On 3 March 2026, the Li Foundation team met with Laura Hemrika, CEO of the Julius Baer Foundation, and representatives from Julius Baer to exchange insights on philanthropy, wealth inequality, and strategic initiatives. The meeting offered both organisations an opportunity to explore shared values and approaches to creating meaningful social impact across the wealth spectrum.
Established over 60 years ago and rooted in the legacy of the Baer family, the Julius Baer Foundation has sharpened its philanthropic focus in recent years to centre on one of the defining challenges of our time: wealth inequality. The Foundation’s guiding question is how funded projects can meaningfully bridge the gap between the haves and have-nots — whether through access to education, social capital, or economic opportunity. A compelling example of this in practice is their work connecting underprivileged entrepreneurs with experienced mentors, creating tangible pathways for upward mobility.
What sets the Foundation apart is the breadth of resources behind its mission. Not only does the Bank cover all operational costs, ensuring donations flow directly to programmatic work, but its extensive network of high-net-worth clients further enables funded projects to access influential communities that are traditionally hard reach. Complementing this is an ongoing research collaboration with Oxford University on how to engage wealthy individuals — both wealth creators and inheritors — on inequality in ways that resonate. Findings are expected to be published by year-end, supported by closed-door convenings that bring together academics, researchers, practitioners, and philanthropists. The Foundation has also launched the Wealth Inequality Initiative, an independent online community dedicated to raising awareness and spotlighting solutions in this space.
The conversation highlighted the complementary nature of both foundations’ work. While Li Foundation champions innovative social initiatives across Asia, Julius Baer Foundation brings deep expertise in engaging the philanthropic community around systemic inequality and in leveraging private wealth networks for public good. Both teams identified potential areas for continued dialogue and action, including knowledge exchange and the use of the Inspiring Asia Micro Film Festival to spotlight and support community-based initiatives tackling inequality.
This exchange marks a meaningful step in building cross-sector philanthropic partnerships, demonstrating how foundations with shared values can learn from one another and work towards more equitable outcomes for communities across Asia and beyond.
The book showcases how the participants challenged their limits and conquered the World Marathon Challenge and North Pole Marathon to inspire people to challenge their own limits and pursue their dreams boldly.
The book tells the stories behind the event which saw the largest number of people in history running 1045km round Taiwan in 19 days.