Founded in 2003 by German publisher Monika Schoeller (15 September 1939 – 17 October 2019), the S. Fischer Foundation is dedicated to the promotion of international cultural exchange initiatives, specifically in the field of literature. The Foundation’s eponymous patron, Samuel Fischer, was chosen as he embodies its core value: to disseminate the humanist spirit of authors such as Fyodor Dostoevsky, Sigmund Freud, Henrik Ibsen, Franz Kafka, and Thomas Mann.

In line with its mission statement to promote cultural exchange, the S. Fischer Foundation has supported translators and translations of contemporary German literature in Russia, the Ukraine, Belarus, Hungary, Poland, and Turkey since 2003. In 2008, in a private-public partnership, it initiated TRADUKI, a European network for literature and books, which encompasses Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, and Switzerland.

Since 2012, the S. Fischer Foundation also organises the series DEBATES ON EUROPE together with the German Academy for Language and Literature.

In addition, the S. Fischer Foundation manages the literary estates of several renowned writers and authors, including Wolfgang Hilbig and Hubert Fichte, as well as the estate of photographer Leonore Mau. Together with the German Literature Archive Marbach, the Foundation also funds historical research projects focusing on literature and culture.