UBS Optimus Foundation

UBS Optimus Foundation

Maya Ziswiler leads the grant-making foundation that UBS Group AG founded in 1999 and continues to fund administratively, meaning 100% of client donations reach programs. The foundation sits inside the bank but operates as a legally separate Swiss entity, blending traditional philanthropy with structured finance instruments that tie payouts to verified results. The foundation channels capital across health, education, climate, and humanitarian aid — deploying through direct grants, development impact bonds, and impact-linked loans. Confirmed positions include the Educate Girls Development Impact Bond in India with Children's Investment Fund Foundation as outcome payer, a Hewatele impact loan backing medical-oxygen production in Kenya, and a Blue Finance loan tied to marine-protected-area management in the Philippines. The geographic footprint spans sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. UBS covers all overhead; the foundation's network includes UBS Optimus Foundation India and the UBS Optimus Foundation Network, which pools Swiss- and UK-domiciled donor-advised vehicles. The team participates in the Outcomes Finance Alliance — which it helped found — and the SDG Impact Finance Initiative alongside the Swiss government. In 2024 the foundation extended its outcomes-based financing work in West Africa through a partnership with the Jacobs Foundation targeting education outcomes in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana. The foundation's structural distinction is that it does not raise a blind pool: every commitment is a discrete deal with named co-investors (CIFF, the Swiss government, Jacobs Foundation) and a published results framework. This pay-for-success architecture turns UBS wealth-management clients into direct co-funders of specific interventions, not general charitable donors.