What is "The Foundation"?
The Foundation was established on January 19, 1987, the founding payment
of 200.000 DKr, was paid by the founders Rikke Viholm and Tove Birkø who
also signed the articles.
The economical basis of "The Foundation" is donations made by
agreements and other gifts. The Foundation receives donations from 335
people who have signed a deed of gift where they have committed themselves
to contribute to the Foundation 15% of their income, for a period of 11
years.
According to the Danish law (Ligningsloven) the contributors can deduct
this amount from their taxes.
What we have, is a joint venture between a privately formed and
supported Foundation at one side - and the public, the state, on the other.
A beautiful "marriage" where everyone contributes and everyone
are" winners" at the same time. And where the "winners"
first and foremost are the good objectives of the Foundation; to support
humanitarian purposes, promote research and protect the environment.
These 3 objectives are contained in the name of the Foundation and all
have, each in its own way, an enormous impact on our lives and future on
earth.
Humanitarian purposes - efforts to relieve human suffering.
In 1948, the Worlds Declaration on Human Rights was carried out in the
newly established UN. The 48 member countries voted for the declaration -
today there are 171 countries. This was the first time, that people's
fundamental rights were internationally recognised.
The declaration stresses, both in its introduction and in the articles,
the importance of improving human living conditions and each individual's
right to a life in dignity.
Article 25, stk. 1 in the Declaration says:
"(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for
the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food,
clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the
right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability,
widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his
control".
The Declaration expressed a vision - and it still does. But in the
course of the 50 years that have passed, the importance of the Human Right
Declaration, has grown.
These 30, quite simple, articles, set a standard for peoples and
societies, which still need a lot of work to live up to. We who are the
promoters and the contributors to the "Foundation", wish to
relate to these fundamental decisions with our lives and work.
It is nothing new, that people offer their fellow man a helping hand
to ease pain and suffering, but it gets a new dimension in a world , where
there is a common decision, as the Declaration of Human Rights. One must measure one's own situation in a new light, look at the world with new
eyes and place continuously higher demands as to what one will accept.
Need and hunger, disease, illiteracy, war, natural disasters, ethnic
cleansing and other outrageousness ravage hundreds of millions of lives,
and it is well known, that although the world's joint wealth has increased
the past 100 years, the number of poor and suffering people has grown, and
the gap between rich and poor is expanding.
| Of course, there are big issues,
an enormous amount of people need help, and it is easy to
feel like a ”drop in the ocean”. But isn’t the ocean made out
of drops? There must never be a question whether
it is worth doing something.
Basically, this
is about the view of human nature, how we wish to live our lives and
share it with others.
It is about sharing one’ s surplus – and thereby generate more surplus.
It is about “doing good” – not in order to
receive praise or acknowledgment, but because it is good for people
to show humanity. And this is how we wish others to treat us, if we
are in need.
The Foundation’s support for humanitarian purposes,
have gone directly to relief projects and to the combat and
prevention of one of the most far-reaching epidemic of mankind;
AIDS.
Research
As man’s knowledge and insight have increased,
the areas for basic research has changed character.
At the same time the need for applied research and action
research have increased - simply, because,
with the growing mass of knowledge, insight and new
technology, a wealth of new possibilities have been opened to us.
When people don’t have access to clean water, it is
not because we don’t know how to produce clean water!. There are
other problems – that these people don’t have access to the
applied methods, that there is not enough money, or that the applied
methods, can’t be used globally.
We might even run into the problem that there is not
enough water for the world’s population to have a consumption as
high as those who consume the most, today. When we insist that it is
undignified for people
not to have access to clean water, we must make
research efforts to find a solution, which, on this occasion,
can give clean water to all and not reduce anything from anybody.
But first we must acknowledge this to be a worthy research task.
It is a research that demands cooperation between
different scientific fields. It is a research which is about making
use of the accumulated knowledge, combine it in new ways, and apply
it to both new and well known tasks
and problems and by doing so, clear new ways in both understanding
and practice.
There is a tendency, that research only can be carried
out by a small, specially selected group of people – usually from
the rich part of the world. But with the modern development and
access to knowledge, it is obvious that research shall be extended
to be a matter to many more people.
We can promote research by supporting a lot more people and
institutions to throw themselves over research tasks ahead.
The Foundation has with it’s donations,
been an active part in promoting research into such wide
-ranging fields as energy, agriculture, medicine, sale of used
clothes, models for disease prevention and –control, TV-production
and “building bridges” between
people in different parts of the world.
Protection
of the natural environment
The
meaning of ”Protection of
the natural environment” is to combat pollution of air, water and
soil and protect endangered animals and plant species.
The
earth is a wonderful planet. It has an immense wealth of millions of
plant-and animal species and only a fraction has been mapped by man.
Through billions of years, mechanisms which we don’t yet fully
understand, have made sure to keep the
oxygen in the earth's atmosphere exactly at a level where it
secures continued life – not too low and not too high. Through
billions of years, other mechanisms have secured that the 30%
increase in energy outlet from the sun, which has taken place, has
not had a detrimental effect on life on earth. Bacteria and
microorganisms have lived longer than any other life through their
remarkable ability to “cooperate” (symbioses)
It
is in this context that the protection of the natural environment,
should be understood. Of course we must fight pollution of
the fundamental
elements such as soil, air and water, but we must not forget that
the human being is a very humble and integrated part of these.
The
environmental projects that the Foundation has supported have all
been examples of projects that have pointed forward. Solar energy,
wind power, biogas plants, protection of the rain forest, care
taking of nature reserves, establishing, and running energy forests,
are all attempts to
create examples of how we can organize
our lives and cover our needs in harmony with
nature.
When
working with the natural environment, there is no point in talking
about national boarders. The planet earth
is one, and the force and mechanism of nature apply across every
manmade boarder. The same apply for the
other areas which are within the purpose of the Foundation. The
Foundation interpret its purpose globally. This
can be seen by the projects which have been designed and supported
with the help of the Foundation.
The
335 individuals, who during a period of 14 years, have donated
approximately 75 million DKr in gifts to the Foundation, have given
this donation from an ordinary salary. Every little helps. A lot has
come out of these money.
First
and foremost, the Foundation has had the pleasure of being able to
contribute within its the purposes; humanitarian purposes, promotion
of research, and protection of the natural environment.
More
than 680 people have been directly involved as the motive power to
carry out the 29 projects, that the Foundation has supported.
6000
people have worked directly and have benefited directly by the
completion of the
projects.
Furthermore,
60.000 refugees have received emergency aid packages and in the
southern part of Africa, 600.000 people in 6 countries have access
to a HOPE-centre, where they can receive advice about HIV/AIDS –
they have also access to information materials and are in the
process of organizing themselves in the battle against the epidemic.
On top of this, millions of people have seen and enjoyed the “One
World Channel's “TV- programmes in Europe, Northern Africa and
South East Asia.
The
Foundation has supported projects which have been carried out all
over the world; Denmark, Kosovo, other countries in Europe, Morocco,
Benin, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Namibia, Mozambique, Tahiti, China,
Malaysia. This means that people from many different countries have
come closer together in a deeper understanding of each other and for
the responsibility, we as human beings have for the common earth
that we live on.
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