elea

‘Add Venture’ How foundations are shaping the future of their funding campaigns and entering into new forms of cooperations. How much entrepreneurship is required in the funding activities of charitable foundations? Does non-profit exclude profit? Peter Wuffli, the former CEO of UBS, says no. He’s fighting poverty together with the elea Foundation, which relies on entrepreneurship to support those who have to get by on less than USD 150 a year. The foundation promotes models that strive for a future without support. The charitable sector is changing. New funding models, such as those used in venture philanthropy, are part of the change. Armed with new approaches, the philanthropy sector is getting ready to offer solutions to societal challenges; new forms of support are increasingly being explored and traditional project-based action is being put to the test. Those responsible in the philanthropy sector are also questioning who gets to make decisions. Collaborative approaches are getting the population involved, and even deciding on the allocation of funds, as is the case with the SKKG Foundation in Winterthur. Internal structures are also changing; the IdéeSport Foundation, for example, has done away with internal hierarchies.