A day in the life: Philipp von der Wippel

Incubating Change in Europe

Philipp von der Wippel discovered his love for community engagement as a high schooler in Munich. He realized early that powerful things could happen if young people were involved in finding solutions to pressing issues—they just needed the right tools to help them get started.

Philipp is one of the hundreds of emerging leaders from across Europe who will join President Obama for a town hall about the future of the region, so we spent a day with him to get a closer look at his work at the nonprofit he founded,  ProjectTogether (Opens in a new tab), and the journey that led him to create it.

Three people sit around a large white table with laptops and coffee cups. The wall behind them is covered in colorful sticky notes.

Philipp founded ProjectTogether—a nonprofit that motivates young people to put their civic engagement ideas into action through free online and telephone coaching and pairs them with philanthropies interested in supporting them.

A close-up of a White man looking intently to the left side. He has brown hair and wears a button-down collared shirt under a sweater.

Today, ProjectTogether is the biggest grassroots social incubator in Germany, hosting upwards of 700 initiatives.

People walk across a bridge with water and buildings behind them. In the center is a White man wearing a blue coat with red trim and walking a bicycle.

Philipp came up with the idea for the digital marketplace after noticing that many philanthropic initiatives weren’t able to direct resources to the projects that needed them the most.

Two White men sit on a couch made of shipping pallets with cushions on top. There are shipping pallets on the wall and a ping pong table to the right.

“I started ProjectTogether to make sure young people can solve challenges and feel empowered to bring their social innovations to the next level.”

Black writing on what appears to be a glass window. Some of the words can be made out and include "Fundraising" and "partner."

The social incubator’s work isn’t just based in Berlin; Project Together hosts bootcamps across the region and also coaches young people online.

A white person with light brown hair stares at a laptop computer screen. They sit at a desk scattered with cords, water bottles and post-it notes.

“We want to promote the idea of social entrepreneurship and attract talent to the impact sector to solve problems that would otherwise go to normal businesses and institutions.”