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.
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.
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.
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."