Violence Prevention Network

What Violence Prevention Network does

Violence Prevention Network gGmbH is a Berlin-headquartered, tax-exempt German non-profit (gemeinnützige gGmbH) founded in 2004 that delivers extremism prevention, deradicalization, and disengagement services across all three prevention levels (primary, secondary, tertiary). Its service portfolio encompasses counseling for relatives of radicalized individuals, school-based prevention workshops, advanced professional training through the VPN Academy, and in-prison deradicalization programs for both extremist-vulnerable youth and adult terrorist offenders (since 2012). Operations span eight German federal states plus selective European and U.S. activities, with over 150 staff and more than 4,600 extremist-vulnerable youth served since 2001.

The organization's core intellectual asset is Verantwortungspädagogik (Responsible Pedagogy) — a proprietary, non-confrontational, relationship-based behavioral change methodology drawing on learning psychology, cognitivism, and humanistic psychology. Specialized departments cover right-wing extremism, Islamist extremism, psychotherapy, digital prevention, and research, and the organization has been formally commissioned by German federal and state governments to develop nationwide standards and quality criteria for radicalization prevention and deradicalization in prisons and probation services.

Revenue is generated through four streams: federal and state (Bund und Länder) government grants and commissioned programs (primary), court-ordered fines (Geldauflagen) assigned via German courts and prosecutors to VPN as a registered charitable organization, individual donations processed through standard non-profit channels, and fee-based professional training through VPN Academy. Distribution occurs predominantly via direct service delivery through regional counseling offices, government commissioning, court-ordered assignments, and the VPN Academy online platform. The organization has no disclosed private equity, venture capital, or institutional investor ownership and is led by managing directors Judy Korn (Ashoka Fellow since 2007) and Thomas Mücke.

Name

Violence Prevention Network

Legal name

Violence Prevention Network gGmbH

Website

https://violence-prevention-network.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

2004

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Violence Prevention Network gGmbH is a Berlin-based German non-profit (founded 2004) delivering extremism prevention, deradicalization, and disengagement services through its proprietary Verantwortungspädagogik methodology, serving extremist-vulnerable youth, families, prison populations, and professional practitioners across eight German federal states.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Extremism Prevention and Deradicalization Services

NAICS

Child and Youth Services (62411), Human Rights Organizations (813311), Educational Services (611), Educational Support Services (61171), Parole Offices and Probation Offices (922150)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Youth Justice, At-Risk Youth & Violence Prevention Nonprofits (BPAGADAM)

akta.pro secondary industries

Reentry & Justice-Involved Support Services (BPAGAEAN), Community Corrections (Probation, Parole & Reentry) (BPAIAFAE), Juvenile Justice Education Programs (Detention & Correctional Education) (EDAJAEAB)

Keywords

• Extremism prevention services
• Deradicalization programs
• Radicalization intervention counseling
• Prison rehabilitation services
• Professional prevention training

Headquarters

HQ city

Berlin

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Government Grants and Commissioned Programs: Primary revenue from commissions and grants from federal (Bund) and state (Länder) governments for extremism prevention, deradicalization, and intervention programs. Mandated to develop nationwide standards and quality criteria for radicalization prevention and deradicalization in prisons and probation services.
2. Geldauflagen (Court-Ordered Fines): Violence Prevention Network receives court-ordered fines as a recognized charitable organization (§§ 153, 153b StPO). Individuals convicted of extremist offenses can be assigned to pay fines to VPN instead of traditional recipients. VPN is listed in official registries of German courts and public prosecutor's offices.
3. Donations: Individual private donations accepted via bank transfer (Bank für Sozialwirtschaft), PayPal, credit card, and direct debit through the organization's website. VPN is a signatory of the Initiative Transparente Zivilgesellschaft.
4. Training and Education Services: VPN Academy (www.vpn-academy.com) provides advanced training, seminars, and continuing education for professionals in extremism prevention and deradicalization. Revenue generated through professional training programs and educational services.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Violence Prevention Network delivers counseling, advanced training, prevention workshops, in-prison deradicalization, and disengagement/exit assistance to address violent extremism and radicalization across German federal states. Its proprietary Verantwortungspädagogik (Responsible Pedagogy) methodology underpins services for parents and relatives, pedagogical and justice-system professionals, and offenders in correctional facilities. Revenue is anchored by government commissions, court-ordered fines (Geldauflagen), donations, and fee-based professional training through the VPN Academy.

Product overview

Violence Prevention Network is a German NGO offering a comprehensive portfolio of extremism prevention, deradicalisation, and disengagement services. The core offerings include counselling for relatives, prevention workshops in schools, advanced training for professionals, and deradicalisation programs within prisons and for individuals in the justice system. Services are organised across specialised departments covering digital extremism, right-wing extremism, Islamist extremism, psychotherapy, and research. The Violence Prevention Network Academy provides advanced professional education. The organisation also operates regional counselling centres across multiple German federal states and conducts international activities. In November 2025, Violence Prevention Network announced a partnership with TikTok to help detect and remove extremist content on the platform, representing its expansion into digital technology collaboration for content moderation.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Beratung (Counselling) Counselling and support service for parents and relatives of individuals involved in extremist movements, providing de-escalation guidance and family-based intervention support.
• Fortbildung (Advanced Training for Professionals) Professional development and advanced training programs for pedagogical and justice-system specialists working in extremism prevention.
• Präventions-Workshops (Prevention Workshops in Schools) Workshops delivered in schools to educate young people about extremism, radicalization processes, and prevention, targeted at school-age youth.
• Deradikalisierung im Strafvollzug (Deradicalization in Prison) Deradicalization programs delivered within the criminal justice system for radicalized youth and adults, including offenders with terrorist backgrounds in correctional facilities.
• Distanzierungs- und Ausstiegsbegleitung (Disengagement and Exit Assistance) Support programs helping individuals disengage from extremist movements and distance themselves from radical environments, including long-term accompaniment beyond formal intervention.
• Geldauflagen zuweisen (Court-Ordered Fines Assignment Program) Program allowing German courts and public prosecutors to assign court-ordered fines (Geldauflagen) to Violence Prevention Network as a recognized charitable organization under §§ 153, 153b StPO for extremist offenses, in lieu of fines to other recipients.
• Violence Prevention Network Academy (VPN Academy) Specialized training academy offering advanced professional education, seminars, and continuing education programs for practitioners in extremism prevention, deradicalization, and related fields, delivered online via www.vpn-academy.com and in-person.
• Beratungskompass Verschwörungsdenken (Conspiracy Theory Counselling Compass) Online counselling tool providing orientation, information, and guidance for individuals affected by conspiracy thinking, directing users to relevant counseling resources.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 4,600 extremist-vulnerable youth completed Violence Prevention Network training since 2001
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

17 partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Bundesministerium für Bildung, Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend (BMFSFJ)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-standing reliable partner for many years, including through the federal program 'Demokratie leben!' and projects for radicalization prevention and deradicalization in prisons and probation services, right-wing extremism, and the dist[ex] project for developing a nationwide infrastructure for disengagement work.
• Bundesministerium des Innern (BMI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-standing partner, including for developing evaluation designs for prevention measures (PREVAL project).
• Bundesministerium für Forschung (BMBF)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupports Violence Prevention Network within the RADIS project — research on societal causes and effects of radical Islam in Germany and Europe.
• Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge (BAMF)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCooperation with VPN on DeSBa workshops (de-escalation and self-protection in counseling work) and funder of the SCHNITTSTELLE.JUGEND project.
• AshokacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJudy Korn has been an Ashoka Fellow since 2007. Ashoka supports Violence Prevention Network in multiple ways.
• TikTok (ByteDance)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership announced November 2025 to combat hate speech and violent extremist content on the TikTok platform. VPN is developing resources and technological improvements to better detect and remove extremist content, initially in Germany. VPN also joined the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT).
• Landeskommission Berlin gegen Gewalt / Senatsverwaltung Inneres und Sport BerlincoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFunds the Berlin counseling office and REE! and Crossroads projects within the Berlin state program for radicalization prevention. VPN also partners with Senatsverwaltung für Arbeit, Soziales, Integration, Vielfalt und Antidiskriminierung and the Landesstelle für Gleichbehandlung – gegen Diskriminierung on deradicalization in prisons and Crossroads, and with Senatsverwaltung für Bildung, Jugend und Familie through proRespekt.
• Hessisches Ministerium des Innern und HKEcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in the Hessian Prevention Network against Salafism through the Hessen counseling office (Religiöse Toleranz statt Extremismus).
• Hessisches Ministerium der JustizcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCooperation partner in prevention and deradicalization in prisons and probation services.
• Niedersächsisches JustizministeriumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner since 2016 for radicalization prevention and deradicalization in prisons and probation services.
• Ministerium der Justiz und für Digitalisierung BrandenburgcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in the deradicalization in prisons program.
• Sächsische Staatsministerien der Justiz und des InnerncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartners in deradicalization in prisons program.
• Sächsisches Staatsministerium für Soziales und gesellschaftlichen ZusammenhaltcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-funder within the state program 'Weltoffenes Sachsen' for VPN's Sachsen counseling office.
• Bayerisches LandeskriminalamtcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner for the Beratungsstelle Bayern counseling office.
• Kompetenzzentrum gegen Extremismus (konex) Baden-WürttembergcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCooperation partner since 2016 for implementing prevention measures in prisons in the state of Baden-Württemberg.
• Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft religiös begründeter Extremismus (BAG Relex)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerVPN is a member of BAG Relex, the German federal working group on religion-based extremism.
• Violence Prevention Network AcademycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternal education and training division (www.vpn-academy.com) providing advanced training and professional development for extremism prevention practitioners.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• EXIT-Deutschland: Specialized German deradicalization organization focusing on right-wing extremism exit work, with established government and state program funding. Operates in the same prevention niche and frequently co-applies for federal extremism-prevention grants.
• ufuq.de: Berlin-based association providing prevention work on Islamist extremism and political education for youth, partly funded via 'Demokratie leben!' programs. Comparable as a peer pedagogical prevention NGO with similar family/counseling services.
• cultures interactive e.V. Berlin-based NGO delivering prevention and educational work against right-wing extremism, with similar pedagogical approach and federal program funding. Comparable as a peer prevention/education provider with overlapping state coverage.
• Hayat Deutschland: German counseling and deradicalization NGO serving families of Islamist-radicalized individuals, operating as a registered charitable organization funded by German federal and state programs. Directly comparable as a sibling prevention/deradicalization NGO in the same federal funding ecosystem.
• Zentrum Demokratische Kultur (ZDK) gGmbH: Hamburg-based non-profit operating youth-centered prevention and deradicalization programs in cooperation with German federal programs. Comparable as a peer gGmbH-structured prevention provider with overlapping funding sources and target groups.

Broad incumbents

• Search for Common Ground: Global conflict transformation and extremism prevention NGO headquartered in Washington DC, with donor-funded programs in Europe. Comparable as a broader international peer in the extremism prevention and community resilience space receiving government and foundation funding.
• Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (bpb): German federal agency for civic education that funds and coordinates many of the same prevention programs VPN operates under. Comparable as the broader incumbent that sets program parameters and distributes much of the funding VPN relies on.
• Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD): International counter-extremism think tank and program operator with offices across Europe, working on hate speech, polarization, and radicalization including government-commissioned projects in Germany and at EU level. Comparable as a broader, more international peer with overlapping German government relationships.
• Institut für Demokratie und Zivilgesellschaft (IDZ) Jena / KomRex: Thuringia-based research and civil society institute conducting right-wing extremism research and prevention, with overlapping state-commissioned work. Comparable as an academic-adjacent prevention provider with state-level mandates.

Regional players

• Kontaktstelle für Demokratie und Präventionsarbeit Sachsen (OdA): Saxony-based state coordination and counseling network for democracy and extremism prevention. Comparable as a regional peer operating in one of VPN's active Bundesländer with adjacent service offerings.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookde-de.facebook.com/ViolencePreventionNetworkDeutschland
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/violence-prevention-network
• Xx.com/VPNderad

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Violence Prevention Network