Migros Culture Percentage has been incorporated in the Migros statutes 1957. With its institutions and projects in the areas of culture, society, education, leisure and business, it dedicates itself to the social cohesion of people in Switzerland. This globally unique voluntary commitment is made on the basis of a fixed percentage of retail revenue. With a diverse online strategy, Migros Culture Percentage provides the public with detailed information about its various commitments and support activities.

Sustained stimuli for culture

Migros Culture Percentage's support activities in the area of contemporary culture reflect the developments in modern society and provide access to high-quality projects for the public at large. These projects provide important stimuli in the Swiss cultural landscape.
 
In 2013 two winners of the Migros Culture Percentage CH-Dokfilm competition were given the opportunity to present their finished films to the public: «Zum Beispiel Suberg» by Simon Baumann (winner in 2010) was shown for the first time in the international competition of the Visions du Réel festival. It attracted considerable interest in Swiss German cinemas in autumn. «Service inbegriffe» by Eric Bergkraut (winner in 2011) was shown in the competition of the Zurich Film Festival. It will be released in cinemas in spring 2014. Migros Culture Percentage supports and funds the work of the CH-Dokfilm competition winners from the idea through to the finished product.

 
The young piano trio Rafale impressed both the panel of judges and the audience at Migros Culture Percentage's 14th Chamber Music Competition in Zurich's Tonhalle, winning both the Migros Culture Percentage Ensemble award and the audience prize. Migros Culture Percentage supports young talent with financial contributions and performance opportunities. Furthermore, talents who show great promise also receive ongoing support, which includes a talent platform, a concert arrangement service, bookings and advice. Migros Culture Percentage covers two thirds of the fee for concerts arranged for the musicians.

The Modern and Contemporary Swiss Poetry anthology was presented at the Frankfurt Book Fair. It portrays lyrical creations in Switzerland from the start of the 20th century to the present day – in its entire depth for the first time. The volume published by Roger Perret on behalf of Migros Culture Percentage includes almost 600 works by around 250 authors. In addition to lyrical prose, it also covers illustrated literary works, dialect poems and song lyrics. The book attracted strong public interest and was praised by critics in all German-speaking regions.

At the fourth IntegrART, Migros Culture Percentage again made a commitment to overcoming normative barriers between people with and without disabilities in the performing arts. IntegrART presented national and international dance and music productions in collaboration with local festivals in Basel, Berne, Geneva and Zurich. In addition, the From Outcast to Avant-Garde – Good Prospects! symposium was held in May 2013. It investigated what the obsession with beauty means for the self-fulfilment of people and for performing artists with disabilities.

Commitment to social cohesion

Migros Culture Percentage conducts projects in socially relevant fields and makes a commitment to ensuring that the whole population can actively participate in processes that strengthen civil society.

In 2013 the Generation Academy launched the GiM – Generationen im Museum interdisciplinary project. In the form of symposia and project support, it promotes interaction between people of different generations in museums in German-speaking Switzerland.

For the second time, Migros Culture Percentage and the Federal Commission on Migration (FCM) invited entries for the contakt-citoyenneté joint support programme. In the first round in 2011, 30 integrative project ideas were supported with a total of CHF 320'000. More than 450 people implemented the ideas in intercultural teams and with volunteer work. The events showed that the Swiss population as a whole has a strong interest in issues such as integration and social cohesion.

With the x-hoch-herz competition, Migros Culture Percentage encourages schools to address the issues of «helping voluntarily» and «taking responsibility» in school lessons. In the 2012/2013 school year, the competition was about song lyrics on the subject of «Guets tue tuet guet!» (Good deeds feel good). 500 songs and raps were submitted by people throughout the whole of Switzerland. The winning classes were given the opportunity to record their song professionally in a recording studio. The 15 winning titles have been published on a CD and can also be heard online.

In August 2013 the Bubenberg Migros branch in Berne, with the support of Migros Culture Percentage, launched a pilot project that redefines the term «social responsibility»: young adults with health or social impairments are given the opportunity to complete an apprenticeship to make them more attractive to potential employers. The apprentices with learning difficulties are employed on normal terms and attend public vocational school. Thanks to individual support from Migros, they have the chance to obtain a Federal apprenticeship diploma.

«Education for all» – a reality since 1944

Migros founder Gottlieb Duttweiler was committed to the principle of education for all and began offering the first language courses in Italian, French, English, Spanish and Russian back in 1944. Migros Culture Percentage is continuing Duttweiler's vision. It commits around half its budget to supporting the Migros Club School, Eurocentres, the GDI Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute and the Gottlieb Duttweiler Chair at the University of St. Gallen. The subject of education has always been very important to Migros Culture Percentage. It intentionally covers a wide area and, in addition to training and education in a more narrow sense, considers a whole range of educational possibilities – right through to cultural introspection.



The Migros Club School is Switzerland's biggest provider of adult education. Thanks to Migros Culture Percentage, it is able to offer a number of courses for all circumstances and in all regions. It identifies gaps in the education system and helps students to make the transition between different learning paths, such as to obtain a degree. The wide range of language courses is supplemented with the areas of Culture & Creativity, Movement & Health, Management & Economics, Information Technology & New Media and Teacher Training.

The figures for 2013:

• 8'911'000   participant hours
• 391'000      course and seminar participants
• 53'000        courses and seminars held
• 7500          course teachers
• 1600          employees
• 600            different courses and seminars
• 50              different locations

More than 100'000 people have already tested their language skills on the Migros Club School website. This service was revised in 2013: the difficulty level now adapts automatically to the candidate's knowledge.

Migros Club School awards its students DIPLOMA qualifications that are recognised throughout Switzerland. Its Advisory Committee includes well-known representatives from the areas of politics, business and education, who support the strategy development and quality assurance for the DIPLOMA qualifications. As a private education provider, Migros Club School thereby helps to ensure that the objectives of Switzerland's education policy are appropriately applied in the further education market.

Learning foreign languages opens the door to other cultures and people. With the Eurocentres foundation, Migros Culture Percentage wants to open this door to as many people as possible in locations around the world. In 2013 the new Eurocentres school opened in Eltham Palace, London. At the same time, the existing location in London Central was renovated and equipped with new technology.

The innovative my.Eurocentres platform went live in the reporting year. It allows students to assess their learning progress online and improve their knowledge. my.Eurocentres contains multimedia exercises, tasks and tests for the students, as well as an app for practising their vocabulary. It also offers a social network within the school, which students can use to arrange activities and maintain friendships even after completing their language stay.

The Unicentres brand was also created in 2013. It offers preparation courses for studying abroad and works closely with renowned universities in the UK, the US and Canada. As a new measure, Eurocentres now guarantees a pass in the Cambridge ESOL exam with its Exam Success Guarantee. All Eurocentres schools in the United Kingdom were quality assessed by recognised external institutions and rated as above average.

In 1962 Gottlieb Duttweiler personally laid the foundations for the GDI Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute in Rüschlikon, which has held a permanent place in Migros Culture Percentage since opening in 1963. On the basis of Duttweiler's principle to focus on people and not on capital, Switzerland's oldest think tank researches and discusses future developments and mega-trends in the areas of consumption, retail, business and society.

For its 50th anniversary in 2013, the GDI scrutinised some established economic notions at public events. This began with a fresh view of the economy by the Czech economist Tomáš Sedláček. This was followed by Matthias Sutter (University of Innsbruck), a proponent of behavioural economics, who addressed the topic of people as non-rational beings. Controversial debate was ensured by the growth sceptic Robert J. Gordon (Northwestern University) and David Graeber, the brainchild behind the Occupy movement. The highlight of the year was the presentation of the Gottlieb-Duttweiler award to the behavioural economist and unconventional thinker Ernst Fehr from the University of Zurich.

The GDI held 12 of its own events in 2013. These were supplemented with various customer events, at which commissioned studies and partner studies were presented. Two GDI studies attracted considerable interest: European Food Trends Report 2013 and Sharity. The future is sharing. The GDI researchers gave 160 speeches in Switzerland and abroad. In the first half of the year, the areas of gastronomy and guest events laid the foundations for a successful 2013.

There was strong demand from students for the range of courses offered by the Gottlieb Duttweiler Chair for International Retail Management at the University of St Gallen. The new Market Intelligence in a Cultural Context course was added at Bachelor level. Customer Value in Retail and International Retail Marketing were taught at Master's level and Writing Proposals for Academic Conferences at doctoral level. The chair oversaw 55 Bachelor's theses, 36 Master's theses and three dissertations.

The competence centres of E-Commerce and Retail Branding, as well as the new centre for Price Management, develop research results for academia and practice. The St Gallen Internet Day looked at how companies provide mobile customers with emotional roots and presented the Swiss Online Retail. Internet use in Switzerland in 2013 study. Five industry studies analysed trends and changes in customer behaviour in Swiss retail.

Promoting active leisure

Migros Culture Percentage offers the Swiss population a range of active leisure opportunities in the cities' surrounding nature. These revolve around the four Green Meadow Parks and the Monte Generoso excursion destination. The institutions offer relaxation, nature adventures, events and catering for both young and old.

• At the Park im Grünen in Münchenstein, a children's theatre was held every day during the summer holidays. The piece Glaini Häggs Tintegläggs was just as entertaining as the two-day Lilibiggs Children's Festival. Other highlights included the Dragon Festival, theatre evenings for adults and the open-air event SummerStage with its international music stars.
   
• The Park «im Grüene» Rüschlikon played host to some big names in 2013, including Noëmi Nadelmann and the Zurich Chamber Orchestra. In the autumn, the park also hosted Ein Russ im Bergell with its stories of Alpine adventures. The nearby Orange Garden, where visitors can take a stroll through the history of Migros, attracted a great deal of interest from the public.
   
• Visitors to the Gurten-Park were pleasantly surprised on weekends by bands from all musical genres. Around 5000 guests saw Robin Hood in a circus tent in April. With 77'000 fans, the Gurtenfestival in July attracted a record audience. The 2013 European Championships were held on the mountain biking trail, with around 8000 athletes taking part.
   
• At Park Pré Vert du Signal de Bougy, it was all about the reopening of the extensively renovated restaurant, which now offers products from the region, a greater eco-balance and more comfort for guests. The services for the park's visitors were also enhanced, such as with cooking courses and free shows for children.
   
• At Monte Generoso, work continued on the new building project, which became necessary after a landslide. The new building was designed by the Ticino architect Mario Botta. The unusual weather in 2013 was also reflected in the visitor numbers, which remained the same as in 2012 despite less services being available on the mountain.
   

Figures and charts Migros Culture Percentage