Chronology
1814
Martin Burrus moves to Boncourt in Canton Jura, where he starts out in tobacco manufacture. His son François-Joseph Burrus takes over the company and names it F.J.Burrus. The F.J.Burrus plant will remain in the family for nearly 200 years, over 6 generations.
1916
As the first company to develop family allowances in Europe, health insurance and retirement plans (from 1936) for its employees, F.J.Burrus quickly becomes a precursor of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Switzerland.
1928
Léon Burrus, one of Martin’s children, and his wife Marguerite (nicknamed Guigui) build a large house in 1930 named “Guilé”, which is a combination of their respective first names.
1979
Léon’s eldest son Charles takes over management of the family business. F.J.Burrus is, at that time, the largest private sector employer in the Jura.
1996
Following the sale of the family business, Charles Burrus and his wife Bernadette create Fondation Guilé to provide business leaders with the tools to become ethically engaged actors.
2011
After Charles’s death, his son Régis, decided to carry on and developed the Foundation’s activities.
2017
After making a significant contribution over the last ten years to promote Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for sustainable economic development, Fondation GuiléTM will end its activities. The Board has achieved its aspiration of contributing to the common good through the promotion of Corporate and Investor social responsibility, engaging in dialogues with stakeholders to foster best practice among market participants.
The Charles Burrus family now wishes to focus its family philanthropy on the education and training of future generations in Switzerland. The decision-makers of tomorrow are an important lever for the transformation of society and are actors for change, just as powerful as responsible multinationals have been over the last ten years.