Partnership development

Somaha foun­da­tion enters into insti­tu­tio­nal, multi-year part­ner­ships on its own initia­tive. The foun­da­tion does not accept fun­ding appli­ca­ti­ons for this type of coope­ra­tion. 

Goals and values

Tog­e­ther with its fun­ding part­ners, Somaha Foun­da­tion is com­mit­ted to hel­ping peo­ple in need, an open and diverse society and nature pro­tec­tion. 

An important value of Somaha Foun­da­tion is sus­taina­bi­lity. The foun­da­tion is con­vin­ced that only strong, inde­pen­dent and self-deter­mi­ned local orga­niza­ti­ons and com­mu­ni­ties can be eco­no­mic­ally sus­tainable. In order to make a big impact, Somaha Foun­da­tion is the­r­e­fore com­mit­ted to the strong invol­vement of local orga­niza­ti­ons and com­mu­ni­ties. The foun­da­tion also empha­si­zes the trans­fer of know­ledge from fun­ded pro­jects. To this end, it sup­ports open access publi­ca­ti­ons by the fun­ding part­ner. Somaha Foun­da­tion also pro­mo­tes the deve­lo­p­ment of over­ar­ching the­mes and change pro­ces­ses. 

Type and duration of the partnership

As part of a multi-year part­ner­ship las­ting bet­ween three and four years, Somaha Foun­da­tion works with pri­vate non-pro­fit orga­niza­ti­ons and sup­ports them with con­tri­bu­ti­ons of bet­ween CHF 100,000 and CHF 250,000 per year. The foun­da­tion enters into multi-year part­ner­ships on its own initia­tive. These part­ner­ships are used to jointly deve­lop fun­ding the­mes. The Stee­ring Com­mit­tee Mee­tings serve this pur­pose. These mee­tings, which take place three to four times a year, are inten­ded to fur­ther deve­lop the joint pro­ject in a trus­ting and con­s­truc­tive envi­ron­ment. 

Minimum requirements for joint project development

  • Legal domic­ile in Switz­er­land 
  • Tax-exempt orga­ni­sa­tion
  • Fun­ding from the public sec­tor < 50%
  • No poli­ti­cal acti­vity of the orga­niza­tion 

Steps in project development

The deve­lo­p­ment of a Somaha fun­ding part­ner­ship takes place in four steps. At the begin­ning of a poten­tial fun­ding part­ner­ship, the focus is on 1) the iden­ti­fi­ca­tion of the orga­niza­tion by the foun­da­tion and 2) initial ideas for the joint pro­ject. This is fol­lo­wed by 3) the pre­pa­ra­tion of a fun­ding appli­ca­tion. Whe­ther a fun­ding part­ner­ship is ente­red into is 4) deci­ded by the Somaha Foun­da­tion Board.

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It can take up to a year from the dis­cus­sion of pro­ject ideas to the con­clu­sion of a coope­ra­tion agree­ment.