How do we achieve a better and more sustainable democracy?

VELUX FOUNDATION is a foundation for people and the environment that aims to contribute to addressing several significant societal challenges and opportunities facing Denmark. The foundation’s work is driven by the desire to be a curious philanthropist and a responsible manager of the foundation’s assets.

The purpose of VELUX FOUNDATION should be continuously viewed through the kaleidoscopic lens that shows how society looks today and in the future. The purpose should always reflect the current society. A strategy has a short lifespan, but the foundation aims to be here for the long term and always be a reliable factor. 

VELUX FOUNDATION’s strategy towards 2030 will materialise the foundation’s vision through its grant activities. Both the vision and mission contribute to strengthening a democratic and sustainable society, as well as sustainable living achieved through enhanced opportunities for action, research and initiatives across the foundation’s grant areas.

People need people and drive to thrive; they need concepts to comprehend their world and opportunities for action to navigate in the society they are part of. Therefore, a crucial interdisciplinary initiative in the 2030 strategy is to achieve a common understanding and operationalisation of VELUX FOUNDATION’s vision of democratic sustainability. The life we want to live in our democratic society must be lived and developed sustainably, i.e. socially, environmentally and economically if we are to achieve democratic sustainability.

A strategy for a society in development
With this strategy, we also aim to strengthen initiatives across the foundation’s grant areas. The foundation is moving towards a more multifaceted treatment of issues, challenges and opportunities. In this way, we hope to provide actionable contributions to current and future societal matters. Towards 2030, you will see more projects across the foundation’s grant areas, and we will continuously increase our results dissemination, so that more people can benefit from the knowledge and tools the foundation helps create.
 

VELUX FOUNDATION aims to promote the Danish democratic society on an informed, inclusive and sustainable basis. By sustainability, we mean that projects respect the earth’s resource limits and capabilities and contribute to promoting or preserving social equality and inclusion. Additionally, projects should contribute to ensuring an independent and fact-based knowledge base for the major and minor decisions made every day throughout society – decisions that concern both current and future generations.

People form the basis of the society we know today. Generation after generation has preceded us, and knowledge about people and our actions has been recorded and studied for centuries. The humanities and social sciences produce a shared knowledge base and insights that can guide us as we develop and balance our democracy. The humanities are an important stepping stone from a society that places too much strain on our common resources towards a society that takes those resources into consideration.

Therefore, VELUX FOUNDATION’s 2030 strategy aims to contribute to the recognition and increased focus on the value of the humanities on the path to a democratically sustainable society.

New strategic focal points
In the 2030 strategy’s new grant theme, ‘Transitions and changes of adult life,’ we bring together the grant areas of gerontology, geriatrics, ophthalmology and active senior citizens to promote evidence- and knowledge-based dialogue about the transitions, challenges and opportunities that arise in connection with work, housing, family, leisure time and participation in community life and communities in adult life, which for most of us is being extended.

In the grant area within humanities and social sciences, we will increase our focus on collaboration between researchers and practitioners. We will conclude the Museum Programme and gather experiences from it before initiating any new initiatives in research and dissemination. In the social field, we prioritise contributing to one of society’s major problems in these years: mental distress and loneliness. We continue and refine our contribution to the development of methods that can build the capacity of individuals and groups, thereby giving more people the opportunity to participate in communities.

The Danish marine environment is under pressure from multiple fronts, and ambitious efforts are needed to achieve a sea in balance. With the 2030 strategy, we prioritise new climate solutions that contribute to limiting human-made stress and increasing the rebuilding of the sea and coastal areas.

The board has also dedicated a Social Relevance & Impact Pool to projects within the Trust Deed scope, but outside the foundation’s usual grant cycle. The background is the board’s desire to establish a space to experiment and test new methods, forms and content.