# Swiss foundation makes its first major grants

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2006/12/27/swiss-foundation-makes-its-first-major-grants/
- Published: 2006-12-27T00:00:00+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

Starr International Foundation, a charitable organisation based in Switzerland established
this year, has announced its first major grants. It has made a $4 million grant 
to Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) to support international humanitarian work and
a $1 million grant to support various charities in Switzerland.
The foundation supports
a broad range of educational, environmental, artistic,

cultural, medical, humanitarian and other charitable institutions in Switzerland
and around the world. It is the successor to

the Starr International Charitable Trust, which was founded in 1971 by Starr International
Company, Inc.

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The Foundation is the sole stockholder of Starr International AG, a Swiss charitable
corporation that holds all of the authorized shares of non-voting common stock of
Starr International.

The Foundation’s Board of Directors consists of Otto Saxer (President), former CEO
of Swiss Mobiliar; John C. Whitehead, former co-chairman of Goldman, Sachs & Co.
and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, and Maurice R. “Hank” Greenberg, chairman of
Starr International and the retired chairman and CEO of American International Group,
Inc.

Dr. Saxer said: “We are very happy to have the Foundation up and running, and to
support through this initiative the provision of the best medical care to impoverished
communities, particularly in Africa and Asia. We are confident that the Foundation
will be an important European philanthropic organisation in the years ahead.”

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