Nebenan.de employs around 120 staff members in various teams such as product development, moderation, content, marketing, and customer support, who continuously improve the platform and assist users. The main costs arise from personnel expenses, office rent, and technical infrastructure for secure message exchange. The financing is based on financial sustainability to ensure the operation and development of the platform and to achieve social impact.
Our structure and thus the cost structure fundamentally resemble that of any other professional company. Almost two-thirds of our expenses go toward salaries for our employees, who contribute daily to making nebenan.de what it is. Did you know that nebenan.de now has a team of around 120 people working to enable neighbors across Germany to connect digitally?
Our Teams
The Product and Engineering Team at nebenan.de includes both the developers of the online platform and its mobile app, as well as the product managers who have been continuously developing nebenan.de since day one. They ensure the platform runs smoothly for all neighbors and adapt it with new features to meet our users’ needs. They work hand in hand with our designers, who give nebenan.de the look and feel you recognize so well.
As a user, you are most likely to come into contact with our employees from the Moderation, Help, or Communication Teams. The Help Team ensures that all minor and major concerns of neighbors are resolved as quickly as possible. Our employees answer around 1,000 emails weekly.
The Content & Campaigns Team and the CRM Team make sure you are always well informed about what is happening in your neighborhood and inspire neighbors with new ideas and tips for living in the community. The team is also always looking for great stories from neighborhoods to share them in the digital nebenan Magazine.
Our Marketing and Press Teams primarily focus on making sure everyone who doesn’t yet know about nebenan.de becomes aware of it and has the chance to connect digitally with their neighborhood.
To make operations in the office and home office as smooth as possible, we have office and personnel managers. Among other things, they ensure that all employees at nebenan.de feel comfortable and have the necessary work resources.
In addition to the teams mainly dedicated to private neighbors, there are employees who support local businesses, organizations, and clubs on nebenan.de, as well as initiate and manage partnerships with cities and municipalities. They provide advice and support and guide them on their path into the digital neighborhood.
Finally, all threads and ideas come together with our management. Philipp Witzmann and Benita Krahforst set the strategic direction and make final decisions.
What Other Costs Are Incurred?
In addition to personnel costs, there are monthly expenses for office rent. In Berlin-Kreuzberg, we meet to work together, devise new plans for the neighborhoods of the future, exchange ideas, and develop new features for nebenan.de.
To enable millions of messages to be exchanged securely and reliably between neighbors, nebenan.de also requires a powerful technical infrastructure. Every new neighborhood, additional post, and message increases the need for server capacity and maintenance.
We spend a significant amount solely on operating this technical foundation—the servers where data is processed and protected. These costs increase with platform usage and are a central prerequisite for nebenan.de to function stably, securely, and reliably.
How is nebenan.de Funded?
For us, financial sustainability and social impact are equally important: by earning money with nebenan.de, we can ensure the operation and further development of the platform. This is how our social impact becomes possible. Learn more about how nebenan.de is financed here.