It is fifty years since the members of the Migros Community gifted the sum of 200,000 Swiss francs to its founder, Gottlieb Duttweiler, to mark his 70th birthday on 15 August 1958. The idea was that he would use the money to establish a Gottlieb Duttweiler Award. Duttweiler subsequently transferred responsibility for administering the money and the award of the prize to his "Im Grüene" Foundation, to which the GDI belongs.
According to the deed of foundation, the Gottlieb Duttweiler Award should go to people who have made "outstanding contributions to the well-being of the wider community and to a cultural, social or economic environment in which everyone can realize their potential and play an independent part in its development".
The award-winners include Václav Havel (1990) and Joschka Fischer (2004). The 2008 Gottlieb Duttweiler Award went to Kofi A. Annan.
| Award-winners since 1958: | |
| 1970 | Prof. Bramstedt, Würzburg, nutritional scientist, efforts to combat dental decay |
| 1972 | Prof. Egon Kodicek, Cambridge, nutritional scientist |
| 1975 | Dr. Paul Fabri, nutritional scientist, efforts to combat obesity |
| 1988 | Lisbeth and Robert Schläpfer, St. Gallen, entrepreneurs in the textile sector |
| 1990 | Vaclav Havel, President of Czechoslovakia |
| 1993 | Dr. Esther Aufa Ocloo, Ghana, businesswoman and nutritional scientist |
| 1998 | Dr. Roger Schawinski, Zurich, radio and television pioneer, Radio 24, Tele24 |
| 2004 | Joschka Fischer, German foreign minister |
| 2008 | Kofi A. Annan, UN Secretary General, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize |