SPD, Chairman of the EU Trade Committee; Sebastian Walter, Member of the Brandenburg State Parliament and parliamentary group leader and spokesperson for economic policy for The Left Party; Werner Schweizer, Mayor of Schleswig Holstein from the CDU; Prof. Dr. Lars Castellucci, Member of the Bundestag and spokesperson for migration/integration for the SPD; and Katharina Beck, spokesperson for financial policy for the Greens in the Bundestag. Beck: ‘It was a wonderful summit at the atmospheric Landgut Stober. The economy of the future is oriented towards the common good.’

Success is not primarily measured by financial indicators, but by the Common Good Product for an economy, the ECOnGOOD Balance Sheet for companies and the Common Good Assessment for investments. The movement has previously reported 11,000 supporters worldwide, around 5,000 members in over 170 regional groups, 35 ECOnGOOD associations, over 1,000 companies and other organisations with an ECOnGOOD Balance Sheet, almost 60 municipalities and cities, and 200 universities worldwide that help to promote, implement and further develop the vision of ECOnGOOD.

A chair dedicated to ECOnGOOD was established at the University of Valencia in 2017, the Cooperative for the Common Good launched a common good account in Austria in 2019, and in autumn 2020, the first three cities in the district of Höxter (Germany) completed an ECOnGOOD Balance Sheet. The International ECOnGOOD Federation, based in Hamburg, has been in existence since the end of 2018. In 2015, the European Economic and Social Committee adopted a self-initiated opinion on ECOnGOOD with an 86 per cent majority and recommended its implementation in the EU.

Questions about ECOnGOOD in Germany | Press and public relations: Sibylle Reuter press-germany@ecogood.org

At the 2019 conference of companies with an ECOnGOOD Balance Sheet in Berlin-Brandenburg, the idea was launched to create a network aimed at strengthening lively, solidarity-based cooperation between all companies with an ECOnGOOD Balance Sheet in Berlin-Brandenburg.In May 2020 – at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis – the idea became more important than ever, and the network Gemeinwohl-Ökonomie Unternehmen Berlin-Brandenburg e. V. (Common Good Economy Companies Berlin-Brandenburg) was founded and was able to begin its work with the help of funding from the Berlin Senate Administration.