Oak Foundation commits its resources to address issues of global social and environmental concern, particularly those that have a major impact on the lives of the disadvantaged.
Oak Foundation, a group of charitable and philanthropic organisations, has given more than 2,100 grants to not-for-profit organisations to address issues as diverse as marine conservation, homelessness and human rights. The resources of Oak Foundation come from Alan Parker who helped establish the Duty Free Shoppers business, a successful retail chain.
Oak Foundation was formally established in 1998 in Geneva, Switzerland. The first two programmes to get underway were Environment and Child Abuse, followed by four other substantive programmes — Housing and Homelessness, International Human Rights, Issues Affecting Women and Learning Differences. There is also a Special Interest Grants Programme, which funds a range of efforts identified by the Trustees that do not fall into the other programme areas, and two national programmes in Denmark and Zimbabwe.
While Oak Foundation’s headquarters remain in Geneva, we have offices in seven other countries: Belize, Bulgaria, Denmark, Ethiopia, the UK, the US and Zimbabwe. We operate with 54 staff members worldwide.
We value partnerships, both as a funder and as a grant-maker. As a foundation, we participate in the US-based Council of Foundations, the European Foundations Centre and selected groups of donors in areas related to our six programmes. (Visit our Memberships and Associations page for a complete list.) As a grant-maker, we encourage our partners to work together to leverage programme strengths and resources.
The following principles apply to the whole portfolio of our grants. While each programme has its own areas of focus, as a whole, we adhere to six funding principles. These include funding initiatives that: