The Schmidt family founded the charitable Stiftung Mercator GmbH, Essen, and the charitable Stiftung Mercator Schweiz, Zurich, and provided them with substantial financial resources from their assets.
Further assets transferred to the charitable Meridian Foundation and the charitable Cambiata Foundation, Zurich, which it established, are used to support the two foundations on an ongoing basis in the form of donations. The charitable Meridian Stiftung is the sole proprietor of Stiftung Mercator GmbH, Essen.
The Stiftung Mercator spent around 61,3 million euros on projects last year. It supported 80 new projects, bringing its total funding for 2,240 projects since it began its work to about 1.08 billion euros (as of the end of 2025).