The director of the Egmont Foundation’s Aid and Grant Administration, Henriette Christiansen, is both pleased and proud to have a good framework for the organisation’s activities over the next five years. She calls the strategy an important step in a process that revolves around targeted philanthropic work.

‘We want to focus on how the Foundation’s charitable activities can generate the most benefit. Many children and young people need support. That’s why we need a serious platform, including a transparent set of priorities, in order ensure our support initiatives the right emphasis.’

Impact and visibility
Henriette Christiansen describes the philosophy behind the new strategy as a re-focusing of the Foundation’s activities. She stresses that its work is based on the underlying generosity of spirit that has always underpinned the Egmont Foundation’s charitable activities. However, charitable work faces two major challenges today. One is ensuring that the Foundation’s grants generate the greatest possible value, or impact. The other entails making the results of Egmont Foundation grants visible. Henriette Christiansen elaborates:

‘The strategy is intended to ensure that our efforts benefit the target group as best possible. In the future, we will prioritise fewer but larger projects that are also sustainable in the long term. And we want to do more to communicate our objectives and the impact of our efforts. A sharp profile and tangible results will quite simply make us a more attractive “playmate” – both when it comes to good projects and the right cooperation partners.’

According to Henriette Christiansen higher visibility is not a question of selfpromotion: ‘The Foundation was established to help improve the lives of all children and young people, vulnerable groups especially. Our activities impact the society to which we belong. We therefore want to be open about the results our support generates and, in that connection, the charitable role of the Foundation.’

Caring and learning
The strategy springs, of course, from the Egmont Foundation’s Charter. The Foundation has chosen its focus areas in keeping with its tradition for supporting social and cultural initiatives and educational projects, and underpins the choice of focus areas with analyses of children’s and young people’s needs for support. Henriette Christiansen explains that the Egmont Foundation has chosen to concentrate their charitable effort in two specific areas:

‘From now on, the bulk of our support will go to activities under the heading “Caring”, where we will support projects aimed at equipping young people to better handle life crises. Such as when their lives are overshadowed by illness, death, violence, substance abuse, divorce or the imprisonment of a parent. Fundamentally, people deprived of a secure, caring childhood have less chance of developing in a positive way and thus of obtaining a good life.’

The Foundation’s support for singleparent families also falls under the heading ‘Caring’. These families lack the basic necessities for daily living, and the Foundation can help with contributions to holidays, Christmas, recreational activities for children, and basic furniture after a stay on a crisis centre.

The other focus area is entitled ‘Learning’. Its aim is to stimulate children’s and young people’s desire to learn; for example through the development of new, creative teaching methods, or through initiatives that help young people complete youth training programmes.

‘Learning has a decisive impact on how children can develop in a positive direction. And even if our efforts cannot change the number of children who can read at the end of second grade, we can help stimulate their desire to learn and in that way support society’s efforts to develop the opportunities available to and potential of children and young people,’ says Henriette Christiansen.

We can achieve more together
Finally, Henriette Christiansen points out that the strongest possible shoulders must carry future projects the Foundation elects to support:

‘Sustainability is the DNA of our efforts. We have a much better chance of improving children’s lives if we can involve a range of players – both public and private – who join forces. Individual projects in individual schools help pupils on the spot. But our support makes a genuine social impact when the project is repeated in 10 schools or more.’

Consequently, the Egmont Foundation will be engaging in more strategic partnerships along the lines of its new collaboration with the Danish Red Cross Youth (read more below). These partnerships will drive long-term projects that benefit children and young people.

In brief, the Egmont Foundation’s new charitable strategy will help attain the best possible value from the money and expertise that the Foundation contributes – for the benefit of children and young people. Henriette Christiansen is greatly looking forward to telling Egmont’s employees about the life-affirming results of the work, because, as she closes by saying: ‘Each and every one of you contributes tangibly to our charitable work. The profits – which you are instrumental in generating – finance activities that help give the next generation a better life.’