Project funding

For your project to meet our funding criteria, it has to be a non-profit initiative, designed to strengthen health promotion or prevention in Switzerland and have a nationwide reach.

 Criteria

Does your project meet our funding criteria? If so, contact us by email – ideally with information on your organisation and a description of your project, including the objectives, budget and timeline. The more specific and structured your application, the faster we can review it. You can also send us a non-binding preliminary inquiry.

Submit application

Once you’ve been in touch, we will review your application and get back to you. If your project is eligible for funding, we will discuss any outstanding questions in person and work together to determine the next steps.

If the board of trustees approves your application, we will enter into a funding agreement with you. Throughout the funding period, we will support your project as a partner. Regular communication and shared learning are particularly important to us.

More and more young people are struggling with mental health issues. The Sanitas foundation therefore supports non-profit projects that strengthen the mental resilience of adolescents and young adults in Switzerland. Our objective is to help young people overcome challenges during transitional periods, such as moving from school into the working world or from living at home to independent living. We focus on striking a balance between digital and analogue lifestyles, fostering a healthy body image and taking holistic approaches.

We’re living longer and longer – but are we staying healthy for longer, too? Mobility is often required to participate in social life and benefit both physically and mentally. That’s why our goal is to enhance the mobility and independence of older people with fragile health. We support projects that promote physical and mental well-being, foster social inclusion and improve lifestyle factors for disadvantaged older adults.

Connecting with nature can support well-being and contribute to everyday health. Forest bathing is a simple and accessible practice to help you find inner peace and recharge your batteries. Kashapona offers a growing collection of audio guides that make forest bathing (shinrin-yoku) easy to access and grounded in scientific evidence. This promotes mindfulness, presence and recovery – without the need for therapy. The offer is aimed at a wide audience, especially young people and older adults. Kashapona is currently available in French. The Sanitas foundation is helping to fund the translation into German and English, so that even more people in Switzerland can benefit.

 Kashapona

The GORILLA school programme shows young people how to lead a healthy, active and sustainable lifestyle. Freestyle athletes use modern learning methods to bring the topics of exercise, nutrition and mental health to life in workshops at schools and via digital channels. With the support of the Sanitas foundation, the digital learning platform for teachers throughout German-speaking Switzerland is being further developed. In addition, cross-media campaigns are aimed directly at young people. The combination of analogue and digital learning provides lasting benefits for young people’s health.

 GORILLA Switzerland

Young people in Switzerland are online up to three hours a day. This offers opportunities, but also poses risks such as cyberbullying, disinformation and data misuse. To promote digital resilience, a team from the University of Zurich, Zurich University of Applied Sciences and Graubünden University of Applied Sciences is developing Cyber Safari. Inspired by the Foxtrail concept, this project combines digital learning with physical activity. In an interactive treasure hunt, young people solve fun challenges designed to strengthen their media skills. The Sanitas foundation is supporting the technical implementation of the app to prepare young people for the challenges of the digital world.

Cyber Safari project website

Taking care of your own mental health is becoming increasingly important, but many people don’t know how to strengthen their mental well-being. That’s why the Geneva-based association Minds is developing the digital educational platform mindsUP. It offers free digital and analogue resources aimed at raising awareness, providing information and encouraging habits that boost well-being and strengthen social relationships. To ensure that as many people as possible benefit from mindsUP, the Sanitas foundation is supporting the project. The platform is currently only available in French.

mindsUP

The interactive platform demenzworld aims to make living with dementia as easy as possible for those affected and their relatives. A wealth of valuable information can be found in the “demenzjournal” online magazine and the “demenzwiki” glossary. The “demenzmeets” in-person meetings and the online “demenzforum” are available for sharing information. Users can find the right advice at the right time via the “demenznavi” or by talking directly with the new chatbot Sophie. Following the successful development of e-learning modules for relatives, the Sanitas foundation is supporting the further expansion of the e-learning area. 

demenzworld

Obesity is a serious societal challenge. Although state-of-the-art weight loss injections (GLP-1 receptor agonists) provide a new method for weight loss, the weight usually returns once the injections stop. Taking emotional eating behaviour into account could help to encourage sustainable behavioural changes. The Bern University of Applied Sciences has therefore launched a pilot study to test whether mindfulness-based group therapy changes eating behaviour and improves weight control in the long term. The Sanitas foundation supports this new approach.

Bern University of Applied Sciences (Nutrition and Dietetics)

Smartphones and tablets are a great invention, but parents are increasingly unsure about how to ensure the healthy development of their young children against the everyday backdrop of these devices. The Marie Meierhofer Institute for Children, an associated institute of the University of Zurich, has therefore launched a study in which interested parents can use WhatsApp over a number of weeks to build their skills and access resources while also receiving information about healthy development. The programme centres around a behavioural change plan defined individually by the parents (e.g. switch off all digital media during mealtimes). The coaching intervention study will be scientifically evaluated and supported by the Sanitas health insurance foundation.

MMI

The virtual world opens up many opportunities for children and young people, but also harbours risks. Education and empowerment are needed to face online challenges such as fake news, cyberbullying or cybergrooming. The Netpathie association creates awareness of the opportunities and risks by holding project days and weeks for children and young people between the age of 6 and 19. The workshops are supplemented with input for parents and teachers, social workers and other experts.  The Sanitas foundation supports the expansion of this offer into extracurricular activities, such as the scouts and football clubs.

Netpathie

One in five people in Switzerland suffer from a pollen allergy. In spring, pollen from shrubs and trees causes streaming eyes and sneezing, while in summer it’s mainly grass pollen. The symptoms of a pollen allergy can be severe, which is why the aha! Swiss Allergy Centre provides information about the pollen count on its website pollenundallergie.ch and the Pollen News app. To improve therapy management, pollen count information will in future be calculated for the whole of Switzerland by MeteoSwiss and made available via the app and the website of aha! Swiss Allergy Centre. The app service also includes a symptom diary.

pollenundallergie.ch and the free Pollen News app