Your donation gets to where it is needed
We provide rapid and uncomplicated support for people living with a spinal cord injury.
In cases of hardship, we help people with a spinal cord injury by contributing to the costs of aids, equipment, installations, and uncovered care costs. We also help people with paraplegia and tetraplegia and their relatives if they fall on hard times. Support is provided, for example, to convert living areas, vehicles, and workplaces as well as to acquire aids such as wheelchairs and ventilation devices.
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«Support from the Swiss Paraplegic Foundation has been and remains essential. I wasn't able to use public transport on my own, which is why my car represents more to me than just a means of getting around.»
Aurora Savoldo from Ticino works as a qualified care specialist in a canteen in a primary school in Lugano.
«Money has an emotional value for me, it means being able to participate in life. Donors have made a significant contribution that has made it easier for me to achieve the life goals I have set myself so far.»
Matthias Lötscher, a lawyer from Lucerne, was supported financially during his studies.
«My house was far from wheelchair-accessible. Even the entrance could only be reached by climbing stairs. Without the conversion work, I would not have been able to return home.»
In her converted bathroom, Martha Gasser from Isenthal in Uri can perform her personal hygiene routines without outside help.
«I invested my whole heart in my estate and restaurant. It would be incredibly painful for me to have to leave here.»
Landlord Robert Linder has lived on his estate in Tramelan since 1971. He uses a special lift to get from the restaurant to his apartment and to his office.
22.4 million Swiss francs go straight to people living with a spinal cord injury.
The Swiss Paraplegic Foundation pays 5.6 million Swiss francs in benefactor benefits to members who have recently had an accident. In addition, the Swiss Paraplegic Foundation (SPF) has approved 1,227 applications for direct aid, which amounts to 16.8 million francs in support payments. In cases of hardship, people with paraplegia and tetraplegia receive financial support through direct aid. In total, 25% of all membership fees and donations received are used for his purpose. The further use of funds can be seen in the diagram below.
Our vision: we support people with spinal cord injuries throughout their lives.
The Swiss Paraplegic Group (SPG) provides a unique network of services for people with a spinal cord injury – from initial care to the end of their lives. The aim is comprehensive rehabilitation and a return to family, professional, and social life for people living with a spinal cord injury. The basic strategic orientation comprises four areas of services: Solidarity; Medicine; Education, Research, Innovation; Integration and Lifelong Assistance. You will find further information on this here.
Non-profit governance – definition and significance for the SPG
The term non-profit governance should be understood as a superordinate catalogue of principles for the long-term supervision of a non-profit organisation (NPO) or the non-profit sector. It basically defines the fundamental tasks and conduct of the top management organ (in this case the Board of Trustees) with the aim of increasing transparency, trust, efficiency, and efficacy.
The Swiss Paraplegic Group (SPG) is managed in accordance with the guidelines of the current non-profit governance rules that generally apply in Switzerland. In the following you will find a few principles that apply to the Swiss Paraplegic Group:
- The managing organs guarantee a clear division of responsibilities with regard to legal and statutory supervision, management, and enforcement. They ensure a balanced relationship between control, management, and checks and balances.
- The managing organs determine the information policy. They ensure timely, transparent internal and external information about the structure and activities of the organisation and the use of its funds.
- The managing organs safeguard the concerns of donors. They are responsible, in particular, for the fair acquisition of funds and their use in accordance with their declared purpose.
- The managing organs safeguard the interests and rights of benefactors, members, and employees. They ensure effective cooperation between honorary, voluntary, and paid employees.
We maintain open, honest, and transparent relationships. People can rely on our professionalism and our specialist knowledge.
Instruments of information and supervision
The Board of Trustees is informed regularly of the activities of subsidiaries and partner organisa-tions. This occurs through interim reports, budgets, multi-year plans, ad-hoc information, etc. Special events are reported immediately. The Board of Trustees is responsible for implementing the founder's intentions.
Audit committee
The audit committee is responsible, among other things, for compiling and monitoring the corporate governance guidelines and the division of powers.
Reporting to our benefactors
Benefactors and other interested parties receive the Paraplegie magazine (magazine of the Benefactors’ Association of the Swiss Paraplegic Foundation) four times a year. This provides comprehensive re-ports on the activities of the Swiss Paraplegic Group (SPG).
External supervision
As what is known as a classic foundation, the Swiss Paraplegic Foundation (SPF) is subject to the supervision of a governmental authority, i.e. the Swiss Supervisory Authority of Foundations (General Secretary's Office of the Swiss Federal Department of Home Affairs (EDI)), Bern. Supervisory activity is based on the practice of the Swiss Federal Court pertaining to article 84, paragraph 2 of the Swiss civil code (ZGB), which states: “The supervisory authority must ensure that the foundation's assets are used for their declared purpose.”