Sophie and Karl Binding Foundation Funding Programme (Switzerland)

Sectors

• Environment
  • In terms of promoting the environment, the Binding Foundation supports projects aimed at encouraging biodiversity and enhancing high-quality landscape spaces.
• Social Work
  • As part of the promotion of sociability, the Binding Foundation is committed to social cohesion and equal opportunities in Switzerland. It has an eye for the integration of children and adolescents as well as for strengthening social participation and exchanges between linguistic regions.
  • They accept requests for funding relating to the areas of promoting the integration of children and adolescents and social cohesion.
• Culture
  • In promoting culture, the Binding Foundation works to ensure the lasting conservation of architectural monuments. It also sponsors high-level artistic activity carried out on a professional basis in selected sectors of music, dance and figurative arts.
  • It also encourages individual experience of artists’ work and creation as well as architectural cultural heritage, and their enjoyment by a wide audience.
  • They gladly accept requests for support in the field of architectural monuments and ancient music.
  • In the field of dance and figurative arts they are operationally committed thanks to strategic collaborations: with Binding First Dance they support young dancers by facilitating their transition from professional training to working life on stage, while the Binding Sélection d’Artistes program subsidizes contemporary artists Swiss.

What they support?

• You can send them your requests for support in the following fields of action: biodiversity and landscape, inclusion of children and adolescents, social cohesion, cultural heritage – architectural monuments and arts – ancient music. They will be happy to receive your requests for collaboration for their Binding Sélection d’Artistes and Binding First Dance programs.
• Biodiversity and landscape
  • They support nature and landscape protection projects that aim to implement potentially effective measures for species diversity and landscape diversity and that also contribute to a richly structured and high-quality landscape. They focus their support on projects that are implemented in almost natural cultivated landscapes.
• Inclusion of children and adolescents
  • In the context of promoting the integration of children and adolescents they sponsor:
    • projects that enable adolescents and young adults to successfully start vocational training and working life, particularly in step I (school – training) and step II (training – first job);
    • extracurricular projects that strengthen children’s possibilities, prospects and abilities through artistic-musical or motor experiences;
    • projects that help protect children and adolescents from violence.
    • Priority is given to disadvantaged children and adolescents whose difficult environment makes it more difficult to integrate into society. They pay great attention to projects that emphasize personalized support for young people (mentoring, coaching, etc.) or that involve low-threshold parents or strengthen digital skills.
• Cultural heritage – architectural monuments
  • They provide contributions for the restoration and conservation of architectural monuments based on the following aspects:
    • architectural monuments have a high historical value, an architectural or historical-artistic importance (preferably they have been included in inventories) and a notable identity value for the population;
    • preferably their public or partially public use is foreseen and the project is developed with the participation of the local population or civil society groups;
    • the projects contemplate a long-lasting and possibly economically sustainable use;
  • They promote projects that help strengthen the bond with architectural monuments. They also support innovative and even unconventional initiatives and the adoption of successful models.
• Social cohesion
  • In the field of social cohesion they support:
    • projects that promote understanding of the diversity of their society, particularly in relation to the linguistic and cultural peculiarities of Switzerland;
    • projects that strengthen the capacity for orientation and reflection as well as the understanding of democratic processes (e.g. exchange of opinions and debates, media competence).
• Arts – early music
  • They provide grants to projects of small and medium-sized established ensembles as well as organizers in the field of early music who are distinguished by:
    • innovative spirit and originality in artistic approach, i.e. e.g.:
    • making early music accessible in a new way in the 21st century,
    • innovative programming such as interdisciplinary projects (multimedia, film, dance or similar) and/or collaborations,
    • making enriching rediscoveries of early scores public.
    • professionalism of the organization and communication of the project;
    • relevance at Swiss level;
    • huge development potential.
  • Preference is given to projects that:
    • are performed at least three times (including performances abroad);
    • credibly integrate aspects of participation and cultural intermediation.
• Binding selection of artists
  • They support monographic exhibitions of Swiss artists as retrospectives or presentations of an important creative period or exhibitions that highlight a particular aspect.
  • The publication of a catalogue of a general representative nature accompanied by scientific contributions based on the profile of art history must be included.
  • The support is aimed at artists who are over forty and therefore no longer fit into the parameters of traditional incentive tools and who are given little consideration in the field of commercial sponsorship. The Binding Sélection d’Artistes therefore represents a classic incentive project focused on a career already underway.
• Binding First Dance
  • With Binding First Dance the Foundation is starting a cooperation with independent dance companies , which are mainly active in Switzerland, and with city dance companies in Switzerland with the following content: The independent companies and the institutional companies each hire a graduate of a state-recognized Swiss dance school, who does not yet have an engagement at the time of graduation, as a full member of the ensemble for a production or a season. In the case of city companies, the Foundation covers 80% of the salary costs, in the case of independent companies, the Foundation covers the entire salary cost.

What they don’t support?

• Please check whether your application falls into one of the operational areas Protection of Biodiversity and Landscape Action, Youth Integration, Social Cohesion or Cultural Heritage. Furthermore, please note that support is not possible under the conditions stated below.
  • Types of projects
    • Projects taking place outside Switzerland
    • General fundraising and donation campaigns
    • Festivals, jubilees, open days
    • Conferences, seminars, congresses, series of events
    • Grants for diploma/dissertation work, scholarships
    • Basic research and publications without concrete application potential
    • Grants for publications, films
    • Exhibitions (except in the framework of the promotion programme Binding Sélection d’Artistes)
  • Target audience
    • Individuals, families, schools
    • Profit-oriented companies (SA, LLC, sole proprietorship)
    • Federal and cantonal authorities
    • Fundraising organisations (i.e. large non-profit organisations that annually invite a large circle of people to participate in fundraising campaigns)
  • Financial aspects
    • Company costs and deficits (recurring annual costs)
    • Post-financing and loans
    • Economic projects (e.g. company foundations, investment grants, tourism)

For more information, visit Sophie and Karl Binding Foundation.