Peter Baumann Foundation
We are continuing Peter’s work
Peter Baumann believed that people who have had the luck to gain a good education and achieve wealth are obliged to support the less privileged.
Peter Baumann believed that people who have had the luck to gain a good education and achieve wealth are obliged to support the less privileged.
Eleven years ago, Peter Bauman founded the Transammonia Foundation. It was to allow him to offer humanitarian aid in those countries that over the years have grown close to his heart through his work with Transammonia. Over the last 15 years, the foundation managed to fund fifteen national and international projects with passion, financial aid and unwavering persistence. After Peter’s death in 2009, things went quiet. It was his commitment which fuelled the foundation.
In order to better represent his lifework and to breathe new life into the foundation, on the 2nd November 2013 the Transammonia Foundation became the Peter Baumann Foundation.
The support provided by the Peter Baumann Foundation has to be sustainable. It has to lead to something that can stand alone and develop. Through the foundation, people should receive support to achieve a healthy lifestyle and education.
They should have the possibility to shape their lives free from economic and political restraints.
” Man isn’t bad. It’s merely the circumstances that make him bad. Therefore, we need to help to change the circumstances. “
Peter Baumann would not have liked this website or the hype surrounding his person. He didn’t want to be in the foreground. His support for fellow human beings came from the profound commitment that we should share our happiness with others. By following this idea, he always acted completely altruistically.
After growing up in Switzerland, he emigrated in 1967 to New York and began his career with Transammonia in a story of the true American Dream. His career despite his qualifications began in Transammonia’s mail room and lead him to the top position on the executive floor. Peter Bauman also worked in Chile, Brazil, England and France before returning with the company back to his native Switzerland in 1979.
Throughout his entire life, Peter Baumann dedicated his time to people in his environment: his family, friends and acquaintances. He regarded his commitment to support the less privileged – not only by providing funds, but also by sharing his time and knowledge with them – as his duty. And so, for many years, he volunteered as a support instructor during swimming classes for children with mental disabilities in the area of Switzerland he grew up in.
In 2002 he launched the Transammonia Foundation. He had always been looking for opportunities to provide people with access to education, food and medical care and he had always contemplated the idea and reason behind charities. He asked himself how to approach projects in a way that they would actually lead to an improvement of the situation instead of creating a new issue. A personal connection was at the basis of his projects. The support had to reach the recipients directly and have a capacity building effect that would lead to development and independence. He knew people well and understood their needs.
Today, this is still true for the foundation. The people responsible for the projects are personally known to the board members of the Peter Baumann Foundation. Sharing responsibility guarantees a preservation of Peter Baumann’s values und an effective, targeted and sustainable use of the available resources.
Peter Baumann passed away on March 2nd 2009. He left us with his approach to life and his lifework. In his name and with his ideals, the Peter Baumann Foundation will continue his work and create new opportunities.
The Peter Baumann Foundation is a private foundation and provides direct support in the areas of health, education and work. These are three supporting roots that allow people to find long-term solution to escape their circumstances and to build a new life.
The Peter Baumann Foundation promotes a variety of projects in the areas of health, since health is the foundation of life per se. We invest into the education of children and adolescents, provide them with opportunities to shape their own lives and grow to be responsible adults.
Furthermore, the foundation encourages people to improve their current situation on their own initiative by founding their own business, creating employment and becoming financially independent.
The foundation wants to build a support network that sustains itself with projects that allows everyone involved to make a contribution in the shape of money, knowledge or personal dedication.
Our support shall open up new possibilities and means for everyone involved in our projects to support other people in need and, therefore, to share responsibility.
Stefan Wieler, Sandra Fiorentino, Annelies Wieler Baumann, Cynthia Baumann