Health, Education and Protection Grants

The UBS Optimus Foundation makes UBS unique in the financial industry. UBS is the only global Wealth Management firm with a foundation that is staffed by leading experts in philanthropy and has a client offering designed to deliver measurable, long-term benefits to the world’s most vulnerable children.

We recognize that our clients want to use their wealth for good and to catalyze positive social change. By connecting them with outstanding entrepreneurs who share that vision, we help clients achieve their philanthropic goals.

We take the business-minded approach to philanthropy you’d expect from UBS. Our global coverage, proven expertise and unrivaled knowledge enable us to transform good ideas into great programs. We know that even the best concepts need the right guidance, and we never assume a program will work just because it seems like the obvious solution. In fact, we challenge program assumptions rigorously – only very few meet our tough standards. And UBS is so confident about those programs we select that it co-funds them. This maximizes our programs’ reach and ensures they make a sustainable and significant impact. Best of all, we guarantee that 100% of all donations go to projects that benefit children because UBS covers all our costs.

Our focus is in three key areas: health, education and the protection of children. Additionally we also have emergency response capability specifically tailored to children’s needs in a crisis.

Programs may be too “young” for us to add value. This means they are still in the startup phase and lack sufficient evidence for us to access. At the other end of the scale programs may be too developed and are ready to be funded and guided by larger organizations such as NGOs and governments. In-between is the Optimus niche, the stage where we can really add value and bring promising interventions to scale.