Partner

Dr. Christoph Degen

Portrait

Dr. Christoph Degen is an attorney and partner at DUFOUR Advokatur AG in Basel. He is a founding member of proFonds, umbrella organization for charitable foundations in Switzerland and has been its managing director since 1990. Christoph Degen is a board member and advisor to numerous charitable foundations and associations, as well as co-founder and president of the Foundation Laurenz für das Kind in Basel. From 1998 to 2006, he acted as part-time judge at the Federal Appeals Commission BVG in Lausanne, and in 2018 he chaired the Volkswagen Foundation’s Investment Evaluation Panel. Christoph Degen currently chairs the Appeals Board of ART Basel. He was a lecturer in tax law for non-profit organizations at the Institute for Association, Foundation and Cooperative Management (VMI) and is a lecturer at the Centre for Philanthropy Studies (CEPS) at the University of Basel. He is also the author of numerous publications and papers on the subject of foundations.

Experience

  • Partner (since  1993)

  • Vice-President of Building and Asset Management for the Evangelical-Reformed Church of the Canton Basel-Stadt

  • President of the Appeals Board ART Basel

  • Lecturer at the Centre for Philanthropy Studies, University of Basel, and at the Association Management Institute, University of Fribourg

  • Part-time judge of the Federal Appeals Commission BVG, Lausanne (1998-2006)

  • Managing Director of proFonds, umbrella organization of charitable foundations in Switzerland (since  1990)

  • Legal consultant at a private bank in Basel, Basel (1990-1992)

  • Bar exam (1989)

Commitment

  • Co-founder and President of the Stiftung Laurenz für das Kind

  • President of Kindernothilfe Schweiz

  • Member of the Synod of the Evangelical-Reformed Church of the Canton Basel-Stadt

  • Board member of the Jewish Museum of Switzerland

  • Board member of the Kurt Imhof Foundation for media quality

  • Member of various other foundations and boards

Practice areas

Foundations and NPOs

Inheritance and estate planning

Execution of wills

Art and cultural law

Occupational benefits

Contract law