It's so easy to make a real difference
We exclude the transfer of real estate to third parties, only the Edith Maryon Foundation and its subsidiaries are considered. Inheritances, gifts and donations to us are tax-exempt in both Switzerland and Germany.
We will be happy to advise you
Speak with us if you are considering doing something good with a gift or estate. We will be happy to advise you and recommend that you contact us, particularly in the case of real estate issues. If you would like to prepare yourself for the consultation, we recommend our guideline «Creating the Future with Real Estate: Donating, Partial Gifts and Bequeathing», however only in German. It contains all the information you need on how to transfer a property and what you need to be aware of if you want to safeguard your social concerns in the long term.
Consider us in your will
Our collaboration with DeinAdieu.ch enables you to draw up a will for your personal situation without any obligation and at no cost.
You will be guided through the following three steps:
- Register all heirs
- Determine who receives what share of your estate
- Copy the created template by hand
You should keep your will in a place where it is easy to find and protected (trusted person, lawyer, local authority).
Three Examples
Christine Hedinger Neunhoeffer gave us two plots of land in a beautiful location in Tartar, in the canton of Graubünden, to make an ecological, communal living and gardening project possible.
“Because it was out of the question for me to bequeath the land, I had been looking for a way to preserve it for some time. I knew that fields and building land would soon be sold for speculation, and that wasn’t an option for me. It was important to me that the foundation should be of a certain size – so that all the responsibility doesn’t just fall on one or two people. I think this is the ideal solution because it doesn’t just benefit some person, but because it promotes social cohesion. From my point of view, this is a win-win situation. It’s not a gift where I give everything away, but I can continue to live in my house and operate as I wish. I don’t feel any restrictions, only relief. And what’s more, you can only give away what you’ve received yourself, right? Of course, you could do other things with the money, but it usually only causes stress if you own too much.”
– Christine Hedinger Neunhoeffer
Maja Scheidecker made it possible for us to acquire an apartment building through a partial gift and an interest-free loan, which we repay her in monthly instalments. From her point of view, this only has advantages:
“Having so much money in the bank would be a huge burden for me. It feels right and good that the house is in good hands. The Edith Maryon Foundation gave us straightforward, understanding, and competent advice during our decision-making process. Once we had decided in their favour, we didn’t have to worry about the rest of the process, as everything was organised.”
– Maja Scheidecker
One donor, who did not wish to be named, gave us the plot of land with her single-family house in Arlesheim on extremely generous terms; the house remains the property of the family via building rights.
“I learned that you can’t sell the earth. I also find the current land prices in Arlesheim outrageous. For these reasons, I decided long ago to donate the land to the Foundation. As we were only able to build our first house in Gempen because the land was donated to us, this donation closed the circle for me. Over the years, I have repeatedly discussed this ‘partial inheritance’ with my children (they will inherit the house), and they are all in agreement.”