Together. From challenge to empowerment.

Project Gänserndorf: Integrative residential home for severely and mildly disabled people with a therapeutic animal farm

Projekt Gänserndorf Integrative residential home for severely and slightly challenged persons with therapy animal farm.

UKBB Eckenstein-Geigy-Professorship and Research Centre for Paediatric Pharmacology at the University of Basel and the University Children's Hospital Basel.

Aluna Móvil Holistic care for children with special needs or at risk of developing a disability, and counselling for families in poverty-stroken neighbourhoods of the city of Cartagena de Indias.

Setting our sights on change

The Eckenstein-Geigy Foundation supports organizations that use innovative solutions to further develop the urgent cultural, societal, and ecological challenges facing our society today.

Our Vision

We believe in the power of youth to assert themselves as changemakers once provided with the necessary financial support and the expansion of their personal know-how. We believe they can set the right "course" for the future in a sustainable way.

We believe in an inclusive society in which all people, including the differently abled, can lead self-determined, fulfilled lives, and contribute their abilities to society.

Our Mission

Our mission is to support, promote and accompany projects and innovative ideas to help create a positive change for a more sustainable, ecological, and socially just world of the future.

We want to encourage future generations of young people and organizations to get involved and work towards sustainable and future-oriented ideas and projects according to their potential.

We view art and culture as important sources of inspiration.

Our Impact

We have made it our core mission to empower innovative, creative people to become active shapers of the future.

To this end, we offer flexible financing models, networks and personal support for projects and partnerships.

We are convinced that personal responsibility and a prudent use of natural resources will make the world worth living in for future generations.

Selected projects

Targeted support - prudent investment: Together with our partners, we want to provide the impetus and achieve a tangible impact that will also benefit future generations.

Aluna Móvil

Early remedial education for children with disabilities and counseling for the family in their homes in neighborhoods affected by poverty in the city of Cartagena.

Wohnheim NGG, Gänserndorf

Integrative residential home for severely and mildly disabled people with a therapy animal farm.

Child‘s Dream

Developing and implementing interventions in collaboration with partner organizations to improve the well-being of children and young adults in the Mekong region.

Circleg

Developing appropriate prosthetic systems for the lower limbs.

Biovision

Beekeeping and mangrove conservation in Zanzibar - Intelligent conservation of a sensitive ecosystem.

Ecoalf

Plastic-free waters and creating awareness of the alarming ecological impact of waste management.

More projects

Committed to the foundation's purpose

The Eckenstein-Geigy Foundation supports projects that promote equal opportunities and independence, and whose benefits are long-term. Due to our history, we are closely linked to the city of Basel and the neighboring region, however, we are also globally active. In all our activities, we always maintain a conscious approach to the resources available to us. The foundation is non-denominational and politically neutral. We support transparency and communicate openly and actively.

Targeted support - prudent investment

The sustainability of the projects we support with regard to future generations is essential and decisive for us. We believe in the power of youth - young people, regardless of their background and personal orientation, are the changemakers who shape our future. We create a healthy, trustworthy, and inclusive environment for them so that they can develop and realize their creative potential without restrictions.

Funding criteria

The Foundation Board does not actively seek new applications, but at the end of May and of November we review all applications using a criteria grid. This ensures that projects support the foundation's strategic goals and bring its values to life. A solid concept and budget and a commitment to sustainable action are further requirements for a project partnership.

As a funding foundation, we review applications from other organizations and institutions. A trusting cooperation with our partners is very important to us. That is why we also accompany projects personally.

The Foundation favors projects that require cooperation in a spirit of partnership.

The grants of the Eckenstein-Geigy Foundation contribute to long-term changes. No full funding is awarded; however, the Foundation can accompany various phases of a project. Accordingly, it is important to consider at an early stage how the projects will be anchored following the funding. No support is given to private individuals.

"Philanthropy is deeply rooted in our family tradition." (Jeannine and Matthias Eckenstein-Geigy)

Our History

One of the reasons we started this Foundation was the birth of Lucy, the first grandchild of Jeannine and Matthias Eckenstein and daughter of Corinne Eckenstein and Rainer Berson. Lucy suffered an oxygen deficiency at birth, resulting in a severe spastic disability. Lucy changed our view of our own privilege, and we decided as a family to support projects where people with various degrees of ability can lead lives worth living and achieve the greatest possible independence. This is how different housing and educational projects for the promotion of children, adolescents and young adults for better health and education for sustainable development came into being in Germany, Austria, Colombia, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and Basel.

This has also led to the further promotion of projects that are as sustainable as possible and that give young people in particular a new perspective.

Foundation Board

Gabriel Eckenstein
President of the Foundation Board

"As the Executive Director of our Foundation, I take on many different roles and responsibilities at the same time. Above all, I believe in the power of targeted impact investment. This is the basis for measurable and positive impact on the socially relevant changes we care about.

My main occupation has been dealing in traditional Japanese art for many years. I find my personal balance as a husband and father of two, in nature and in the contact with my animals. In my professional as well as in my private everyday life intuition and empathy are of great importance. It is with these values in mind that I lead the Eckenstein-Geigy Foundation."

Corinne Eckenstein
Member of the Foundation Board

"As a member of the Foundation Board, I see myself as an active bridge builder. Both in my private life as a mother of two children, one of whom is severely disabled, and in my professional life as an internationally active freelance director, choreographer and curator, the topic of inclusion is omnipresent for me.

In order for inclusion to take place across the board, trusting foundations and synergies must be created in order to connect the most diverse people with each other. This is where I see my strength and my passion.

My second passion is contemporary and urban dance. Creating space for young people from the most diverse backgrounds to meet, where they can express their vitality, feelings, and creativity, is what drives me and drives my commitment to the Eckenstein-Geigy Foundation."

Dominik Eckenstein
Member of the Foundation Board

"Because dealing with people of different origins has fascinated me from an early age, I decided to work in the hospitality industry. Over the years, I have been able to take on new challenges again and again, mainly abroad. In the meantime, I have dedicated myself to revitalizing depleted farmland in North America and building ecosystems that sustain themselves.

Targeted impact investing turns visions into impact - measurable added value, environmental and social benefits, for which I work every day with conviction and heart and soul.

Opportunities are there to be seized and to grow from. As a member of the Board of Trustees of the Eckenstein-Geigy Foundation, it is close to my heart to enable young, innovative people to seize their individual opportunities. At the same time, I am committed to global reforestation projects."