Founding, Areas of Interest and Values

Villum Kann Rasmussen (1909-1993) founded the VELUX group of companies in Denmark in 1941, and the business expanded to the United States in the 1970s. The company will celebrate the 25th anniversary of its U.S. plant and offices being located in Greeenwood, South Carolina, in October 2004. The V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation was established in the United States in 1991 and has three principal areas of interest:

1. The Environment. The Foundation has chosen the environment as the principal focus of its grantmaking. Since its creation, the Foundation has allocated approximately 75% of its funds to strengthen environmental research and education, and to further the involvement of an informed public in environmental decisionmaking.

2. Greenwood and South Carolina. The Foundation is committed to grantmaking in Greenwood and South Carolina, especially in the environmental, social and educational areas.

3. Medical Research. The Foundation supports medical research projects, with particular emphasis on eye research.

The Trustees of the Foundation believe in the power of collaboration among people, among institutions and across disciplines, and seek to reflect this in grantmaking decisions as much as possible.

We wish to express our thanks to our grantees. The Foundation can provide money, but we recognize that it is the grantees who provide the ideas, inspiration, effort and hard work that permits society to make progress toward solving problems. Working with the grantees, we hope to achieve results that benefit society, and that reflect the integrity, seriousness and innovative spirit that were distinctive marks of Villum Kann Rasmussen.

Trustees and Operations

There are now seven Trustees of the Foundation, five of whom are members of the Kann Rasmussen Family and reside in Denmark.  Three are children of Villum Kann Rasmussen:  Hans Kann Rasmussen, Chair of the Board, Aino Kann Rasmussen and Anne-Margrete Ogstrup-Pedersen.  The next generation of the family is represented by Astrid Kann-Rasmussen and Julie Kann Wilson, who has been elected a Trustee effective January 1, 2006. 

There are two trustees based in the United States:  Martin S. Kaplan and Dr. Lois E.H. Smith.  Mr. Kaplan is a partner of the law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP in Boston and New York.  Dr. Smith, who became a Trustee in 2004, has served since 1993 as Executive Director of the Eye Research Collaborative funded by the Foundation and described on this website.

All of the trustees are active in the grantmaking and evaluation processes of the Foundation. Most of them reside in Denmark, and the Foundation does not maintain a separate office or staff. Our operating activities are administered by the Boston and New York offices of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, which has been chosen by the trustees to manage the Foundation operations in the United States under their direction.

The Foundation is a member of the Council on Foundations and subscribes to its Recommended Principles and Practices for Effective Grantmaking. The Foundation is also a member of the Environmental Grantmakers Association, the Consultative Group on Biological Diversity, and the Southeastern Council of Foundations. We express appreciation to the many foundations and associations with which we collaborate, and from which we learn so much.

The Foundations' Responsibility as an Investor

The V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation recognizes the important decision-making role of corporations and institutions in our complex society.  Therefore, in our grantmaking, we support several organizations that work directly with corporate and institutional leaders, providing them with advice and models of sustainability and imaginative approaches to evolving environmental issues.

The Trustees believe that the public deserves to be as well-informed as possible on environmental issues, and that corporations should address such issues in a responsible manner.  The Trustees also believe that the interaction of people, corporations and institutions on practical, economic and intellectual levels is critical for the success of any proposed solution.  Competition, ambition and financial gain are motivating factors that encourage people, corporations and institutions to achieve their goals and objectives. But it is collaboration that is necessary for different sectors and forces in society to agree on the problems, and to achieve workable solutions for the long-term benefit of all.

As Trustees, we believe that investing our endowment in corporate stocks requires us to be informed on the environmental, social, governance and financial performance of those corporations.  Rather than avoid or walk away from positive investment opportunities, we have adopted the goal of engaging the management of corporations in which we invest through the informed and active voting of our proxies.  To do otherwise limits the potential investment returns that provide the funds for our grantmaking, and ignores the increasing significance and power of proxy voting.

The Foundation will exercise its rights as a shareholder to vote its proxies on proposals put forth by management and other shareholders as follows:

1. On matters of program interest:  when a program interest is at stake, the Foundation will vote its shares in line with the program interest.

2. On matters of corporate governance:  the Foundation will vote in line with the broader Foundation objectives of accountability, transparency, institutional reforms, sustainable solutions and ethical concerns.

Through its proxy voting and grantmaking, the Foundation hopes to encourage collaboration among corporations, institutions and others to solve problems and benefit society.

The Foundation hopes that its grantmaking and voting of shares will encourage greater shareholder participation in matters of corporate governance that will lead to positive corporate responsiveness in connection with environmental, social, governance and financial issues.

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