Stephan Schmidheiny’s philanthropic activities remain true to his fundamental entrepreneurial approach while centring on a threefold result, a so-called triple bottom line. His foundations incorporate social, ecological and financial criteria in their efforts.
Stephan Schmidheiny’s foundations take business risks. They often and very specifically provide seed money in order to motivate other investors to also participate in the projects in a second phase once the supported projects have been borne out.
With the establishment of the Viva Trust in 2003, Stephan Schmidheiny once again entered unchartered philanthropic territory. He established an irrevocable trust according to British law and donated his companies in Latin America to it. Ever since, the Viva Trust has been investing a significant portion of the profits in the Fundación Avina.
Fundes
Together with the Archbishop of Panama, Marcos McGrath, Stephan Schmidheiny launched the Fundes initiative in 1984, a foundation for the sustainable development of the Latin American private sector. The objective of Fundes is to strengthen the entrepreneurial capacities of small and mid-sized enterprises in Latin America, thereby supporting social and economic progress and contributing to sustainable development in this region. Today, it is active in twelve Latin American countries.
Alexander Schmidheiny Stiftung
In 1993, after the early death of his younger brother Alexander, Stephan Schmidheiny established the Alexander Schmidheiny Stiftung, a foundation focusing on local initiatives in Eastern Switzerland. In memory of Alexander Schmidheiny, the foundation supports cultural, social, and ecological projects, particularly in Switzerland’s Rhine Valley region.
Avina Stiftung
Stephan Schmidheiny established Avina Stiftung in 1994 with the aim of supporting innovative projects for a more sustainable society. During the first years and until the independent Fundación Avina was founded in 2001, Avina was particularly active in Latin America. Today, Avina focusses on healthy and sustainably produced food. The foundation wants to stimulate change by providing a platform for pioneering minds and funding forward thinking ideas.
Fundación Avina
The Fundación Avina was set up from the Avina Stiftung in 2001 to address the fact that the Avina network in Latin America had reached critical mass. Today the Fundación Avina has a presence in 21 countries in Latin America via a network of 14 offices and collaboration with partners, and seeks to foster the sustainable development of Latin America.
MarViva
Stephan Schmidheiny established the Fundación MarViva in 2002 together with Erica Knie. The foundation is focused on the preservation and sustainable exploitation of marine life and the coastline in the eastern tropical Pacific. MarViva currently operates in Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia.
Viva Trust
With the establishment of the Viva Trust in 2003, Stephan Schmidheiny entered uncharted philanthropic territory. He set up an irrevocable trust under British law, to which he donated his companies in Latin America. The aim of the Viva Trust is to foster development in Latin America over the long term, and a significant portion of the profits from the industrial operations is invested in the Fundación Avina and other philanthropic activities.
Stephan Schmidheiny believes in the potential people have and the momentum development can bring. In keeping with this conviction, he has personally supported many innovative people in realizing their visions.
Tate Modern – Art in the Industrial Wasteland
On a murky November day in the early 1990s, Lord Dennis Stevenson showed Stephan Schmidheiny a derelict power station on London's Bankside, and outlined the vision that he as Chairman of the Tate Gallery had developed together with its Director, Sir Nicholas Serota: the run-down area was to become home to a unique museum of modern art. Stephan Schmidheiny shared his enthusiasm, and was one of the first to support the project with a substantial donation, so laying the foundations for one of the most important cultural buildings in the UK.
The Tate Modern, which opened in 2000, now attracts five million visitors every year, making it the most popular museum of modern and contemporary art in the world. Stephan Schmidheiny also provided major support for the Switch House extension, which was opened in June 2016 and has virtually doubled the gallery space.
Securing Peace
While building up his industrial group in Latin America, Stephan Schmidheiny experienced at first hand how underdeveloped the continent was both politically and economically, and this despite its immense wealth of resources. Together with his friend, the Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto, he began to systematically seek solutions to deliver sustainable social and economic development.
They placed particular emphasis on bringing an end to armed conflict. With Stephan Schmidheiny’s support, Hernando de Soto successfully negotiated a peace agreement in the 1990s between the Peruvian government and the rebel organisation Shining Path.
Since then, Stephan Schmidheiny has lent crucial support to various initiatives aimed at resolving armed conflict. At the start of the new millennium, he was involved in setting up the International Council on Security and Development. The organisation’s founder, Norine MacDonald QC, is committed to finding a lasting solution to the conflict in Afghanistan, addressing the interests of small farmers in particular.
In 2010, Stephan Schmidheiny was one of the initiators of the UK-based foundation Inter Mediate, which specialises in conflict mediation and now works successfully in countries such as Colombia, Turkey, Libya and Afghanistan.