The Stiftung Evangelische Gesellschaft in the canton of Zurich supports the Malaika integration project, which provides intercultural theatrical and culinary experiences.
The Malaika integration project offers an unexpected combination of intercultural theatrical productions and professional catering. The project has been running for six years, and focuses on fostering early integration among refugees who are not yet eligible to participate in the usual integration projects. Refugees are thus able to meet and interact with local residents and get to know Swiss culture for the first time, which helps them get to grips with local customs much faster and more easily.

Encounters in the kitchen and professional catering business
[TEXT] A professional catering service offering cuisine from ten different countries was meant to launch in September 2020. This was postponed due to the coronavirus crisis, however. Cooking together leads to natural integration. In preparing dishes from their home countries, the refugees have the opportunity to share part of their culture. The catering service also offers pre-study internships and integration job opportunities.
Theatre brings joy to all
Theatrical performances offer a wonderful opportunity to celebrate shared success. Performing a play provides plenty of opportunity for interaction and demands a great deal of training and discipline. Theatre productions are rehearsed on an annual basis and performed in German-speaking Switzerland at the Theater Spektakel Zurich, the Bernhard Theater and Schauspielhaus Zürich.
You can find more information at: https://turtle-tan-pp87.squarespace.com/catering
To find out more about the Foundation of the Protestant Society of the Canton of Zurich, visit stiftungschweiz.ch
Peer-to-peer training for formerly homeless city guides affected by poverty
The ‘International Network of Social Tours’ (INST) is an international umbrella organisation that was established in 2019. Alongside its president Paola Gallo, its founding members include providers from Basel (Surprise), Vienna (Supertramp), Edinburgh (Invisible Cities) and Athens (Invisible Tours). It offers support to organisations that provide socially oriented walking tours, and a pilot project has now seen INST organise its first peer-to-peer training session for city guides, providing them with reinforcement in their role as experts.

Making poverty visible
Across cities, the social-minded tours take attendees to hidden locations where homeless people can (and cannot) spend the night, with formerly homeless people showing where food, clothing or advice are available free of charge. Over the course of the two-hour tour through their city, whether Athens, Basel, Zurich, Edinburgh, Vienna, Glasgow or other locations, guides make poverty, homelessness and exclusion visible. The city guides tell personal stories relating to their day-to-day lives on the streets.
More information is available via: https://inst.ngo/de/ Become a member or give a gift that does good: a voucher for a city tour
Markus, city guide with Surprise Basel
‘On the tours, I experience a lot of respect and esteem. I feel integrated and accepted in society again.’
proFonds: Schweizer Stiftungstag 2020, live from Villa Bleuler
The Schweizer Stiftungstag will take place on Friday, 20 November. The event will be held virtually due to coronavirus. The Stiftungstag is organised by proFonds, the umbrella association for Swiss charities, and will focus on the coronavirus crisis. A large portion of the programme will be dedicated to the topic of ‘Charitable work under difficult circumstances: foundations/NGOs defy coronavirus’. Federal Councillor Ueli Maurer will give the opening address and Dr Peter Buss, CEO of StiftungSchweiz, will give a talk on ‘Charitable activities in the era of digital transformation’. Participants will attend remotely via live stream.
Impact investing – a new guide

Impact investments are investments that support a charitable foundation’s aims. How do they work? The Alternative Bank Switzerland (ABS) and the Center for Philanthropy Studies (CEPS) have published a guide for foundations. It is aimed at trustees, foundation executives and consultants. The guide can be downloaded free of charge at www.ceps.ch
Search for trustees, search for mandates
Boards of trustees need a diverse skill mix. It is not always easy for them to find the right person for a vacancy. A new online platform stiftungsratsmandat.com helps non-profit organisations find their perfect candidate and allows would-be trustees to create a profile and connect with an institution that is looking for their skill set.
The growing divide
The Gilded Giving 2020 report by the Institute for Policy Studies concludes that increasing wealth inequality is distorting the charitable giving sector. The combined wealth of the 62 billionaires who signed the ‘Giving Pledge’ in 2010 has almost doubled since. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett launched the ‘Giving Pledge’ campaign to encourage the world’s wealthiest individuals to contribute to philanthropic causes. https://ips-dc.org
Aid for Beirut
Beirut was rocked by a devastating explosion on 4 August. Caritas Switzerland, along with its partner organisation Caritas Lebanon, is providing emergency aid and has set aside a million Swiss francs for the relief effort. www.caritas.ch
New Director of Continuing Education

On 1 July 2020 Philipp Erpf took up the post of Director of Continuing Education at the Institute for the Management of Associations, Foundations and Co-operatives at the University of Freiburg. Following a two-year familiarisation period, he succeeded Hans Lichtsteiner. Philipp Erpf co-heads the institute with Professor Markus Gmür (Director of Research).
Reform of stock corporation law

The revisions to Swiss stock corporation law, recently approved by parliament, will affect non-profit organisations. proFonds, the umbrella association for Swiss charitable foundations, issued a statement at the end of July, pointing out that the requirement to disclose the salaries of trustees will jeopardise many non-profit organisations’ tax-exempt status.
Promoting pellets

The charity myclimate has launched a subsidy scheme for pellet heating systems. It is open to property owners in locations where there is no financial support from national, cantonal or local government.
Neue Generalsekretärin des Bundesverbandes Deutscher Stiftungen

Kirsten Hommelhoff (43) wird neue Generalsekretärin des Bundesverbandes Deutscher Stiftungen. Sie ist die erste Generalsekretärin in der 72-jährigen Geschichte des Verbandes. Ihr Amt wird sie am 1. September 2020 antreten. Der Bundesverband Deutscher Stiftungen ist der grösste Stiftungsverband Europas. Kirsten Hommelhoff ist Juristin und hatte in den vergangenen knapp zehn Jahren verschiedene Funktionen bei der Stiftung Mercator inne. In den letzten fünf Jahren hat sie das Projekt Zentrum Berlin der Stiftung Mercator geleitet.
Der Schweizer Stiftungsreport 2020
At the end of 2019, the Swiss charity sector comprised 13,293 charitable foundations. While 349 charities were founded, 216 underwent liquidation. The Schweizer Stiftungsreport 2020 presents a multi-faceted picture of the charity sector. In addition to the familiar form of permanent charities, today there are new forms such as umbrella organisations and non-perpetual trusts. Almost 70 percent of all charitable foundations have emerged in the last 30 years, and 43 percent of all environmental charities were founded after 2010. When it comes to newly formed charities compared with the total stock, there has been an increase in environmental (12 percent) and political and lobbying (5.4 percent) organisations. The charity sector is assuming increasingly clear contours. The sector is becoming more visible and forming international networks. The effectiveness of these developments has been reflected in the swift, straightforward response to the current coronavirus crisis.

The Schweizer Stiftungsreport 2020 is the eleventh edition of the report. It is published on an annual basis by the Center for Philanthropy Studies (CEPS) at the University of Basel, SwissFoundations – the association for Swiss charities – and the Center for Foundation Law at the University of Zurich. https://ceps.unibas.ch/en/publications/
Wegweiser für gute Betreuung im Alter
Sechs Stiftungen lancieren gemeinsam, organisatorisch unterstützt durch SwissFoundations (SF), den «Wegweiser für gute Betreuung im Alter – Begriffsklärung und Leitlinien». Die Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz (FHNW) hat in ihrem Auftrag den Begriff «Betreuung im Alter» geklärt und die Anforderungen an eine qualitativ hochwertige Umsetzung formuliert. Gemäss SF verstehen die beteiligten Stiftungen den Wegweiser als Beitrag für den Dialog rund um Betreuung und Pflege älterer Menschen. Es gelte, verbindlich zu klären, was unter guter Betreuung zu verstehen ist und wie Sozialsystem und Institutionen der Schweiz die Betreuung als Bestandteil eines ganzheitlich gedachten Unterstützungsgefüges älterer Menschen einbeziehen können. Nur wenn auch Betreuung die gebührende gesellschaftliche Anerkennung erhalte, könne die Schweiz den Menschen ein selbstbestimmtes und gesundes Älterwerden und die Teilnahme an der Gesellschaft ermöglichen.

Herausgebende Stiftungskooperation
Age-Stiftung, Beisheim Stiftung, MBF Foundation, Migros-Kulturprozent, Paul Schiller Stiftung und Walder Stiftung
Für die herausgebende Stiftungskooperation
Patrizia Rezzoli, Beisheim Stiftung,
041 768 76 14, rezzoli@beisheim-stiftung.com
Maja Nagel, Paul Schiller Stiftung,
044 796 42 23 maja.nagel@paul-schiller-stiftung.ch
Für das Forschungsteam der Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz FHNW
Prof. Dr. Carlo Knöpfel, 079 536 46 76, carlo.knoepfel@fhnw.ch
Riccardo Pardini, 079 787 39 51, riccardo.pardini@fhnw.ch
Stifter Hans Schöpflin erhält den Deutschen Stifterpreis
Der Deutsche Stifterpreis wird vom Bundesverband Deutscher Stiftungen vergeben. Er wird seit 1994 jährlich verliehen. Hans Schöpflin (78) erhielt den Stifterpreis 2020 gemäss dem Bundesverband Deutscher Stiftungen für seine unermüdliche Suche nach gesellschaftlichen Innovationen, seinen Mut zum Risiko sowie seinen unerschütterlichen Glauben an die Ideen und Initiativen junger Menschen, die die Gesellschaft gerade durch die Zivilgesellschaft positiv gestalten wollen.

Die neue Geschäftsführerin von SwissFoundations

In diesen Tagen startet Franziska Juch bei SwissFoundations als Geschäftsführerin. Sie folgt auf Beate Eckhardt (siehe Interview Seite 24). Die 40-jährige Betriebswirtin bringt einen grossen Erfahrungsschatz mit. Sie leitete während gut dreier Jahre das Fundraising der Stiftung Kinderdorf Pestalozzi. Sie verfügt über ausgewiesene Management- und Führungserfahrung sowie ein breit gefächertes Netzwerk im Stiftungs- und Philanthropiewesen.
The federal government: a point of contact for civil society
Just as it involved the scientific community, the federal government has also established a liaison office between civil society and the Federal Council Coronavirus Crisis Unit (KSBC). From 16 March, our daily lives were radically altered by the lockdown imposed by the federal government. Civil society banded together and from day one, digital platforms emerged across Switzerland to enable people to offer one another support.
Charitable organisations, local media and private companies acted decisively, and charities offered straightforward help where they could. To take full advantage of this commitment to tackling the coronavirus crisis and make use of the full potential of these initiatives, the federal government established a liaison office during lockdown, which functions as a channel between federal administration and civil society. The COVID-19 Civil Society Point of Contact was set up and is run by the organisation staatslabor.
The point of contact collects requests from civil society in one place. The platform enables targeted interaction with civil initiatives. This, in turn, allows potential collaboration between individual initiatives and the responsible federal offices to be examined. The aim is to improve the allocation of resources within federal government and civil society.

Wie hoch sind die Verteilkosten?
StiftungSchweiz hat Ende Oktober ihre Philanthropie-Plattform lanciert. Ein Video, welches den Nutzen der Plattform aufzeigen sollte, enthielt eine Aussage, die zu einer kontroversen Debatte führte. Am 14. November 2019 stellte Professor Georg von Schnurbein, Leiter Center for Philanthropy Studies CEPS in Basel, im sozialen Netzwerk LinkedIn eine Aussage von StiftungSchweiz in Frage. In einem Erklärvideo hatte die Online-Plattform errechnet, dass bei vier Milliarden Franken jährlichen Spendengeldern in der Schweiz Verteilkosten von einer Milliarde Franken anfallen. The Philanthropist nahm diese Kritik zum Anlass, Georg von Schnurbein einzuladen zu einem Gespräch mit Peter Buss, Gründer von StiftungSchweiz. Der Stiftungssektor ist vielfältig. Dies gilt ebenso für die Seite der geldsammelnden Organisationen, sprich Projektträger, wie für die Seite der Geldgeberinnen und ‑geber. Bis heute gibt es keine umfassende Statistik über die Ausgaben für den gesamten Sektor. Verschiedenste Studien und Auswertungen decken nur jeweils einzelne Teile ab. Sie beruhen auf unterschiedlichen Grundgesamtheiten und verschiedenen Stichproben. Wie sich zeigt, ist die Interpretation der Werte schwierig und kontrovers.
72 hours for a sustainable Switzerland
On 14 November, representatives from the non-profit and charitable sector gathered in the main hall at the Museum of Transport in Lucerne, where 350 people took part in the proFonds conference. Read morFrom 16 to 19 January 2020, 15,000 children and young people across Switzerland spent 72 hours working on 235 projects for a sustainable Switzerland. The young people’s projects revolved around the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals from its 2030 Agenda. They built bee hotels, repaired scout centres, implemented recycling ideas and did much more besides. 72:00 is a project by the Swiss youth organisation SAJV, supported by the Federal Government, Loterie Romande, Sophie und Karl Binding Stiftung and Stiftung Mercator Schweiz. https://72h.ch/de
The 31st Schweizer Stiftungstag
On 14 November, representatives from the non-profit and charitable sector gathered in the main hall at the Museum of Transport in Lucerne, where 350 people took part in the proFonds conference. Read more
Study shines a light on social benefits
A study launched by SwissFoundations and carried out in collaboration with PwC Switzerland reveals that charitable foundations benefit Swiss society. One particularly interesting question discussed was whether society would lose more funds through tax reductions than it would gain in grants. SwissFoundations published the study in July.
Handbook on Corporate Foundations
The number of ‘corporate foundations’ is increasing and they are gaining in importance. As a result, it is important to have a better understanding of how they work. This task is the focus of the ‘Handbook on Corporate Foundations’, which will be published by Springer in early 2020. Numerous contributions in the book come from the Center for Philanthropy Studies.
Volunteering to step out of their comfort zone

Volunteers travel to Greece to help refugees who arrive there by boat. In their documentary ‘Volunteer’, Anna Thommen and Lorenz Nufer reveal the birth of a citizens’ movement that defends Europe’s humanitarian values.
Understanding Bill Gates
Netflix is devoting a three-part series to Microsoft’s founder, Bill Gates. The documentary ‘Inside Bill’s Brain – Decoding Bill Gates’ not only shines a light on his successes as a manager; it also highlights his philanthropic work with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the role that it plays in current issues.
Eglantyne — a theatre play written and performed by Anne Chamberlain
100 years ago Save the Children was established by a very courageous woman — Eglantyne Jebb — who dedicated her life to helping the most disadvantaged children in the world. She not only founded one of the world’s leading organizations for children’s rights but also formulated children’s rights for the first time herself, which laid the foundations for the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child — 70 years later. In honor of the extraordinary live and work of the founder Eglantyne Jebb and of the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, Save the Children is hosting an inspiring theater play about her life. Please register for the event. Entry free, donations are welcome.
Charity for ethical questions relating to digitalisation
Digitalswitzerland launched the Swiss Digital Initiative (SDI) at the Swiss Global Digital Summit on 2 September. The initiative is to be supported by a charity led by former member of the Federal Council Doris Leuthard. The Swiss Digital Initiative aims to set ethical standards in the digital world.