More than 25 Years of Foundation

On 22 December 1999, Wolfgang Egger founded the PATRIZIA Children’s House Foundation with the aim of giving children around the world access to education, healthcare and a safe home. Inspired by his support for the Bunte Kreis and personal experience from Tanzania, he developed the vision of bringing about long-term change with responsible local partners and accompanying each project for at least 25 years.

With the opening of the PATRIZIA Children’s Hospital Peramiho in south-west Tanzania, the foundation is launching its first project in cooperation with the local Benedictine order. The paediatric ward is adjacent to the existing missionary hospital and has been providing life-saving care for children with serious illnesses such as tuberculosis, malaria or malnutrition ever since. Thanks to the high medical standards, the hospital has established itself nationwide and child mortality has been reduced by more than 60 %. In 2016, the facility was modernised together with architecture students from Augsburg and adapted to the increasing demand.

In cooperation with Grünhelme e.V., the PATRIZIA Foundation set up a hostel for vocational students at the Nelson Mandela Education Centre near Ntarama, a place that was severely affected by the genocide. The Vocational Training Centre Ntarama offers practical training in areas such as electrical engineering, tailoring and metalworking. In 2024, the five-year partner programme was completed, which included the transformation of the school into a sustainable educational institution with renewable energy. Among other things, a solar system and an electricity storage system were installed as part of this project. The PATRIZIA Foundation is also supporting the school with the

PATRIZIA School Buyamba in southern Uganda provides over 900 children aged between five and fourteen with a quality primary education. The school is one of the largest in the region and offers good access to education thanks to renovations and extensions to dormitories and teachers’ accommodation. A sustainable water supply in particular is a crucial step towards better health and quality of life for the children.

The PATRIZIA Foundation’s first Foundation Talk in Frankfurt provided a platform for discussing the successful support of disadvantaged children and young people worldwide. Founder Wolfgang Egger welcomed high-profile guests such as Dr Auma Obama, founder of the Sauti Kuu Foundation, which works with the PATRIZIA Foundation in Alego, Kenya, and the Queen Mother of Bhutan, Gyalyum Sangay Choden Wangchuck, who presented her RENEW Foundation.

Athlete, business angel and former football world champion Mario Götze supports the PATRIZIA Foundation’s education projects and later becomes an ambassador for the ‘Hearts4Change’ initiative. The campaign aims to give one million children and young people access to education, healthcare and security in local and global projects by 2030.

The ‘Corona Fund Education Healthcare’ was launched in 2020 to meet the needs of children and families in times of crisis by providing additional resources. The fund helps to maintain educational programmes, ensure healthcare and promote the well-being of children.

In September 2021, PATRIZIA SE UK employees organised a hiking challenge in the Lake District to raise funds for the PATRIZIA School in Buyamba, Uganda. The money was used for a rainwater collection system, the construction of outdoor classrooms and further renovation work. Thanks to its great success, the Hiking Challenge is being continued annually.

The PATRIZIA Foundation launched the ‘Ready for the Future’ initiative in 2021 to establish digital learning worldwide and sustainably improve the quality of education. The foundation relies on a step-by-step model for the digitalisation of schools. The focus is on training teachers and pupils to use digital learning methods effectively.

After developing the impact model with WU Vienna’s NPO Competence Centre in 2021, the first ex-post evaluation takes place in Tanzania in 2022. Medium and long-term effects are analysed in five facilities in Songea and Peramiho – with convincing results. The Children’s Hospital Peramiho now serves as a regional hospital, and the schools are also having a strong regional impact. The evaluation confirms the foundation’s sustainable approach. Following successful practical testing and a revision, the impact model has been used in KinderHaus projects worldwide since 2023.

The EduCare Europe Fund was initiated by the PATRIZIA Foundation in 2022 in response to the humanitarian emergency caused by the war in Ukraine. The aim of the fund is to support Ukrainian children and young people through education and psychosocial care. The funds are used to specifically finance emergency educators who stabilise traumatised children and help them return to school. Implementation is carried out in close cooperation with partners such as the Pallottine Fathers, the Ukrainian Association and the German-Ukrainian Dialogue. Projects have been realised in Augsburg (Germany) and Warsaw (Poland), among others.

In 2024, the PATRIZIA Foundation is launching the international Hearts4Change campaign with the aim of supporting one million children worldwide with education, healthcare and security by 2030. Prominent ambassadors such as Mario Götze and Eva Weber, mayor of Augsburg, are supporting the initiative. 100% of the donations go towards projects such as the expansion and digitalisation of the PATRIZIA School in Muniguda, India, to provide local children with a high-quality education and to offer girls in particular an alternative to early marriage.

In 2024, the PATRIZIA Foundation opened its new branch in London, supported by Lord and Lady Lloyd Webber as ambassadors. The first project in the UK is all about giving British schoolchildren access to classical music. The aim is to provide 300 pupils with musical instruments and music lessons to encourage their creativity, critical thinking and self-confidence.

In 2024, the PATRIZIA Foundation is launching the PRIME25 Alliance, an exclusive network of influential executives and companies that take responsibility as part of the motto ‘Do good – Be great’. The members of the PRIME25 Alliance make an annual donation of 25,000 euros towards the construction of a children’s home and actively promote sustainability and social responsibility. The companies benefit not only from a stronger employer brand, but also from exchanging ideas with each other and extended networking opportunities.

The PATRIZIA Foundation celebrates its 25th anniversary in December 2024 and has an impressive track record: over 750,000 children and young people have been supported and 25 children’s homes have been built in 15 countries on five continents. The anniversary was marked by a charity event at which founder Wolfgang Egger opened with his vision of a world in which education is a basic right for all children, emphasising the transformative power of education. Highlights included a moving first-hand report from the first project in Tanzania and an inspiring keynote by brand expert Martin Lindstrøm, who illustrated the importance of empathy in business. The evening concluded with a silent auction, the proceeds of which will support  the foundation’s education projects.