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Facts & Figures
Switzerland
There is a lack of facts and information on foundations in Switzerland. Neither the Confederation nor the cantons record newly set up foundations in any consistent manner nor is it clear what kind of foundations (pension funds and business foundations, family or classic foundation forms) actually exist. No statistics are available on overall foundation assets or on the funds distributed by charitable foundations.
The most up-to-date data is provided by the national study on the situation in Switzerland carried out within the scope of the international research project, “Visions and Roles of Foundations in Europe” initiated by the Associations Management Institute of the University of Fribourg.
The following figures on the foundation landscape in Switzerland date back to the year 2000 and are actually projections, as based on the results of the national study mentioned above.
- Number of charitable foundations in Switzerland: approx. 11,000
- Foundation assets: approx. CHF 30 billion
- Annual volume of funds distributed: approx. CHF 2 billion; corresponds to approx. 2% of the Swiss federal budget
Hopefully, the responsible federal and cantonal authorities will recognize this deficit during the next few years and improve upon the current situation by continuously recording corresponding data statistically.
Europe
The European Foundation Centre formed a Research Task Force in view of the working out of corresponding statistics. The results were published in 2003/2004, as follows:
According to estimates, there are approx. 62,000 foundations in the 15 original EU member states. The statistics do not, however, distinguish between the different types of foundations. Detailed studies were worked out in the 8 following European countries, i.e. Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, and England. The total number of foundations involved is 27,000, with overall assets of 174 billion. No information was provided on the volume of funds distributed.
The 10 largest European foundations, according to volume of foundation assets (2004)
| The Wellcome Trust |
17.800 mio €
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| Fondazione Cariplo |
5.580 mio €
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| Fondazione Montei dei Paschi di Siena |
4.755 mio €
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| Compagnia di San Paolo |
4.614 mio €
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| Garfield Weston |
3.613 mio €
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| Robert Bosch Foundation |
2.806 mio €
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| Volkswagen Foundation |
1.942 mio €
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| Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio Roma |
1.846 mio €
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| Leverhulme Trust |
1.708 mio €
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| Federal German Environmental Foundation |
1.599 mio €
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April 2005
 Foundation Facts & Figures Accross the EU – Associating Private Wealth for Public Benefit
The most recent information can be found on the EFC website.
USA
Most of the following data is based on information provided by the Foundation Center for the year 2003:
Development of the foundation sector in the U.S. (charitable foundations)
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1990
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2003
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Charge in %
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Number of foundations
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32’410
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66’398
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105%
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Assets (billions)
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142.5 $
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476.7 $
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235%
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Funds for grant-making (bill.)
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8.7 $
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30.3 $
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249%
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The 10 largest U.S. foundations, according to foundation assets, in billions of $ (2003/2004)
| Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation |
26,8 $
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| The Ford Foundation |
10,6 $
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| J. Paul Getty Trust |
9,1 $
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| Lilly Endowment |
8,5 $
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| The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation |
7,9 $
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| W. K. Kellogg Foundation |
6,8 $
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| The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation |
6 $
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| The David and Lucile Packard Foundation |
5,9 $
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| Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation |
4,8 $
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| The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation |
4,7 $
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For the most recent information on U.S. foundations, please refer to www.fdncenter.org.
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