About the ROCKWOOL Foundation
The Foundation
The ROCKWOOL Foundation is a non-profit foundation with a broad, non-profit purpose. The Board of the Foundation prioritises using the funds at its disposal to support the generation of knowledge that has the potential to reinforce the social and economic sustainability of the welfare state. The ROCKWOOL Foundation is self-financing and impartial.
History and values
The ROCKWOOL Foundation was established in December 1981, when six members of the Kähler family transferred the equivalent of 25 percent of the shares in ROCKWOOL A/S. From the start, the stated objective of the Foundation was to support independent and credible research to the benefit of the population in general, and the ROCKWOOL Foundation Research Unit was founded in 1987 to accommodate precisely this aim. The Research Unit has offices in Copenhagen and Berlin today. The ROCKWOOL Foundation Interventions Unit was subsequently established in 2015 with a view to supplementing the research activities by unearthing knowledge about possible solutions to the challenges facing society.
The overarching objective of the Foundation’s support is to contribute to bolstering the social and economic sustainability of the welfare state, by generating new and independent knowledge about societal challenges – and examining potential solutions to them. The independent generation and communication of relevant knowledge and information is crucial to our ability as a society to engage in meaningful and significant democratic conversation. In addition, it can make an important contribution to the capacity of political decision-makers to prioritise and organise welfare society institutions on the most informed basis possible.
Ownership policy
The ROCKWOOL Foundation is a non-commercial foundation with a broad, non-profit purpose. The Foundation is a significant shareholder in ROCKWOOL A/S, owning 23 percent of the share capital and 28 percent of the votes. The management of ROCKWOOL A/S is conducted by the company’s Board of Directors and Executive Board. The Foundation exercises its ownership through participation in the General Meetings of ROCKWOOL A/S.
Research
The ROCKWOOL Foundation supports impartial research that centres on the economic and social challenges that are of significance to the sustainability of the welfare society. The objective in supporting such research is to help create the best possible basis of knowledge for political decision-makers and, at the same time, to enhance the quality of the public debate.
Interventions
The ROCKWOOL Foundation supports work to expand knowledge about potential solutions to key societal challenges. The objective of supporting interventions is to gain an understanding of these challenges, as well as their causes, underlying mechanisms and possible solutions.
Welfare topics
The sustainability of the welfare state is a broad concept. The ROCKWOOL Foundation has defined four welfare topics which, taken together, reflect the purposes on which the Board of the Foundation has chosen to focus. Read more about each welfare topic below.
Our organisation
The Board of the ROCKWOOL Foundation determines which projects are to receive support, on the basis of recommendations from the associated expert committees. Projects that are granted support are executed completely independently. The Board is informed about the progress of the projects, but is not told of the conclusions or findings of each project until after the academic publication.