From left to right: Peter Jenni, deputy chairperson of the CERN & Society Foundation board, Martin Steinacher, Director for Finance and Human Resources and president of the Foundation for the Globe of Science and Innovation board, and Nathalie Leuenberger, member of the Foundation for the Globe of Science and Innovation board, after the official signature of the merger.
On 6 June 2018, the CERN & Society Foundation and the Foundation for the Globe of Science and Innovationjoined forces to become a single entity with the ultimate goal of broadening their impact on society and optimising fundraising activities.
The Foundation for the Globe of Science and Innovation, established in 2007, and the CERN & Society Foundation, established in 2014, have in recent years successfully carried out complementary missions, sharing the overarching objective of promoting engagement in science in support of the broader mission of CERN.
After the merger, thecombined Foundation will continue to have the name “CERN & Society Foundation”, and the existing partnerships and projects of the two foundations will be brought together. The mission and activities of the Foundation for the Globe of Science and Innovation will continue in the new framework.
Thanks to this merger, the enlarged CERN & Society Foundation will be able to take a more efficient and coordinated approach, better serving local and international communities.
“The enlarged Foundation will have the purpose to support and promote the dissemination, to the widest possible public, of the benefits of the mission of CERN through education and outreach, innovation and knowledge exchange, culture and art; and the support and promotion of any related activities,” says Matteo Castoldi, Head of Partnerships and Fundraising and Secretary of the Foundation Board, which together with the CERN Legal Service has been instrumental in the merger and will be in charge of raising funds on behalf of the enlarged entity.
The purpose of the Foundation extends to supporting the operation of the Globe of Science and Innovation and promoting its use, notably as a venue for scientific exhibitions, conferences, meetings and debates open to the general public, in the spirit in which the building was donated to CERN by the Swiss Confederation. The Foundation also supports the development of the Globe’s infrastructure and, in particular, the capital campaign for the Science Gateway.
Following approval by the Autorité fédérale de surveillance des fondations, the merger entered into force on 11 October 2018. The Foundation for the Globe of Science and Innovation ceased to exist that same day.