Profile and directory: Case Study Gerbert Rüf Stiftung and Age-Stiftung
Know who does what, where and what they support: The cleverly structured directory of funding organizations, charitable organizations and projects in Switzerland is the core of the stiftungschweiz.ch platform. It offers all charitable organizations, regardless of their legal form, a simple and clear way to present themselves as an organization and to introduce their current priorities.
In use
Fleur Jaccard, Managing Director of the Age Foundation, and Pascale Vonmont, CEO/Director of Gebert Rüf Stiftung, spoke to Spheriq about their experiences with their individual foundation profiles. The Age Foundation focuses on transparent communication and networking. Gebert Rüf Stiftung, which as a transparent foundation already publishes all information on its website, uses the advantages of its foundation profile primarily in the areas of reach and visibility.
What specific advantages does your foundation profile offer you in your day-to-day work?
Fleur Jaccard, Managing Director of the Age Foundation: “The foundation profile enables us to communicate the Age Foundation’s strategy and areas of activity in a concise and concise manner and facilitates the search for suitable collaborations. We are not yet able to quantify the impact of our foundation profile.
Pascale Vonmont, Director of Gebert Rüf Stiftung: The Gebert Rüf Stiftung profile acts as an additional platform with more detailed core information alongside our website. This enables even more partners to find us.
What are the immediate and long-term benefits of the profile?
Pascale Vonmont: We want to be seen and found, and our profile increases our visibility as a channel with a wide reach for new partners and projects. In the long term, this is beneficial for Gebert Rüf Stiftung’s networking and cooperation strategy.
Fleur Jaccard: A crisp foundation profile leads to more targeted inquiries in the medium term and promotes networking. It makes the proverbial search and finding the needle in the haystack easier. In this way, we are setting an example for transparency in the philanthropy sector.
What challenges were there in the process of creating the profile, and what challenges are there in using the profile?
Fleur Jaccard: The challenge can be summed up in the maxim ‘keep it smart and simple’. Sure, the profile page is initially ‘one more page’ that needs to be filled and maintained. However, the effort involved is limited and unique. Filling in the data is simple and efficient thanks to an intuitive interface. And fortunately, foundations do not change their strategic orientation and funding practices on an annual basis. This means that only a small amount of information needs to be updated regularly. The search for foundations as network partners has become much easier with the foundation directory. It works perfectly.
How important was the change in perspective from funding organization to “information seeker”?
Pascale Vonmont: For us, a change of perspective is relevant in order to find the best topics and projects. Scouting has always been an essential part of our strategy, which we actively pursue at Gebert Rüf Stiftung.
Fleur Jaccard: If we neglect the external perspective, we generate unnecessary administrative work – first for the people looking for money and then for us foundations, for example in checking requests that don’t match the profile. Spheriq’s profile asks exactly the right questions to help us find suitable partners.
“The foundation profile has extended our reach beyond our own channels and thus increased the transparency of our funding policy.”
Pascale Vonmont
How has this change of perspective influenced your external communication?
Pascale Vonmont: The platform is a key addition to our external communication. Gebert Rüf Stiftung’s profile enables us to meet relevant partners and exchange ideas with them. But also to be discovered by new project partners.
Were there also concerns that additional information would lead to additional inquiries?
Fleur Jaccard: On the contrary. We believe that clear communication is an advantage – for foundation and project partners alike. And finally, we use the foundation profile to direct searchers to our Age website. In this way, we kill two birds with one stone.
How has your profile helped you to better reach your target group?
Pascale Vonmont: Our foundation profile has contributed significantly to this. It has extended our reach beyond our own channels and thus increased the transparency of our funding strategy.
How do you ensure that the profile you create is always up to date and relevant?
Pascale Vonmont: We plan regular updates throughout the year. In this way, we ensure that our profile is always up to date – without ad hoc measures or changes being forgotten. Incidentally, this also works very well with the comprehensive information; the red badge was not an issue for us.
Fleur Jaccard: We update the information as required. As mentioned, the strategic orientation of foundations does not change frequently, so the effort involved is limited.
How has the profile promoted cooperation, networking and synergies with other players?
Fleur Jaccard: The profile on stiftungschweiz.ch also reflects the digital networks in which we are active as the Age Foundation. This greatly simplifies the organization of the SwissFoundations working groups. As a supplement to the analog meetings, networking and coordination are strengthened and knowledge can be shared quickly and efficiently.
Pascale Vonmont: Gebert Rüf Stiftung has also benefited from the simplified and thus increased exchange within the SwissFoundations networks. So far, however, few contacts have been made outside our ‘bubble’, i.e. beyond the platform.
“The foundation profile and Age website are a powerful duo. It gives people looking for information what they need quickly, and we benefit from more substantial inquiries and new opportunities for cooperation.”
Fleur Jaccard
What feedback have you received from potential applicants or partner organizations about your profile?
Fleur Jaccard: The fact is that our foundation profile is listed in second place after our own website in a Google search. The foundation profile and Age website are therefore a strong duo. This means that information seekers get what they need quickly, and we benefit from more substantial inquiries and new opportunities for cooperation.
What long-term goals are you pursuing with your profile?
Pascale Vonmont: Our aim is to acquire new projects and network existing partners. We are convinced that this will enable us to strengthen Gebert Rüf Stiftung’s strategic focus in the long term.
About the profile and directory
Nonprofits and foundations can present themselves in the foundation directory with their own microsite and decide what information is shared publicly. Funding organizations can specify funding priorities and preferred application channels, while nonprofits can present their goals and funding history. The badges introduced by Spheriq increase transparency and trust by making the performance and commitment of organizations visible. This helps nonprofits to make their tax exemption and networking transparent and makes it easier for grant giving foundations to find reliable partners. The search function makes it possible to find suitable funders or nonprofits from around 15,000 Swiss organizations. The constantly updated foundation index ensures representative search results. Users can find their match using the text search or clever filters. The search function offers more than ten specific filter options and is supported by artificial intelligence that is constantly learning.
Challenges of the users
For Nonprofits
- Find and approach relevant funding partners
- Building up public fundraising and approaching private donors
- Little visibility for own organization and projects
- Low budget for advertising/reach generation
For Funders
- Efficient communication of preferred application channels and funding priorities
- Finding and approaching suitable funding partners and nonprofits
Goals of the users
For Nonprofits
- Find relevant funding partners and receive funding
- Donations received from private individuals
- Cost-efficiently build visibility and reach
For Funders
- Receive fewer unsuitable, more precise requests
- Transparent communication about funding activities and funding priorities
- Find funding partners
Implementation
The implementation of the profiles varies depending on the organization or project and takes place in different steps. Organizations can then use the search function with individual search targets.
Organizational profile
Users can claim an existing organization (usually a foundation) or enter a new organization (usually an association) in the system. The organization fills the organization profile with relevant content and sends it to the Spheriq team for verification. After successful verification, the profile is published.
Project profile
Organizations create a new project profile, fill it with the relevant information and publish it. Tax-exempt organizations (from Starter access) have the option of publishing their project profile and organization profile on the Spheriq donation platform.
Search
As soon as the profile has been published, users can define a search target. The search runs either via the text search, various filters or a combination of both search options. The search results are scanned for matches to the search target. Users can store and save relevant search results in a list, edit them collaboratively and export them.
Roles and responsibilities
The responsibilities for creating and maintaining profiles vary depending on the charitable organization and its size before the search in the foundation directory can begin.
Nonprofits
The fundraising or communications team is responsible for creating and maintaining the organization and project profile. The management or board briefs the team accordingly or actively participates in smaller nonprofits.
Grant Giving Organizations
The management/team for public relations and communication or project managers create and maintain the organizational profile. Here, too, the management or the board of directors briefs or, in smaller foundations, is directly and actively involved.
Research
Project managers and fundraising or communication managers usually search for suitable partners in the foundation directory.