V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation

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OVERVIEW: The V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation supports initiatives that relate to climate future, including scientific research, mitigation and planning for a rapidly changing earth.

IP TAKE: The V. Kann Rasumssen Foundation focuses exclusively on “the impacts of climate change and scaling of our collective mitigation efforts.” One of only a few foundations that works exclusively in this area, Rasmussen supports research and development that acknowledge and plan for dramatic changes related to climate in the coming decades. Grantees tend to be small and mid-size organizations with strong reputations in the field. Rasmussen does not accept unsolicited applications, but its staff “is happy to actively engage with actors within the thematic field.” Citing a dearth of investment in the climate crisis, the foundation decided to double up on its grantmaking and spend down its endowment by 2035.

PROFILE: In 1991 Danish entrepreneur Villum Kann Rasmussen, famous for developing the Velux roof window, established the V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation (VKRF) to “pursue activities to benefit society,” relating specifically to environmental research. Based in New York City, VKRF works closely with the KR Foundation, another Rasmussen family nonprofit founded in 2015. According to the foundation’s website, it views human activities at the root of the majority of the world’s environmental problems. Its mission is to “support the transition to a more environmentally resilient, stable, and sustainable planet.”

In 2020, VKRF announced that, in light of “deepening concern” about the effects of climate change in coming years, it would double its annual grantmaking, simultaneously spending down its endowment. The foundation expects to end its grantmaking in about 2035.

Grants for Climate Change, Clean Energy and Scientific Research

While all of VKRF’s grantmaking addresses climate change and clean energy transition, the foundation names four areas of focus.

  • Cultural Resilience and Global Leadership under the Conditions of Environmental Breakdown refers to the foundation’s support for research that imagines and configures responses to dramatic climate change in the near future. Specific areas of interest include:

    • The development of response systems for societal destabilization or collapse in multiple areas, including ecology and economy;

    • Research on humanity’s “psychological and social capacities for dealing with serious climate change, tipping points, and the collapse of natural systems”;

    • Research and theoretical work on how societies might “enhance mitigation under the conditions of environmental breakdown”; and

    • The “development of leadership tools and practices” that would be productive in situations of destabilization.

  • Infrastructure and Communications Support to the Climate Movement grantmaking focuses on

    • Investment in young talent with the potential to become “future movement leaders”;

    • Connecting individual movements and sharing knowledge and technology across disciplines; and

    • The development and support of “[t]ools to ensure the widest public communication and understanding of climate science.”

  • Petrochemicals and Climate refers to the foundation’s support for data collection and analysis of “greenhouse gas emissions originating from the production of petrochemicals and the manufacturing of products from them.”

  • VKRF also supports initiatives for the development of Governance of Climate Geoengineering, including “legal frameworks elated to research and deployment of climate geoengineering.” Grants stemming from this area tend to provide multiyear support.

Past VKRF grantees include Anthropocene Magazine, the Global Alliance for the Future of Food, IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, the Post Carbon Institute, the University of Sydney and the U.S. Climate Action Network.

Important Grant Details:

With only a few exceptions, VKRF grants range from $5,000 to about $275,000.

  • Grantmaking is global in scope, with most grants going to small- to medium-sized organizations.

  • The foundation prioritizes honesty, transparency, innovation, experimentation and work that “consider[s] all life equally important.”

  • Applications are accepted by invitation only, but “but program staff is happy to actively engage with actors within the thematic field in which we are funding.”

  • The foundation runs two annual grantmaking cycles but “may not necessarily fund in all our program areas in any cycle.”

  • For additional information about past grantmaking, see the foundation’s funding history page.

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