Governance – guidelines we follow
Social responsibility
Through our grants, we actively work to contribute to sustainable societal development. Since 2021, we have reported our social responsibility efforts. You can find more details in our financial statements under Finances and financial statements.
Good foundation governance
We report on and strive to adhere to theRecommendations on foundation governance, similar to commercial foundations. In the table below, you can see how the foundation follows the recommendations. The table was last updated in March 2025.
The foundation's geographical spread
The applicant base for the foundation's various programmes and calls is generally anchored in Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The specific group of applicants for each programme will be stated in the specific call.
Here are relevant supplementary details regarding the foundation’s adherence to the Recommendations on foundation governance.
In our communication, we aim to be transparent about our processes and open about our strategies, activities and grants.
The primary goal of VELUX FOUNDATION’s communication activities is to disseminate knowledge about results and initiatives and thus offer inspiration for better solutions to the societal challenges addressed by the foundation strategy. Additionally, we seek to raise awareness about the possibilities for relevant applicants to obtain grants.
VELUX FOUNDATION is happy to participate in interviews and provide comments on strategy and operations, but we prefer that grantees, their projects, agendas and results are the main focus.
We strive to proactively communicate the foundation’s work through relevant channels, and offer timely, responsive service to the media and other stakeholders.
We aim to ensure transparency in our daily work,not least in the area of impartiality and our relationships with applicants, partners, suppliers etc.The foundation board has therefore adopted a set of principles and guidelines to ensure that both board members, management, employees and external experts adhere to common practices regarding impartiality.
In short, the following applies:
- Board members and secretariat staff may not participate in the reviews of cases where they have a conflict of interest.
- Board members and secretariat staff will actively recuse themselves on a case-by-case basis if there is a relationship with an applicant or an external expert. Thus, they do not participate in the processing and decision-making of such cases.
- The board decides which cases should be further processed and approved. Management and senior advisers participate in the application review.
- External experts assisting with the professional assessment of applications are asked each time to clarify whether they are impartial in relation to specific applications.
- Based on VELUX FONDATION's vision of contributing to a democratic and sustainable society on an informed and inclusive basis, it is natural for the foundation to interact with the outside world from an independent position.
- Particularly within the foundation's four defined grant areas and the vision initiative, there will be an impact on societal development through a number of grants, activities and collaborations.
- The foundation provides a framework to promote dialogue and pioneering collaborations on opportunities and contributions to solutions to current and future societal challenges.
- The foundation encourages grant holders to disseminate the results of funded projects in order to include them in relevant dialogues to contribute with information and knowledge.
- The Foundation contributes to think tanks to ensure that research, knowledge and initiatives reach the right stakeholders to help ensure that discussions and decisions are based on knowledge.