1500 foundations registered at 66 addresses - Fundraiso.ch shows the largest foundation domiciles

More than 13,000 charitable foundations are domiciled in Switzerland. But if you look at the domicile addresses and foundation boards, you will see that a great many foundations are located at the same addresses. Namely, a proud 1500 foundations can be reached at just 66 addresses. Often it is law firms, trust offices, banks or family offices that offer domicile services to the foundations or host their own foundations. In Liechtenstein, this circumstance stands out in particular. There are over 150 foundations at one address. Fundraiso.ch has scrutinized the entire foundation data set of both countries and generated an overview.

" Allgemeines Treuunternehmen (ATU) is an internationally active trust and consulting company with headquarters in the Principality of Liechtenstein and with subsidiaries as well as representative offices in various important financial centers," is how the trust company describes itself on its own website, which provides domicile for over 150 foundations in Liechtenstein. The so-called Fundationsanstalt of Marxer & Partner in Liechtenstein is also considered one of the large foundation addresses. Here, too, around 150 foundations are registered. In comparison, the front-runner in Switzerland - the Zürcher Kantonalbank - is just modest with around 50 registered foundations. While there are several players in Liechtenstein that house dozens of foundations, the density in Switzerland is not so great. There are many addresses that have around a dozen foundations registered. Rarely are there more. In Switzerland, in addition to the Zürcher Kantonalbank, the following 3 companies stand out as providing domicile for numerous foundations:

• Von Graffenried Recht in Bern
• Scobag Privatbank AG in Basel
• ACTA notaires associés in Lausanne

Efficient contact management

The conclusion from this data analysis is that it is possible to reach 1500 foundations via 66 addresses. Of course, most of these foundations still have different boards of trustees and are therefore independent foundations. Nevertheless, the first contact or the contact person is always the domiciliary company. Accordingly, as part of efficient contact management, it makes sense to check which foundations have the same contact persons in order to prevent multiple contacts.

A detailed overview of the top 66 foundation administrators can be obtained as an Excel file from fundraiso.ch here.