Mansour's company acquired non-profit status shortly before assignment of 9 million euro project
MIND prevention, a for-profit company founded and owned by Ahmad and Beatrice Mansour, acquired charitable status one month before its selection to lead a €9 million research project, funded by Germany's Ministry of Research and Technology.
Company records obtained by Muckraker, and published below, show that MIND prevention became a non-profit company (known as a gGmbH in Germany) on 18 October 2023.
To justify its new legal status, MIND prevention listed, among other things, its work promoting education, tolerance in all areas of culture and the idea of international understanding, which are recognised as public-benefit objectives under German law.
Last week, German investigative outlet Correctiv revealed how the €9 million research project was assigned to MIND prevention without an open call for funding bids. Instead, a resolution from the German Parliament's Budget Committee "for the further development, consolidation and professionalisation" of MIND prevention was passed on 16 November 2023 to pre-allocate the funds.
Muckraker contacted Ahmad and Beatrice Mansour, the Managing Directors of MIND prevention, and the Federal Ministry of Research and Technology, for comment.
Beatrice Mansour told Muckraker that the change was made "to strengthen transparency and ensure that all revenues and any surplus are used exclusively for public-benefit purposes."
"The conversion to a gGmbH creates a stricter legal framework for transparency. It prohibits profit distribution, requires clear separation of charitable and other activities, and introduces ongoing oversight by tax authorities to guarantee that all resources are used exclusively for public-benefit objectives," Mansour added.
No reply was received from the Federal Ministry in time for publication. This story will be updated if a response is provided.
Taxpayer money for a for-profit company
Since its founding in November 2017, MIND prevention operated as a for-profit company. This did not prevent the company from receiving significant amounts of taxpayer money.
One of MIND prevention's first projects was launched in June 2017 in Bavaria, Germany's southeastern state. The project, whose aim was to prevent radicalisation in the state's carceral system, had been allocated some €458,700 in total funding by 2020. The project continues to be active until today.
Between 2021 and 2022, MIND prevention also received funding from Germany's federal government: around €60,000 from the Agency for Civic Education, and another €268,000 from the Office for Migration and Refugees. Over that same time period, MIND prevention posted a total profit of €65,323, according to its company filings.
Biggest project yet
The project assigned to MIND prevention in November 2023 is its biggest yet.
According to Hamburg-based company data platform NorthData, MIND prevention is due to receive more than €5.16 million out of the €8.97 million set aside for the four-year project. Managing Director Beatrice Mansour explained that its company's share "reflects its role as project coordinator and practice partner" on the project.
Meanwhile, two of MIND prevention's four academic partners on the project, the Universities of Cologne and of Erlangen-Nuremberg, are due to receive about €750,000 each for their roles.
As a consequence of the change in legal status, MIND prevention is required to maintain "strict accounting separation" between its public-benefit work, and any potential commercial operations, according to Mansour.
Under EU state aid rules, public research funding can only be disbursed to for-profit companies if they clearly separate their commercial activities from their public-benefit research. This is done to ensure that public money is used solely for the intended non-profit research goal.
The change in legal status would therefore allow MIND prevention to be reimbursed for all the activities it conducts as part of the project from the Federal Ministry of Research.