Retail Entrepreneur Karl Schmidt and his family from Duisburg established Stiftung Mercator in the late 1990s. They named it after the cartographer and humanist Gerhard Mercator, who was born in Flanders and lived in Duisburg for many decades.
We work from our headquarters in Essen, as well as from offices in Berlin, Istanbul and Beijing.
Our work is defined by quality, professionalism and transparency. We are guided by the principles of good foundation practice adopted by the Association of German Foundations, we are committed to measures that promote ecological sustainability, and have signed the Diversity Charter.
