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Original language of the article: German
The term "family office" is not clearly defined. In principle, it is understood to mean a company that manages substantial private assets independently of banks. The aim is to preserve and, ideally, increase the assets. To this end, specialists develop strategies and take care of legally compliant investments. The main difference to classic asset management is that employees of a bank or insurance company are subject to the instructions of the respective financial institution, whereas the family office is bound exclusively to the instructions of the owner family. Furthermore, a distinction is made between single family offices and multi family offices. While the Single Family Office serves the purpose of managing the assets of one family, the Multi Family Office manages the assets of several families. In the following we list some examples of important family offices:
Single Family Offices:- Sandoz Family Office SA
- COFRA Holding AG
- Jacobs Holding AG
Numerous family offices are directly or indirectly connected with foundations. For example, several foundations of the Brenninkmeijer family are located at the same address as COFRA Holding AG. The Jacobs and Sandoz families also operate significant foundations in addition to family offices.
Family offices often get involved as investors in promising startups. But do they also make direct donations to charitable organizations? It is worth taking a look at the fundraiso.ch database, which shows that most of the family offices registered on fundraiso.ch have made at least one donation directly themselves or are associated with already established funding foundations. This also corresponds to the statement of an experienced fundraiser from the field of development cooperation: "Family offices are interesting contacts for building long-term donor relationships. Because in addition to direct donations, the network that a family office brings is often a door opener for further contacts."
In an articleentitled "Philanthropy in a Family Office," the think thank Milken Institute notes that the majority of all family offices worldwide engage in philanthropy. Although philanthropy is often ascribed the least importance in purely strategic terms, it is nonetheless part of an overall strategy. As the Milken Institute further writes, family offices engage in philanthropy either as direct philanthropic donors or indirectly through affiliated foundations, depending on their set-up. So-called impact investing is also often pursued as a philanthropic activity, in which the aim is to create not only financial but also non-material added value. In addition to wanting to make a difference, family offices also experience tax advantages through philanthropic giving. All in all, family offices should be interesting contacts for every fundraiser.
As part of the database expansion, fundraiso.ch will now systematically integrate all family offices in Switzerland and Liechtenstein and make them available to users on fundraiso.ch.
Posted in Fundraising