Danish private foundations increasingly engage in global development

During the past decade, political attention to the role of private foundations in international development cooperation has greatly intensified. The largest foundations, such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, have increased their global giving and moved towards strategic social impact, but we do not know if such processes have also occurred at a more micro level, among smaller foundations.

In a new article in Development in Practice, Adam Moe Fejerskov and Christel Rasmussen illuminate this issue by exploring the international activities and organizational changes of Danish foundations in recent years. They find that grant-making on global issues is increasing, and that several Danish foundations have undergone transformations in their approach to grantmaking, making them surprisingly similar to established development organisations.

The empirical data analysed include documentation from the foundations and interviews with key staff in several foundations, including the A.P. Møller and Chastine Mc-Kinney Møller Foun- dation, Augustinus Foundation, Bestseller Fund, COWI Foundation, The Obel Family Foundation, Novo Nordisk Foundation, Villum Foundation, and Rockwool Foundation.