Read the full 2026 report
Free access to all five chapters, every benchmark table and all 22 verified sources.
Benchmark report · 2026
The State of Foundations 2026
Germany, Austria, Switzerland
At the end of 2025, Germany counted 27,082 independent foundations under civil law, and according to the Bundesverband Deutscher Stiftungen infosheet, 80% of German foundations have less than €1m in capital. Of the 351 European grant programmes whose application route Optimy could see, 22.5% start with an email, a document or an enquiry. This report shows where your foundation stands and which rules are changing in all three countries.
Published October 2026 · 22 verified sources · ~15-minute read
Germany · end of 2025
27,082
independent foundations under civil law
+2.8% on the previous year
Switzerland · end of 2025
13,782
active charitable foundations
15.1 per 10,000 inhabitants
Application routes in Europe · 2026
22.5%
start with an email, a document or an enquiry
351 programmes with a visible application route
Data from
Bundesverband Deutscher Stiftungen
|
VgS
|
CEPS Basel
|
SwissFoundations
|
Swiss Federal Foundation Supervisory Authority
|
German Federal Office of Justice
|
Swiss Federal Council
|
proFonds
|
Optimy research
TL;DR
Key findings
1
Germany: 2.8% more foundations in one year
At the end of 2025, the Bundesverband Deutscher Stiftungen counted 27,082 independent foundations under civil law, 2.8% more than a year earlier.1 Check regularly which new foundations are becoming active in your field.
2
Switzerland: more active foundations than ever
At the end of 2025, Switzerland had 13,782 active charitable foundations, a new high according to the CEPS at the University of Basel.6 Net growth in 2025 was 72 foundations, after 30 the year before.6
3
Germany: almost one in two grantmaking foundations surveyed has a small budget
In the Bundesverband's Stiftungspanel 2024, 47.6% of the grantmaking foundations surveyed had a grant budget of €50,000 a year or less, almost one in two.3 For funders of this size, an application process that needs little effort pays off.
4
Europe: more than one programme in five starts with an email, a document or an enquiry
Of the 351 European grant programmes whose application route Optimy could see on their websites in 2026, 22.5% start with an email, a document or an enquiry rather than a form.22 These submissions have no common format. The region's 27 visible application routes are not enough for a separate DACH figure.
5
Germany: a small top group moves large sums
The 60 largest foundations in Germany alone spend more than €5bn a year on the public good.2 By contrast, according to the Bundesverband, 80% of foundations have less than €1m in capital.2 Benchmark yourself against foundations of your size, not against the largest.
6
Germany: set funding criteria are not a given
In the Stiftungspanel 2024, 57.2% of the grantmaking foundations surveyed had funding criteria set in advance.3 The rest had no such criteria or did not answer the question. Of the foundations with criteria, just over half, 52.4%, also published them.3
7
Austria: more new foundations, more room since 2024
The Verband für gemeinnütziges Stiften (VgS) counted 20 new foundations in Austria in 2025, after 13 in 2024, the highest level since the Covid low.4 Since 1 January 2024, the charitable sector reform has also applied, which according to the VgS extends tax-deductible donations to all charitable purposes.18,19
Chapter 1
More foundations in Germany and Switzerland, but each country counts differently
The counts published in 2026 describe the situation at the end of 2025, and for Austria as of April 2026. At the end of 2025, the Bundesverband Deutscher Stiftungen counted 27,082 independent foundations under civil law.1 In Switzerland, the Center for Philanthropy Studies (CEPS) at the University of Basel counted 13,782 active charitable foundations.6 Austria's charitable sector is much smaller, but it is seeing more new foundations again.4
The three counts do not measure the same thing, however. The German figure includes foundations with non-charitable purposes.1 The Swiss and Austrian counts cover charitable foundations only, and in Austria they include funds.4,6 This chapter therefore looks at each country on its own: number of foundations, growth, assets and, where published, annual grant spending.
27,082
independent foundations under civil law in Germany, end of 2025
13,782
active charitable foundations in Switzerland, end of 2025
1,060
charitable foundations and funds in Austria, as of 7 April 2026
+2.8%
growth in the number of German foundations in 2025
Germany: 895 new foundations in 2025
Germany has by far the largest number of foundations in the region. At the end of 2025 it was 2.8% higher than a year earlier, and 895 foundations were set up in 2025 alone.1 The count does not say whether these new foundations make grants, or in which fields.
By federal state, North Rhine-Westphalia leads with 5,263 foundations, followed by Bavaria with 4,590 and Baden-Württemberg with 3,861.1 A foundation's seat determines which supervisory authority and which state foundation law apply, and therefore which deadlines it must meet.
Switzerland: a record high at the end of 2025
According to the CEPS, Switzerland reached a new high at the end of 2025. During the year, 325 charitable foundations were set up and 253 were dissolved, net growth of 72 after 30 in 2024.6 The sector grew and renewed itself noticeably at the same time.
Switzerland: CHF 159.6bn in total assets (2023 accounts)
Swiss foundations also hold considerable assets. The Swiss Foundation Report 2026 puts the total assets of 13,071 charitable foundations at CHF 159.6bn, based on their 2023 annual accounts.7 That is 14.4% more than the previous survey, at CHF 139.5bn.7
On average, each foundation therefore has CHF 12.2m in total assets.7 This average says little about the typical foundation, because under federal supervision 97 foundations hold half of the capital (Chapter 2).8
These asset figures describe 2023, not today. Financial data arrives with a delay: under federal supervision, foundations submit their annual report up to six months after their financial year end, and the analysis is only published after that.12
Switzerland: grant spending according to a CEPS estimate
For annual grant spending, there is an estimate by the CEPS. According to it, grantmaking foundations under federal supervision distribute CHF 4.6bn a year, and all Swiss grantmaking foundations together spend at least CHF 6bn on their purposes.8 The estimate is based on the 2024 annual reports, and the Swiss Foundation Report 2026 still gives the estimate of at least CHF 6bn.7
Austria: a small charitable sector with more new foundations again
Austria has the smallest charitable foundation sector of the three countries. As of 7 April 2026, the Verband für gemeinnütziges Stiften (VgS) counted 1,060 charitable foundations and funds in total, including 198 funds and an estimated 46 comparable state foundations.4 Well under 1,000 belong to the civil society sector, around eleven foundations per 100,000 inhabitants.4 Be careful when comparing: the Swiss density above is given per 10,000 inhabitants.
The number of new foundations has risen again. The VgS counted 20 new foundations in 2025, after 13 in 2024, the highest level since the Covid low.4 In a sector this small, even a handful of new foundations changes the field noticeably.
Reliable figures on assets and grant spending are missing, because few Austrian foundations publish annual accounts.4 The VgS estimates the assets of the roughly 1,000 charitable foundations at more than €8bn to €10bn.5 Its 2025 annual report puts annual grant spending at a minimum of €140m to €150m, a figure it explicitly calls uncertain.4
Takeaway: Place your foundation within its own country first, because the three countries count according to different definitions. Then compare yourself with foundations of similar size, similar purposes and the same supervisory authority. In Germany and Switzerland the number of foundations grew in 2025, so review that peer group every year. In Austria it remains small.
Chapter 2
Who gives: a small top group and a great many small foundations
Behind the totals is a sector made up of two very different groups. A small top group moves large sums. According to the Bundesverband Deutscher Stiftungen infosheet, the 60 largest foundations in Germany alone spend more than €5bn a year on the public good.2 The infosheet gives no data year for this, only the source line 2025.
The great majority, on the other hand, works with comparatively little capital. According to the same infosheet, 80% of German foundations have less than €1m in capital.2 A foundation that manages more is already in the top fifth of the sector. For Switzerland, the figures further down show a strong concentration of capital; in Austria, it is above all the charitable part of the sector that is small.
>€5bn
spent each year by the 60 largest German foundations
80%
of German foundations have less than €1m in capital
47.6%
of the grantmaking foundations surveyed in the Stiftungspanel 2024 have a grant budget of €50,000 a year or less (DE)
97
of 4,056 foundations under federal supervision hold half of the capital (CH, 2024 annual reports)
Germany: almost one in two grantmaking foundations surveyed has a grant budget of €50,000 or less
The Bundesverband's Stiftungspanel 2024, a weighted survey of 277 grantmaking foundations in June and July 2024, shows how small many grant budgets are.3 Almost half of the grantmaking foundations surveyed, 47.6%, have a grant budget of €50,000 a year or less.3 That share is made up of 23.3% below €10,000 and 24.3% between €10,000 and €50,000.3 For funders of this size, every step from application to report should work with little effort.
Not every foundation makes grants at all. According to the Bundesverband fact sheet (2026 edition, no data year given), 62% of German foundations exclusively fund individuals or organisations.1 Around 22% both make grants and run their own projects, while 16% make no grants and only run their own projects.1 For a fair comparison, other grantmaking foundations are therefore what counts most.
Note: the Bundesverband gives no data year for the German breakdown. The Swiss figures come from the Swiss Foundation Report 2026's analysis by type, covering 13,929 foundations, including 34 umbrella foundations. This base is not the same as the 13,782 active foundations in Chapter 1.7 The 2025 edition, with data up to the end of 2024, gave shares of 49.1% grantmaking, 32.4% operating and 18.5% mixed foundations. The classification follows no clear legal rule and is therefore an approximation.8
The field is crowded by theme as well. According to the Bundesverband infosheet, 46.1% of foundations name social services as a purpose, 33.1% education and 29.2% arts and culture.2 If you fund in one of these fields, you share it with many other foundations. Check which ones are worth coordinating with, for example on joint funding.
Switzerland: under federal supervision, half of the capital sits with 97 foundations
In Switzerland, capital is highly concentrated, at least among foundations under federal supervision. The Swiss Foundation Report 2025 analyses 4,056 of these foundations that had submitted their 2024 annual report. Among them, 97 foundations hold half of the foundation capital, and the other 3,945 foundations hold the other half.8
Three quarters of the foundations in the dataset, 75%, have less than CHF 5m in capital.8 The 2026 edition gives no more recent figure on concentration.7
A registered management is the exception among grantmaking foundations. According to the Swiss Foundation Report 2026, only 10.4% of Swiss grantmaking foundations have a management registered in the commercial register, compared with 19.9% of mixed and 28.6% of operating foundations.7 If your foundation board handles the grantmaking itself, the process should leave it as little administrative work as possible.
Austria: only around 28% of foundations are purely charitable
In Austria, the charitable part of the sector is particularly small. According to the VgS comparison, only around 28% of foundations there are purely charitable, compared with 90% in Germany and 98% in Switzerland.4 If you are looking for other charitable funders in Austria, you will find them among only a small part of all foundations.
Takeaway: Measure your foundation against funders of a similar size and type, not against the 60 largest. If your grant budget is €50,000 or less, you share your situation with 47.6% of the grantmaking foundations surveyed in the Stiftungspanel 2024.3 Your process should then do one thing above all: keep the effort low for the board and for applicants.
Chapter 3
The grantmaking calendar: tax law and supervision set the deadlines
Two requirements set the legal framework of the grantmaking year: in Germany, the obligation to use funds promptly, and the deadline for the annual report to the supervisory authority. We have no analysis of financial year ends for the DACH region, of the kind that registers in other countries allow. The examples in this chapter therefore assume a financial year ending on 31 December.
2 years
deadline for the prompt use of funds (DE, tax-privileged foundations with income above €100,000)
6 months
reporting deadline under Swiss federal supervision
9 months
reporting deadline for federal foundations in Austria
12 months
reporting deadline in North Rhine-Westphalia, the authority can set a shorter one
Germany: two years to use the funds
For tax-privileged foundations in Germany, section 55 of the Fiscal Code (Abgabenordnung) sets the outer limit for using funds. Funds must be used for the statutory purposes no later than in the two calendar or financial years after they are received.9 This obligation does not apply to organisations with annual income of €100,000 or less.9 Check first which side of this threshold your foundation is on.
Besides this legal upper limit, the length of the funding itself shapes the calendar. In the Bundesverband's Stiftungspanel 2024, it averaged 2.2 years across the foundations surveyed.3 Commitments, payments and interim reports therefore often stretch over more than one financial year.
Reporting deadlines: six months under Swiss federal supervision, up to twelve in North Rhine-Westphalia
The second deadline is set by the foundation supervisory authority, and it differs from one authority to the next. The Swiss Federal Foundation Supervisory Authority, which supervises more than 5,000 foundations, expects the annual report within six months of the financial year end.12 With a year end on 31 December, it is therefore normally due on 30 June of the following year.12 The canton of Solothurn also requires the report within six months.13
In Austria, federal foundations and federal funds must submit their annual accounts or income and expenditure statement, audit report and activity report no later than nine months after the end of the financial year.11 State foundations, by contrast, follow the foundation laws of the federal states. In Germany the deadline is also a matter of state law: in North Rhine-Westphalia the board has twelve months, and the authority can set a shorter deadline.10
For a foundation whose financial year matches the calendar year, this means in practice: under Swiss federal supervision, the annual report is due by 30 June of the following year.12 A German tax-privileged foundation with more than €100,000 in annual income must also meet the two-year deadline for all the funds it receives.9 Check whether you can pull the data for this from one source, or whether you put it together by hand each year from separate lists.
Takeaway: Plan your grantmaking year backwards from your supervisory authority's reporting deadline, which ranges from six to twelve months for the authorities named here. For all the funds you receive, record when they came in and when you used them. The annual report then becomes an analysis rather than a hunt for evidence.
Chapter 4
How funders receive applications: in Europe mostly online, by email, document or enquiry for more than one programme in five
In most of the European grant programmes studied with a visible application route, applications come in through an online form, but more than one in five starts with an email, a document or an enquiry. This is shown by Optimy research on funders' websites between August and October 2026, which classified the application route of each programme.22
In the DACH region, the application route was visible for only 27 of 54 programmes, so this section gives the European figure, supplemented by the survey of German grantmaking foundations.22 The European figure comes mainly from the United Kingdom and Ireland, as 221 of the 351 programmes are British or Irish.22 For funders in the DACH region it is therefore only a guide.
63.8%
of European programmes with a visible application route use an online form
22.5%
of European programmes with a visible application route start with an email, a document or an enquiry
57.2%
of the German grantmaking foundations surveyed in the Stiftungspanel 2024 have set criteria
65.1%
of applications approved on average by the German grantmaking foundations surveyed in the Stiftungspanel 2024
Europe: almost two thirds of visible application routes are online forms
Of the 351 European grant, scholarship and award programmes whose application route Optimy could see on their website, 63.8% accept applications through an online form or portal.22 Another 11.1% work by email, document or post, 11.4% first require an enquiry, and 13.7% fund by invitation only.22
Taken together, 22.5% of these programmes, more than one in five, start with an email, a document or an enquiry rather than a form.22 These applications arrive in different formats and can only be compared once someone has recorded them in a consistent way. Corporate programmes are even less digital: of 128 European giving, sponsorship and community programmes with a visible request route, only 24.2% use an online form.22
Germany: more than half of the grantmaking foundations surveyed have set criteria
The Bundesverband survey shows how differently the participating grantmaking foundations handle applications. In the Stiftungspanel 2024, 57.2% of the grantmaking foundations surveyed had funding criteria set in advance, and 52.4% of these foundations also published them.3 Foundations that publish their criteria are therefore a minority among those surveyed.
Among the foundations surveyed, the number of applications is usually manageable. According to the Stiftungspanel 2024, 72.1% of all grantmaking foundations surveyed received up to 50 applications a year. Another 15% did not answer the question, so the share among those who did answer is higher.3
The average was nevertheless 54 applications. Some foundations receive a great many: 8.9% of respondents received more than 150 applications a year.3
The approval rate is also a figure every foundation can calculate for itself and compare. In the Stiftungspanel 2024, the grantmaking foundations surveyed approved 65.1% of incoming applications on average.3 Foundations with a grant budget below €1m were at 71.7%, those with more than €1m at 42.9%.3 Among those surveyed, larger funders therefore declined applications much more often.
Optimy customer
The Hatt-Bucher Foundation in Zurich used to receive around 1,000 paper applications a year; today it receives none. With Optimy, around 1,000 decision emails are sent automatically, and Managing Director Christina Anderegg puts the relief at 40% less workload.
Takeaway: Check how your applications arrive today. If they come by email, by letter or after a first enquiry, you share that with 22.5% of European programmes with a visible application route.22 A form with published criteria can save you data entry and make hopeless applications less frequent.
Chapter 5
New registers and more room: what applies in 2026 and what is coming
The rules for foundations are changing in all three countries, but in different directions. Since 1 October 2026, Switzerland has had a transparency register from which foundations are exempt.7,20 Germany introduces a central foundation register on 1 January 2028, and in Austria a reform giving more room has applied since 1 January 2024.15,19
2028
launch of the German foundation register on 1 January
2026
Swiss transparency register since 1 October
2024
charitable sector reform in force in Austria
CHF 50,000
proposed campaign threshold in Motion 24.4514, not yet adopted
Germany: the foundation register opens on 1 January 2028
The nationwide foundation register was originally due to open on 1 January 2026. Because the technical requirements were not in place, the legislator postponed the launch to 1 January 2028 with the law of 8 December 2025.14,15 From that date, foundations register with the Federal Office of Justice, and existing foundations must have applied for registration by 31 December 2028.15
Most provisions of the foundation law reform have applied since 1 July 2023. Since then, civil foundation law has been governed uniformly by the German Civil Code (BGB), while supervision and deadlines remain a matter of state law.16,17 The register only follows in 2028, which leaves time until then to put your foundation's data in order.
Switzerland: a transparency register without foundations, an open tax question
On 1 October 2026, the revised Anti-Money Laundering Act and the new Act on the Transparency of Legal Entities came into force.20 Foundations and associations do not have to register their beneficial owners, an exemption confirmed by the National Council as the last chamber on 26 September 2025.7 New due diligence obligations do apply, however, to advisers carrying out certain high-risk activities, and this can include advisers to foundations.7,20
Still open, by contrast, is Motion 24.4514, which according to proFonds has been with the National Council committee since March 2025.21 It calls for new tax rules for tax-exempt organisations that take part in political debate. It provides in particular for these points:
- Annual tax return: it would apply to all charitable organisations, including foundations.
- Separate accounts by activity: separate accounts would show what an organisation's funds are used for.
- Conditional tax exemption: organisations that regularly contribute more than CHF 50,000 to campaigns could lose their tax exemption in full or in part.21
Austria: more room since 1 January 2024
In Austria, the Charitable Sector Reform Act 2023 (Gemeinnützigkeitsreformgesetz) has applied since 1 January 2024.19 According to the Verband für gemeinnütziges Stiften, it brings foundations above all these changes:18
- Tax-deductible donations for all charitable purposes: donations are now deductible in all charitable fields, although religious purposes remain excluded.19
- Ten-year carry-forward: contributions to a foundation's endowment can be carried forward for tax purposes over ten years.
- More flexible use of funds: foundations can use their assets for their purposes more flexibly than before the reform.
Older foundations should check whether their statutes already reflect these options. Those that use the new options should document contributions and how they are used carefully.
Takeaway: German foundations should use the time until 2028 to keep their statutes, governing bodies and master data up to date and in one place. In Switzerland, keep an eye on Motion 24.4514; in Austria, take a look at older statutes. If your data is under control, you meet new obligations without a special project.
Scorecard
Where does your foundation stand? Nine questions to score yourself
This section sums up the five chapters in nine questions. Each row gives a benchmark from this report and asks a question about it. Give yourself one point for each question you answer yes to, then read how to interpret your score below the table.
Your score places you in one of three groups
- 7 to 9 points: your process is in good shape. Analyse your approval rate, number of applications and funding length every year, and close the last open points.
- 4 to 6 points: your foundations are in place. Close the two easiest gaps first: published criteria are one page on your website, and the approval rate is a report you set up once.
- 0 to 3 points: start with the application route. A form with clear criteria brings order to incoming applications and provides the data you need for many of the other questions.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
How many foundations are there in Germany in 2026?
How many foundations are there in Switzerland and Austria?
When does the foundation register open in Germany?
Do Swiss foundations have to register in the transparency register?
How many applications do foundations in Germany approve?
From application to report, with Optimy
Optimy brings a foundation's grantmaking process together on one platform. Applications come in through a single form with your criteria, and reviewers and the board score them in the same system. You keep track of commitments and payments there, and reports to the foundation board and the supervisory authority are built from the same data. So you decide faster and can show at any time where your funds go.
Methodology & sources
Every figure in this report comes from the source cited below, and we checked each one again against that source before publication in October 2026. Two values are sums of figures from the same source: the 47.6% in Chapter 2 (23.3% and 24.3%) and the 22.5% in Chapter 4 (11.1% and 11.4%). Where the data year differs from the year of publication, the text says so. We have added no estimates of our own; where a source itself estimates or extrapolates, such as the VgS for Austria or the CEPS for Swiss grant spending, we say so.
The three countries' counts follow different definitions and are not directly comparable. Swiss amounts are given in CHF and have not been converted. The Stiftungspanel 2024 figures come from the Bundesverband's presentation of 4 September 2024 on a weighted online survey of 277 foundations in June and July 2024. They apply to the foundations surveyed and are not official statistics.
Between August and October 2026, Optimy researched the public websites of the funders it was looking into during that period. For each grant, scholarship and award programme, the application route was assigned to one of the following groups: online form or portal; email, document or post; enquiry first; or by invitation only. The sample is Optimy's research list, not a random sample.
All shares refer only to programmes whose application route Optimy could see on the website. Of the 697 European programmes studied, 346 (49.6%) showed no application route and are not included. A visible application route is more likely to be an online form, so the online share across all programmes may be lower than shown here.
We only give a separate figure for a market when at least 40 programmes have a visible application route. In the DACH region this was the case for only 27 of the 54 programmes studied, so this report gives the European figure from 351 programmes. Of these, 221 are British or Irish programmes, so the European figure mainly reflects funders in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
- Bundesverband Deutscher Stiftungen, Faktenblatt Stiftungen in Deutschland (2026 edition, as of 31 December 2025) · www.stiftungen.org/fileadmin/stiftungen_org/Presse/Faktenblaetter/Faktenblatt-Stiftungen-in-Deutschland.pdf
- Bundesverband Deutscher Stiftungen, Infosheet Stiftungen in Deutschland, Zahlen und Fakten (source line 2025) · www.stiftungen.org/fileadmin/Infosheet_Stiftungssektor.pdf
- Bundesverband Deutscher Stiftungen, Stiftungspanel 2024: Wie fördern Stiftungen in Deutschland (presentation of 4 September 2024, weighted online survey of 277 foundations, June and July 2024) · www.stiftungen.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Wie_foerdern_Stiftungen_in_Deutschland_Bundesverband_Deutscher_Stiftungen_04.09.2024.pdf
- Verband für gemeinnütziges Stiften (VgS), Jahresbericht 2025 (as of 7 April 2026) · www.stiften.at/media/vgs_jahresbericht-25.pdf
- Verband für gemeinnütziges Stiften, presentation by Günther Lutschinger at the FFG Mission Expert Talks (19 September 2026) · www.ffg.at/sites/default/files/2026-09/GuentherLutschinger_VerbandFuerGemeinnuetzigesStiften.pdf
- CEPS University of Basel, SwissFoundations and Centre for Foundation Law, press release previewing the Schweizer Stiftungsreport 2026 (5 February 2026) · ceps.unibas.ch/fileadmin/user_upload/ceps/6_Ueber_uns/Medienmitteilungen/MM_Preview_Schweizer_Stiftungsreport_2026__05._Februar_2026_.pdf
- CEPS University of Basel, Centre for Foundation Law at the University of Zurich and SwissFoundations, Der Schweizer Stiftungsreport 2026 · ceps.unibas.ch/fileadmin/user_upload/ceps/2_Forschung/Publikationen/Stiftungsreport/Schweizer_Stiftungsreport_2026.pdf
- CEPS University of Basel, Centre for Foundation Law at the University of Zurich and SwissFoundations, Der Schweizer Stiftungsreport 2025 (data from the 2024 annual reports) · www.ius.uzh.ch/dam/jcr:bc2c941c-7bb6-4c4c-837f-c274ec5e90e0/24064_Sf_Rap.-25_D_Digital_DEF_1.pdf
- German Fiscal Code (Abgabenordnung), section 55(1) no. 5 (current version, gesetze-im-internet.de) · www.gesetze-im-internet.de/ao_1977/__55.html
- North Rhine-Westphalia Foundation Act, section 6 on reporting and audit (text of the NRW justice portal, reproduced by LexMea) · lexmea.de/de/gesetz/stiftg-nrw/6
- Austrian Federal Foundations and Funds Act 2015, section 20 on accounting and audit (text reproduced by Forum Media) · www.forum-media.at/finanzwesen/inhalt/-20.-Rechnungslegung-und-Kontrolltaetigkeit/1422458
- Swiss Federal Foundation Supervisory Authority (ESA), annual reporting · www.esa.admin.ch/de/jahresberichterstattung
- Canton of Solothurn, foundations: submitting the annual report · so.ch/services/stiftung-jahresbericht-melden/
- IHK Frankfurt am Main, foundation register delayed to 2028: new transition periods adopted · www.frankfurt-main.ihk.de/recht/recht-und-steuern-aktuell/verschiebung-des-bundesweiten-stiftungsregisters-6845376
- German Federal Office of Justice, foundation register · www.bundesjustizamt.de/DE/Themen/ZentraleRegister/Stiftungsregister/Stiftungsregister_node.html
- Flick Gocke Schaumburg, foundation law reform adopted (2021) · www.fgs.de/news-and-insights/blog/detail/stiftungsrechtsreform-unter-dach-und-fach
- Rödl & Partner, new foundation law in force (4 July 2023) · www.roedl.com/insights/neues-stiftungsrecht-in-kraft-getreten/
- Verband für gemeinnütziges Stiften, press release on the charitable sector package (12 October 2023) · www.gemeinnuetzig-stiften.at/media/202310_vgs_pa_meilenstein_fuer_den_dritten_sektor_1.pdf
- KPMG Austria, Tax News on the Charitable Sector Reform Act 2023 (January 2024) · kpmg.com/at/de/media/newsletter/tax-news/2024/01/tn-kmu-02-gemeinnuetzigkeitsreformgesetz-2023.html
- Swiss Federal Council, press release on new anti-money laundering rules coming into force (12 June 2026) · www.bj.admin.ch/de/newnsb/x3sKLxCJ6S3dQJtfvy0Tb
- proFonds, Motion 24.4514: the opposition continues (21 September 2026) · www.profonds.org/de/aktuell/motion-24-4514-die-bekaempfung-geht-weiter/
- Optimy research of funders' public websites, August to October 2026: application route of each grant, scholarship and award programme, classified by Optimy (method in this report) · Methodology in this report
About Optimy
Optimy is the platform foundations and companies use to run their grant, sponsorship and volunteering programmes, from application to report. The Hatt-Bucher Foundation featured in Chapter 4 is an Optimy customer; the details come from the published Optimy case study. optimy.com
© 2026 Optimy · You may quote this report with attribution ("Optimy, The State of Foundations 2026: Germany, Austria, Switzerland") and a link to this page.