2020 Annual Report – Switzerland and its solidarity in action

Last year, the coronavirus turned our lives upside down and hit the planet’s most vulnerable people the hardest. Millions of people around the world became ill or died. Social inequality and poverty worsened everywhere, including in Switzerland, and those who were already in difficulty saw their already precarious situations deteriorate further. The progress we had made thanks to years of development efforts were undone by the pandemic, but we refused to let this discourage us. In fact, we held four fundraising events last year:

Coronavirus Switzerland:

This humanitarian fundraiser, the biggest and longest held in Switzerland since 2005, raised CHF 41,486,039.

Coronavirus International:

CHF 8,911,716 was raised for the world’s most vulnerable people, those suffering most from the pandemic and its consequences.

LebanonEmergency:

CHF 7,560,077 was raised for Beirut residents who lost their homes to the devastating explosions in the port and needed emergency assistance.

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Children, victims of domestic violence in Switzerland(Coeur à Coeur, RTS):

Held jointly withRadio Télévision Suisse(RTS), this fundraising campaign for children in Switzerland raised CHF 2,028,186 by the end of 2020.

Find out exactly why, for whom and how we collect donations by reading thechapter on fundraisingin our 2020 Annual Report. We can say with confidence that, even in difficult times, solidarity is exceptionally strong: together with SRG SSR and private media, we raised a total ofCHF 64.5 millionin 2020.

How we have used your donations

In ourAnnual ReportandAnnual Financial Statement, we provide transparent and detailed information onhow we have used your donationsand what we achieved with them. Here is a quick look at the numbers:

The three largest fundraisers for aid projects

Coronavirus Switzerland (2020 campaign)34’615’170Tsunami in Indonesia (2018 campaign)2’983’268War in Yemen (2019 campaign)2’563’130

Coronavirus Switzerland (2020 campaign)

34’615’170

Tsunami in Indonesia (2018 campaign)

2’983’268

War in Yemen (2019 campaign)

2’563’130

Help at home and abroad

Ongoing projects: 409Aid organisations – Switzerland: 202Aid organisations – abroad: 27Countries: 41

How your donations are used over the long term

The donations we supported projects with in 2020 came directly from the major fundraising campaigns held during the year in review (Coronavirus Switzerland, Emergency Aid Lebanon, Coronavirus International,Coeur à Coeur), as well as from previous years’ campaigns.

It is important for us to use your donations sustainably and support multi-year projects, such as sustainable reconstruction projects following natural disasters. The donations you entrusted to us in 2020 have not been fully used yet and so will be put toward providing sustainable aid in the coming years in keeping with the same principle.

All 2020 figures, from the annual balance sheet to the operating costs, are contained in our2020 Annual Financial Statement.

What can we expect in 2021?

With thenew five-year strategy, we want to embody Switzerland’s solidarity even more strongly by 2025.Swiss Solidarity turns 75 this year!We are steadily pursuing a digital transformation to be able to support beneficiaries more effectively and strengthen the relationship of trust we have with our donors.