Our goal is to reach as many people as possible with our exhibitions, content and events: young children, adolescents, adults and senior citizens, people with physical disabilities, high-income earners and visitors with low incomes, experts and museum bums, doubters and enthusiastic supporters. With this in mind, we examine our topics from every possible angle and present them in an exciting and interactive way. Years of research, material tests, technical tinkerings, multimedia concepts and a lot of time and brain power go into our projects before we can finally celebrate the inauguration and welcome the public into the Stapferhaus.

The crux of this fantastic task? If we wanted to finance our exhibitions only through visitors, we would have to double or even triple our entrance fees (currently at CHF 21).


Who finances NATURE?

For this reason, we consider ourselves incredibly lucky that for "Nature. And us?” we have found partners who share our goal of turning the big issues of our time into experiences, accessible to everyone - by supporting us financially.

Our supporters are as diverse and wide-ranging as our audience. The public sector, i.e. the Canton of Aargau, the City of Lenzburg and the Swiss cultural foundation Pro Helvetia, support us with operating contributions and project grants. Thus, we ultimately benefit from tax revenues and lottery proceeds. Foundations that care about nature-related issues, educational programs or cultural initiatives have made sponsorship contributions that come from their private or corporate donations. In addition, we set up sponsorship partnerships with companies. These companies support us either in contribution in kind or financially. In return, they receive access to benefits from the Stapferhaus, such as admission vouchers for their clients and employees, and of course they are represented with their logo in all our communication. We also agree with our sponsors that they will communicate both internally and externally the contents of the exhibition – meaning our exhibition has an even greater reach. Private donations from members of the Stapferkreis and from patrons are also helping us get "Nature. And us?" – and keep it - on its feet.



Funding. And why?

Without the support of our partners, there would be no exhibitions at the Stapferhaus. Nevertheless, we keep a close eye on where the funding comes from and, especially, what the motivation behind the commitment to NATURE is. This exhibition is the perfect example of how indispensable compromise is. The ambivalences and contradictions that characterize all our ties with nature can also be found in our economy and capital markets. And so the money that is helping make this exhibition a reality, undoubtedly also comes from sources that have had a hand in the destruction of the environment. Even companies and individuals who aren’t cautious of their CO2 emissions pay taxes that we profit from.

We thoroughly check and discuss every possible commitment, weighing it up. Whenever we enter into partnerships where we see challenges and ambiguities, we add conditions to our sponsorship deal. For example, we try to bring awareness to the company’s employees through workshops. And, of course, we categorically exclude any form of participation in regards to the exhibition’s content by our partners.

Last but not least, our strategy is openness - in dealing with ambivalences and with the critical questions of our visitors. Where does the Stapferhaus get its electricity supply from? Why do we use multimedia formats that consume energy? Are there climate-neutral museums? And, of course: Where does the money that finances the exhibition come from in the first place? In NATURE, there will be explanations at many instances, that shed light on sustainability at the Stapferhaus - because it, too, is not a matter of closed discussion.