This publication talks to the bank's foundation – now in its 25th year – about how it continues to raise philanthropy to a new level, with a focus on scale, collaboration, and impact.

As UBS reported its second-quarter 2024 financial results today, it also launched the UBS Optimus Foundation Anniversary Impact Appeal to further promote its work. 

The Zurich-listed bank’s Optimus Foundation Network is marking its 25th anniversary. 

To recognize this milestone, UBS has donated $25 million to provide a 25 per cent match for donations made to the UBS Optimus Foundation Anniversary Impact Appeal. The funds raised will be used to accelerate the work of four transformative initiatives focused on education, health and the environment across Africa, Asia and South America, the bank said.

Like several large banks, UBS understands that philanthropy is not a “niche” area for clients any longer – it has to be a core advisory offering, and it is not an easy one to get right. 

“Last year alone, our current Optimus programmes reached 6.7 million people but there is a lot more work to be done,” Tom Hall, global head of social impact and philanthropy, UBS, and chief executive of UBS Optimus Foundation Network, said. 

“UBS Optimus Foundation has grown over the past 25 years from a small grant-making organisation to one driving transformative, scalable impact change for marginalised communities globally and locally,” Hall continued. 

“Returns are important, but it is not what they are most concerned about…it is their values or the impact of their legacy,” Hall also told this publication in a recent interview. 

The value of philanthropic assets in the world today amounts to $2 trillion, set to increase to $11.9 trillion by 2045, according to estimates by Cerulli Associates. Even such a colossal sum as $11.9 trillion cannot solve certain problems so philanthropy must be a catalytic force. It is important for philanthropists to understand how to make their ideas scalable, work with government, and so on, Hall said. 

Illustrating the point, Hall noted how, in 2023, UBS launched the SDG Outcomes initiative combing private and government capital to help provide essential healthcare, education, waste management, and employment for some of the world’s most underserved vulnerable populations. 

SDG Outcomes uses an innovative blended finance structure to invest in impact bonds and similar outcomes-based contracts that support the UN Sustainable Development Goals. 

“Everything we recommend [to] clients is done to find a pathway that is evidence-based and provides a path to scale,” Hall said. 

Measurement is important – without rigorous approaches, projects can harm those they are meant to help. 

Hall gave the following case: Mosquito nets impregnated with insect repellent have been used to fish across lakes and coastal areas in Africa, rendering the nets less effective for their original purpose, leading to overfishing as too many smaller fish caught in the fine mesh of the nets and potentially harmful toxins entering the ecosystem.

UBS said that one of the value-adds it provides is connecting clients to experts and helping clients learn more about the field, and to share insights with other philanthropists. There are also channels that can be explained, such as the use of donor advised funds (note: UBS has its own network of donor advised funds and the prerequisite is that those donating are already UBS clients). 

Some clients come to UBS having had disappointing experiences from philanthropic ventures and want to avoid repeating mistakes, Hall said.

Hall added that a benefit of private philanthropy, even when government activity is considered essential, is that it can be innovative.