The Stichting IKEA Foundation (KvK 41202422) is a Dutch foundation founded in 1982 by Ingvar Kamprad, a Swedish billionaire and founder of IKEA. The foundation is funded by the Stichting INGKA Foundation. Initially focused on architecture and interior design, its scope expanded in 2009 to include "improving children's opportunities". In 2020, total grants disbursed by the foundation amounted to $ million.
Giving
Unlike its funder the INGKA Foundation, the IKEA Foundation has ANBI (algemeen nut beogende instelling, "Institution for General Benefit") status from the Dutch Tax Service. In 2017, the foundation received 159 million euros from the INGKA Foundation, of which it donated 144 million. Recipients of the donations include MSF, UNHCR, Save the Children, and We Mean Business Coalition for climate change.
In 2019, the IKEA Foundation pledged $7.7 million to a development impact fund assembled by KOIS, an impact finance firm, to support Syrian refugees. According to the OECD, the IKEA Foundation disbursed US$192.5 million for development in 2019 in the form of grants.
In December 2020, the IKEA Foundation invested 30 million dollars in Aceli Africa (loans to agricultural SMEs) along with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the USAID.
The IKEA Foundation announced an alliance with the Rockefeller Foundation to raise $10 billion in capital to finance small-scale renewable energy projects in June 2021. Each organization committed $500 million to the fund initially, with a goal to grow the fund to $100 billion, aftering partnering with other organizations. According to Financial Times, the foundations set targets to reduce annual emissions by one billion tonnes, and eliminate energy poverty for one billion people by the end of 2029. The Bezos Earth Fund subsequently joined the IKEA and Rockefeller foundations, pledging an additional $500 million in funds in November 2021. The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet was officially launched at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, with more than $8 billion pledged in additional funding from multilateral banks and development agencies. The alliance's first projects were scheduled to take place in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
In March 2022, the IKEA Foundation gave $22 million in immediate aid to people displaced by the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The announcement came shortly after IKEA ceased Russian operations in response to the conflict. The foundation provided $ million in funding to Renewable Energy for Refugees, a project that The Guardian reported had installed 183 streetlights, 4,000 solar home systems and 5,600 stoves across three refugee camps and nearby villages in Rwanda, as of April 2022. In May 2022, the foundation committed $5.8 million to the Sustainable Energy for All's Universal Energy Facility, a results-based financing initiative.
Projects with UNHCR
Between 2012 and 2019, the foundation invested approximately US$100 million in the UNHCR operations in the Dollo Ado refugee camps. According to a study by the University of Oxford Refugee Studies Centre, at the time it was the largest private sector investment made in a specific refugee setting. The funds were grouped into two phases. From 2012 through 2014, a $61.5 million grant was distributed to address infrastructure and emergency aid needs, including investments in education, shelter, nutrition, water, sanitation, and hygiene. From 2015 to 2019, a $37.5 million grant supported refugee livelihoods and establishment of self-reliance. This phase emphasized investments in agriculture, livestock, environment, energy, and microfinance loan initiatives. At the end of 2018, the livelihood program had 2050 members earning income, and had disbursed 525 loans.