About us
.now
We are Stephan Schwahlen and Stefan Shaw. We have been working together in different constellations for about 20 years. What we have in common is that we both learned our trade at the strategy consultancy BCG. However, we never met there. Instead, a mutual friend introduced us to each other when each of us had already started our own business. Our collaboration began with joint investments. Among them were some companies that worked well. And others not so well.
Subsequently, and independently, we each embarked on a parallel journey into the non-profit world. Stephan as co-founder of Germany's largest donation platform, betterplace.org, and the think tank betterplace lab. And Stefan as a consultant and later CEO of the Benckiser Foundation, as co-founder of effektiv-spenden.org — and as a critic of the social sector in Germany.
Then a few years ago, the two of us had a crucial conversation in Berlin. The topic: How can we use all we have learned to achieve even more impact as before? One of us pitched the idea for advising philanthropists. And after two seconds, the other one said, “That's it!” And that was it.
Two other friends were instrumental in setting up our advisory. Stefan Sippell and Michael Noli. These owners of the brand agency Vince & Vert co-founded legacies.now together with us and contributed decisively to our current positioning. They also helped us to make great progress with our research. They share our great enthusiasm for a project that brings together everyone who really wants to — and can — make a difference
