FBA: The essential toolkit for your Board!
Jointly founded by Beate Eckhardt, Georg von Schnurbein, and Etienne Eichenberger, the Foundation Board Academy offers training courses for current and future members of charitable foundation boards, as well as professionals working in the sector.
This initiative stems from the following observation: in Switzerland, the number of foundations is growing steadily. It rose from 5,000 in 1990 to 13,910 in 2024, leading to an increase in the number of boards and, of course, their members. Today, there are 58,544 members, 91% of whom hold a single mandate.
It is impossible for them to compare best practices or ways of approaching societal issues! This creates a need for training and discussion with peers.
The Foundation Board Academy was created with this goal in mind. Since 2021, 224 people have taken one of its courses. One-third of the participants, aged under 35, received a scholarship covering the cost of the seminar they chose in Basel, Bern, or French-speaking Switzerland. Funded by around 10 Swiss foundations and managed by the Board for Good foundation, these scholarships have enabled young people to acquire the knowledge they need to serve on a foundation board.
Alumni often compare Foundation Board Academy seminars to toolboxes where everyone can find what they need. This is how we contribute to the professionalization of foundation governance and help board members update their knowledge. Better equipped, they are ready to take on the challenges they face.
« Being a member of a foundation board involves duties and responsibilities: only sound knowledge and informed governance can maximize impact. »