Annual report 2024
Thoravej 29
2400 København NV
Dirigent: Adm. direktør Søren Kaare-Andersen
CVR: 40 44 45 21
The year 2024 at the Bikuben Foundation
The year 2024 at the Bikuben Foundation has been filled with development, experiments, and transformation along with new and rooted collaborations and alliances. In recent years, we have moved from being an applicant-driven foundation, which supports individual projects, to being a foundation that functions as a catalyst for systematic change by mobilising people and organisations across sectors, professional fields, and power positions. We at the Bikuben Foundation believe that some of the systems by which we have constructed society must be changed if we are to solve the complex and recalcitrant problems we are facing. We must work together with others to change the conditions that are creating a problem instead of focusing on the symptoms of the problem.
Beyond our financing, we contribute professional skills, drive, and phy sical facilities when we work to get more young people on the edge of society into meaningful communi ties and to increase biodiversity. We also work to ensure that art contri butes to development and innovati on in our society.
Our approach to fostering change is to form partnerships and allian ces with others to build capacity, push agendas, collect knowledge, experiment with new solutions, and innovate the systems on which our society is based.
As active development partners, we engage with and enter into collaborations with organisations, institutions, NGOs, and municipalities and finance experimental approaches in the fields of art and social welfare. Through these experiments and projects, we test new solutions by involving the people these projects are about. We believe in the power of example. In this way, we can harvest experience, understand what works, and share the knowledge it creates.
We continue to implement this systematic approach in all our work. In the choice of projects, the methods we use, and the way we engage in collaborations.
There is very important work ahead. In 2025, we will continue to insist that change is possible.
The Bikuben Foundation is an independent commercial foundation that acts as a catalyst for systematic change by innovating opportunities for young people
Distributions in numbers
THE BIKUBEN FOUNDATION DISTRIBUTED A TOTAL OF DKK 149.3 M IN THE YEAR 2024
OTHER 31 M. KR.
SOCIAL
67,7 M. KR.
ART 50,6 M. KR.
The year’s distributions totalled DKK 149.3 m. At the end of 2024, a distribution framework was fixed at DKK 225 m for 2025, the same as 2024. Distributions are divided among social, artistic, and other purposes. In the arts, we granted in 2024 DKK 50.6 m, in social areas DKK 67.7 m, and DKK 31 m to other purposes, which includes our long-term investments in the Royal Couple’s Awards, Thoravej 29, and projects to develop and enhance the
fundament and infrastructure in our work for systematic change. In 2024, there was a chargeback of DKK 11.7 m in previous distributions, which provides a net distribution of DKK 137.6 m.
In addition to these distributions in 2024, we also have internal distributions of DKK 1.5 m to Svanninge Hills and our work to secure a rich, diverse nature.
See the general overview of our distributions in 2024 here (in Dansih).
Cases: The year in our philanthropic areas
Transformations at Thoravej 29
In 2024, the transformation of our building at Thoravej 29 has been going gangbusters with pihlmann architects, the contracting firm Hoffmann A/S, ABC - Rådgivende Ingeniører, and our developer consultant emcon. The whole reconstruction is conceived from a principle that the building is to recycle itself. Over the year, we have tested new methods for more sustainable construction, which provides know ledge and inspiration to the industry. The building received a DGNB Gold precertification from the Council for Sustainable Construction and a Building Award from Licitationen for Building of the Year.
Our ambition for Thoravej 29 is to create a meeting place and a profes sional community for those who can and want to transform people and society. The building offers physical facilities that are created to develop, inspire, and break with traditional thinking. With workshops, exhibit rooms, project spaces, offices, an audio-visual studio, black box, ate liers, a café, and an open stage for debates, there are opportunities for synergies and collaborations to arise across professions and organisati ons.
The building was ready at the turn of the year to be utilized by the com munity Thoravej 29, consisting of
150 members from 30 NGOs, and private and public organisations from various professional fields. They work with art, social innovation, sustainability, democracy, digital innovation, and policy, and all share the ambition of creating positive changes and transformations that function out in society.
Read about Thoravej 29 here (in Danish).
We believe that participation in a community provides a wealth of perspective, increased knowledge and learning, and a method to co-create solutions across disciplines, interests, and power positions.
New communities with art at Thoravej 29
With 14 studios, five workshops, and the new experimental exhibit space ’Room Room,’ Art Hub Copenhagen has expanded its capacity for artistic development and production significantly by moving into Thoravej 29. And with a new black box and studio for the performing arts at Thoravej 29, free performing arts will be strengthened. Over 300 artists in more than 200 weeks of residencies are expected to use the ’black box’ over the next 2.5 years. HAUT, Udviklingsplatformen for Scenekunst, Sort/Hvid, Toaster (Husets Teater & Den Frie Udstillingsbygning), and fix+foxy will form the framework for artistic projects and stage and performance productions.
We want to strengthen artistic fields by offering artists good work opportunities and, at the same time, explore new forms of collaboration for the development of these fields across professional boundaries.
The physical facilities for art at Thoravej 29 are highly sought-after both in Copenhagen and throughout the country. They provide the framework for development, experiments, and production through new relations, learning, and sharing.
Art will be an integral part of everyday life at Thoravej 29. It is our ambition to spread our imaginative skills, which often live in art, to other professional fields that work in the community. Those around us may also encounter and benefit from art when invited to events and new formats at Thoravej 29.
We try – with the involvement of many people, organisations, institutions, and partners – to develop projects with the ambition to promote the role and significance of art for people and society. We collaborate across sectors and join others in common agendas.
Art Hub Copenhagen was initiated and founded by the Bikuben Foundation in 2018. It is a project to create innovative frameworks for artists and a sustainable artistic environment. Read more here.
Read more about the new development room for stage arts and performance here (in Danish).
Young people on the edge must have more decision-making power
In the programme ’More Decision-Making Power for Young People on the Edge,’ we work with Roskilde and Copenhagen Municipalities to create real change in the social welfare field: Young people who have the opportunity to make decisions in their own lives.
As a catalyst for systematic change, the Bikuben Foundation shares experiences on a running basis and supports partnerships that challenge the structures and cultures that limit the self-determination of young people.
We know from young people themselves that having a say over their own lives is a rarity. They often find they are pushed around in the system.
Therefore, we investigate potential and barriers with Roskilde and Copenhagen Municipalities and experiment with new approaches in which young people acquire more formal decision-making power, while the professionals, such as social workers or behaviour, contact, and well-being teachers become sparring partners instead of decision-makers.
Through conversations with the field and young people themselves, we spotted that this approach creates better results for young people and makes the work more meaningful for the professionals, while at the
same time it was beneficial economically. For young people with responsibility for their own budget often use fewer resources because they direct the help towards their specific needs.
In 2024, we have seen concrete results from the programme. The Municipality of Copenhagen has worked and shared experiences with budgets that give young people direct influence in their own lives, where they develop new solutions in collaboration with professionals. In Roskilde, in cooperation with young people, they have developed, among other things, a board game on decisions that supports a group-based dialogue with other young people in the same situation.
We help the Municipalities of Roskilde and Copenhagen to share experiences with each other on a running basis, which is not the custom. This learning space so close to actual practice is valuable in the work of transforming municipal systems.
’More Decision-Making Power to Young People on the Edge’ is not just a project that helps young people in these two municipalities but may inspire a national
’A Path for Everyone’ (’En Vej til Alle’) builds a new infrastructure for action
With 50+ partners – from COOP and Esbjerg Municipality to civil society organisations such as the National Council for Volunteering and Mentorbarn, we have taken a decisive step with ’A Path for Everyone’ toward a common mission: To ensure that young people without a job or education find their way into the labour market, the education system, and the communities of civil society.
’A Path for Everyone’ provides a new infrastructure for collaborations across sectors. Instead of thinking of sectors separately, we create a common platform that can build models for future youth projects.
In 2024, ’A Path for Everyone’ was organised into five development platforms on which actors collaborate on themes such as voluntariness and the role of business in creating new paths for young people on the edge.
BL – Danmarks Almene Boliger, Grundfoss Fonden, Skolelederne, Lær for Livet, Region Midtjylland, and others have worked in the development platform on the transition from primary and middle school to adolescence by developing solutions that do not only help young people to enter educational programmes here and now. They also want to challenge how we as a society spot potential in young people –for example, by bringing a holistic approach to learning by training resilience, identity formation, and
relationship work. The work shows that, when many actors unite resources and knowledge, innovative solutions arise that no single system alone can create.
An important milestone in 2024 has been that ’A Path for Everyone’ is standing on its own legs. We have hired a new general manager to head a new secretariat to provide energy and pave the way for testing even more solutions in practice.
Another important milestone in 2024 for which ’A Path for Everyone’ has worked is the political agreement on ’Ungeløftet’ (’Youth Raised’), whereby actors throughout society are gathered into a partnership to bring 43,000 young people who are today without a job or education into the community. In 2024, we were in close dialogue with selected ministries on the role ‘A Path for Everyone’ in creating a close interplay between policy development and practice. This work continues in 2025.
Read more here (in Danish).
Hjem til Alle Alliancen (’The Home for All Aliance’) creates lasting change for young people without homes
Since 2016, ’The Home for All Alliance’ has worked to make sure no young people experience homelessness.
This work continued in 2024. ’The Home for All Alliance’ has played a central role in bringing municipalities, organisations, and politicians together on the homelessness reform that was approved in 2023 and put into practice in 2024. The Alliance has worked to secure the right tools and support so that the Housing First method may become a fixed part of the work by municipalities to intensify the effort to put actors and solutions together to pave the way for more affordable housing in both public and private construction.
In 2024, the most recent numbers on homelessness were released. They showed that 27% of the homeless are young people between 18 and 29, which confirms that there is still much to do. But there are also bright spots. For the first time, the number of homeless in Odense Municipality, where the Bikuben Foundation has designated 10% of our dormitory
spaces to young people on the edge of homelessness, has dropped to under 100 persons – a clear sign that Housing First works when it is done right.
Young people on the edge encounter nature
Over the past ten years, we have run the programme ’Natur til et godt liv – laboratoriet’ (’Nature for a Good Life – the lab’), which is our project for nature/society in which young people between 13 and 30 at the edge of society have the opportunity to grow through nature. Many young people today struggle with a number of problems that make their position in society vulnerable. In nature, they may bolster their ability to cope with life and to thrive with committed professionals such as educators, social workers, and therapists. Together, we move nature into the practice of social work and therapy because we know that the space and phenomena of nature can pave the way for changes needed to create new paths and opportunities for young people. Our work with young people on the edge in nature and affiliated research since 2014 has demonstrated this.
’Nature for a Good Life – the lab’ is a collaboration among four munici palities, two NGOs, and the Bikuben Foundation. Together, we work to
make it normal to integrate nature into social projects, and we have developed the approach of nature-integrated social work. We see that this method is helping young people to feel and communicate emotions and teaching them to take better care of themselves and to strengthen their social relationships.
In 2024, we have had more than 400 young people and professionals participate and held course days, seminars, and workshops with around 250 participants.
In 2024, we published a study of principles for integrating social work with nature, building on the work of the past 10 years in the laboratory, with research, and interviews with managers, professionals, and young people. The study is styled as principles rather than a manual, so it is easier to integrate nature into existing social practices. In 2025, we continue to expand our partnership circle and spread this method to other actors.
Read more about Nature for a Good Life here (in Danish).
New opputunities with ’Udtillingsprisen Vision’
In 2024, we awarded for the 10th time ’Udstillingsprisen Vision’ (the ‘Vision Exhibition Award’). The award went to AKK - Almene Kunstklubber with their organisation of six resident-driven art clubs in public housing areas scattered through Denmark. They work to make residents of public housing central actors in the Danish art scene.
The ‘Vision Exhibition Award’ is an art award that looks to the future, where encounters with art can become a catalyst for societal change.
We would like the award to create opportunities for visionary exhibition ideas that, through collaboration, reach beyond the art milieu into other sectors and social agendas. The prize includes DKK 5 million including a development process in which methods from public affairs, strategic communication, network and alliance formation, and capacity construction are central tools, activated in cooperation with the recipient of the ’Vision Exhibition Award’.
This year’s recipient, AKK – Almene Kunstklubber, is a collaboration among ‘Til Vægs’ in the general housing area, AKB København, Lundtoftegade and new public art clubs in Høje Taastrup, Holstebro, Valby, Elsinore, and Aarhus. They collaborate with a number of partners across the art scene, public housing, and the public by moving encounters with art into the core of the housing area and engaging residents locally. AKK develops the democratic organisation of the public housing sector and provides residents with a voice
and curatorial responsibility. In that way, art comes to fill more of everyday life and becomes accessible to more – and a wider variety of – people. The project thereby builds bridges to surrounding urban areas and promotes initiatives outside the established art scene. This can shift power in the art world and change our view of what art is, who may encounter it, and where it may be experienced.
Read more about the ’Vision Exhibition Award’ 2025 here (in Danish).
Read more about AKK – Almene Kunstklubber, the recipient of the 2024 Vision Exhibition Award here (in Danish).
The Bikuben Foundation’s background and work
The Bikuben Foundation has its historical roots in the savings bank movement. The independent institution Sparekassen Bikuben was established in 1857 as a reaction to a need for increased welfare for the growing working class in Copenhagen. Our assets originally derive from Sparekassen Bikuben’s transition to Sparekasse Aktieselskab in 1989. Today, we invest broadly in both listed and unlisted stocks and bonds, real estate, industry, and in private equity and private debt funds in order to create profit that can be exploited for the foundation’s chari table purposes.
At the Bikuben Foundation, we are still working from the fundamental ideas of the savings bank on social engagement, innovation, and help for self-help. Our goals are threefold:
• We engage in financial activities through investments in stock or other investments and convertible bonds in commercial enterprises of every sort.
• We provide grants, loans, or in other ways promote the operation of Danish crafts and small industrial enterprises and thereby help establish new businesses within crafts and small industry and contribute to development projects within such businesses.
• We work to benefit non-profit
and charitable purposes pursuant to the discretion of the board of directors, including goals that would have been natural for Bikuben to support, given its history and nature.
Read more about us and our focus areas here.
Board of directors, executive management, and secretariat
Bikuben
Foundation’s
board of directors
The board of directors consists of 7 members who see to the general management of the foundation from the principles of good foundation management. The board consists of chairperson Niels Smedegaard, vicechair Maria Rørbye Rønn, and board members
Louise Gade, Dorrit Vanglo, Marie Nipper, Mads Roke Clausen, and Sheela Maini Søgaard.
In 2024, vice-chair Thomas Hofmann-Bang resigned from the board, and Maria Rørbye Rønn was selected by the board as the new vice-chair. The change occurred as a consequence of the Bikuben Foundation’s rule that one may be a member of the board no more than 12 years.
Members of the board are elected by the board by simple majority for two years at a time and, thereafter, may be re-elected a maximum of five times.
The members themselves elect their chairperson and may choose a vice-chair. The board members must retire no later than 1 May the year they turn 70.
The selection of new board members is done by a rigorous recruiting process with external assistance. The process takes as its starting
point that there must be the necessary skills on the board in management, investing, business operations, art, and social work.
Board members receive for their ongoing board work a fixed basic compensation of DKK 200,000 annually. The chairperson receives three times the basic compensation and the vice-chair twice the basic compensation. Beyond that, no board member received any extra remuneration from the Bikuben Foundation.
In 2024, the board held six board meetings, including a strategy seminar. The chairpersonship held pre-meetings with executive management prior to all board meetings.
Bikuben Foundation’s executive management
Bikuben Foundation’s executive management consists of general manager Søren Kaare-Andersen and development manager Sine Egede Eskesen.
In 2024, Søren Kaare-Andersen received compensation in the amount of DKK 2,866,388 including pension and Sine Egede Eskesen compensation in the amount of DKK 1,571,833 including pension.
Bikuben Foundation’s secretariat and knowledge resources
In 2024, there were, on average, 37 full-time employees at the Bikuben Foundation. Our employees possess knowledge and professional skills within the areas of art and social welfare as well as biologists at Svanninge Hills. In addition, we have professional skills in alliance-building, innovative thinking, management, facilitation, project management, finances, compliance, public affairs, and communication that work with our philanthropic focus areas.
Board of directors 2024
BOARD CHAIR
NIELS SMEDEGAARD
Born 22 June 1962.
Joined the board on 19 September 2013. Re-elected in 2023. May not be re-elected in 2025.
Is the member considered independent? Yes. Ownerships in subsidiaries and/or affiliated companies: None.
SPEACIAL SKILLS
International operational and strategic management, strategy development, financial management and planning, acquisition and integration of businesses, change management. Board experience from Danish and international companies and trade associations.
OTHER BOARD POSTS AND POSITIONS
Nordic Ferry Infrastructure (board chairperson), ISS (board chairperson), Falck (board chairperson), Frederiksberg Fonden, UKP&I, TT Club, DSV, Nikolai and Felix Foundation, Board Leadership Society.
VICE-CHAIR
MARIA RØRBYE RØNN GENERAL MANAGER, DR
Born 25 January 1964.
Joined the board on 18 April 2023. Elected in 2023 and may be re-elected five times. Up for election in 2025.
Is the member considered independent? Yes. Ownerships in subsidiaries and/or affiliated companies: None.
SPECIAL SKILLS
Tactical and strategic management in the intersection between public/market/private, strategy development, management of digital and cultural transformation, social insight, media and culture, financial management, strong personal relations and network, and communication.
OTHER BOARD POSTS AND POSITIONS Praksis Arkitekter (board member), Ritzaus Bureau (vice-chair).
LOUISE GADE
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, PEOPLE, CULTURE & SUSTAINABILITY, SALLING GROUP
Born 15 June 1972
Joined the board in September 2014. Re-elected in 2024. May not be re-elected in 2026.
Is the member considered independent? Yes. Ownerships in subsidiaries and/or affiliated companies: None.
SPEACIAL SKILLS
Strategy, management, policy, communication, municipal matters, social matters.
OTHER BOARD POSTS AND POSITIONS
Promilleafgiftsfonden (chairperson), Tænketanken One/Third (chairperson), Call Committee under Novo Nordisk Fonden (chairperson), Nordea Fonden (vice-chair), Tietgenfonden (vice-chair), Ole Kirk’s Fond (member).
MARIE NIPPER
MANAGING DIRECTOR, ARKEN - MUSEUM FOR SAMTIDSKUNST
Born 29 July 1979.
Joined board on 5 April 2018.
Re-elected in 2024 and may be re-elected two more time. Up for election in 2026.
Is the member considered independent? Yes. Ownerships in subsidiaries and/or affiliated companies: None.
SPEACIAL SKILLS
Management of cultural institutions, national and international cultural network, contemporary art and innovation in the field of art, strategy development.
OTHER BOARD POSTS AND POSITIONS
Tivoli A/S (board member), Wonderful Copenhagen (board member), Kistefos Museet (board member).
MADS ROKE CLAUSEN
MANAGING DIRECTOR, LANDSORGANISATION FOR SOCIALE TILBUD (LOS)
Born 2 June 1968.
Joined board on 5 April 2018.
Re-elected in 2024 and may be re-elected two more times. Up for election in 2026.
Is the member considered independent? Yes. Ownerships in subsidiaries and/or affiliated companies: None.
SPEACIAL SKILLS
Strategy development and change management, knowledge of social investment, insight into the volunteer social sector, international network on social finance and impact.
OTHER BOARD POSTS AND POSITIONS
Den Sociale Investeringsfond (member of advisory committee).
Born 25 October 1956
Joined board on 1 May 2019.
Re-elected in 2024. May not be re-elected in 2026.
Is the member considered independent? Yes. Ownerships in subsidiaries and/or affiliated companies: None.
SPEACIAL SKILLS
Management, strategy, investment and risk management, corporate governance, and good foundation management. Board experience from publicly-traded and unlisted companies, owner-managed, foundation-owned, and publicly-owned companies.
OTHER BOARD POSTS AND POSITIONS
Hedeselskabet (vice-chair and chairperson for the Risk and Audit Committee), Danmarks Eksport- og Investeringsfond - EIFO (vice-chair and member of Risk and Audit Committee).
Direktion 2024
GENERAL MANAGER
SØREN KAARE-ANDERSEN
Søren has general responsibility for the Bikuben Foundation – including foundation investments, incl. Enkotec A/S.
POSITIONS
BIFI (board chairperson) Høbbet (board chairperson)
Bikuben Foundation New York inc. (board chairperson)
Roskilde Kulturservice (board chairperson)
Hjem til Alle alliancen (board member)
Pensionskassen for Jordbrugsakademikere & Dyrlæger (chair for audit and risk committee)
Arkitekternes Pensionskasse (chair of audit and risk committee)
Enkotec (vice-chair)
KAB – Københavns Almene Boligselskab (board member) Finance committee at KAB (chairperson)
NunaFonden (board member)
H. P. Lorentzens Stiftelse (board member)
Black Box (board member)
Food TV29 (board member)
OTHER
Nasdaq Københavns Rådgivende Udvalg (chair of advisory committee)
SHEELA MAINI SØGAARD CEO AND PARTNER, BJARKE INGELS GROUP
Born 9 February 1976. Joined board on 18 April 2023. Elected in 2023 and may be re-elected five times. Up for election in 2025.
Is the member considered independent? Yes. Ownerships in subsidiaries and/or affiliated companies: None.
SPEACIAL SKILLS
International business operations and management, strategy development, financial management, international perspective, special insight into art and culture. Board experience from Danish businesses and cultural institutions.
OTHER BOARD POSTS AND POSITIONS
Dinesen Floors, (board chairperson), Area9 Lyceum (board member)
DEVELOPMENT MANAGER SINE EGEDE ESKESEN
Sine has general responsibility for the development of the Bikuben Foundation’s philanthropic strategies, methods, and skills in art and social welfare.
POSITIONS
Mind Your Own Business (board member)
BIFI (board member) Høbbet (board member)
Foreningen Thoravej 29 (vice-chair)
INVI - Institut for vilde problemer (board member)
En Barndom uden Vold i Familien (board member)
Black Box (board member)
Food TV29 (board member)
OTHER Akademiet for Social Innovation
Good foundation management
Pursuant to §60 of the Commercial Foundations Act, the Bikuben Foundation’s board must take a position on the recommendations of the committee for good foundation management. We put great weight on abiding by the principles of good foundation management and follow all the recommendations. The legally-required report for good foundation management appears on our homepage here (in Danish).
The recommendations on good foundation management were up dated at the end of 2024 in the light of increased expectations for trans parency in foundations. The new recommendations come into force at the beginning of the accounting year, which begins January 2025. Going forward, we shall follow all the new recommendations.
Sustainability as a fundamental principle
2024 has been a year with great focus on sustainability. We have determined to act as expediently and responsibly as possible – in relation to the climate and environment, social affairs, and company management. We would like to take the lead and influence sustainable development in society.
Thoravej 29 is an example of how ideas of sustainability may be conceived in many different decision-making processes and elements from building constructions to the reuse of materials to inventory. DTU professor Kristoffer Negeldahl has prepared an analysis of what this comprehensive recycling principle has meant for CO2 emissions compared with new construction. The analysis shows that, compared to new construction, we have reduced CO2 emissions up to 88%, reused 95% of the materials, and minimized 90% of the waste.
In our forested area in Svanninge Hills, we continue to do work to increase biodiversity. Here, we are experimenting with restarting nature’s own processes, and our goal is to create learning about and new standards for how biodiversity can be supported.
A focus on sustainability is also a part of our work with investments. In 2024, we prepared a comprehensive ESG policy for investments that can be read about later in the annual report, which has the purpose of
setting a more sustainable direction for our investments.
This year, we have also prepared guidelines for responsible procurement to guide us, our suppliers, and partners in thinking about sustainable solutions through our procurements – including energy effectivity, recycling, sustainable transport solutions, and social sustainability. At the Bikuben Foundation, we believe that every procurement decision has the potential to push a broad range of stakeholders in a more sustainable direction – from suppliers to producers.
Moreover, in 2024, we have launched a project to submit a climate accounting to the Bikuben Foundation in order to create a baseline for our C02 emissions in order thereafter to be able to assess where there is potential for improvement. The ambition is to publish a fair climate accounting in the 2025 annual report.
Our work on sustainability is not absolute with clear checklists. We ended the year 2024 by hiring an ESG manager to work with and monitor the area and launch new measures and methods to push for a more sustainable development of ourselves and society.
Assets
The Bikuben Foundation owns a number of assets and subsidiaries, which we run with different goals in mind: assets for investment and assets for foundation purposes. In the following, these assets are described where there has been material activity to report in 2024.
ENKOTEC A/S
SVANNINGE BJERGE
BIKUBENFONDENS AKTIVER
CORE BOLIG TRE KOLLEGIER
HØBBET A/S
BIFI A/S
ØVRIGE INVESTERINGER
Svanninge Hills
Svanninge Hills is a nature area of approx. 500 hectares in southern Funen, which we own and administer. In Svanninge Hills, we have worked with many different measures to create the best conditions for a rich, diverse nature. For example, we have established interior, open areas that, over time, become the nutrient-poor habitat type, commons, where Welsh Black cattle and Dülmener horses graze, and we have restored over 50 wetland areas. Since 2020, we have collaborated on the development of biodiversity in Svanninge Hills with Dalgas (formerly, HedeDanmark), which acts as contractor for nature management. This collaboration has, among other things, led to the most comprehensive certification of Svanninge Hills for biodiversity in Denmark. The certification is an assurance of quality of the work to improve and increase biodiversity. Likewise, we monitor on a running basis a number of organisms, for example, bats, fungi, beetles, birds, dormice, and plants, in the area. In 2024, a new species of bat was found, a number of new bird species arrived, and we see an increase in animal and plant species in the wetlands since the last study.
Read about Svanninge Hills here (in Danish).
Enkotec A/S
In 2006, we took over Enkotec A/S as a part of our investment portfolio. Profits from the business have since gone to our philanthropic work.
Enkotec A/S is the world’s leading supplier of machines for the production of nails for the construction industry. The firm’s headquarters is in Skanderborg. Since the takeover, we have kept the production in Denmark, and have been successful in growing the firm to quadruple the size, measured by turnover. Today, Enkotec A/S possesses about two-thirds of the world market for machines that produce high-quality nails. In addition to its headquarters in Skanderborg, the firm has its own office in the US and three agent offices scattered globally that cover the world market. There are more than 1000 of the firm’s nail production machines in over 50 countries in the world.
Enkotec A/S entered 2024 with a modest volume of orders due to the global downturn and uncertainty that paralyzed investment. Sales in 2024 fell 32%, and the number of employees was adjusted to the activity. At the end of 2024, there were 65 employees in Denmark against 74 the year before. In 2025, ENKOTEC expects increasing activity in the market for the sale of production equipment. In relation to 2024, the expectation is for an increase in machine sales by 30%.
I Enkotec A/S, the focus has been on producing with the least possible consumption of resources, for example, in relation to waste of materials and electricity consumption, and environmentally-sound procurement. All suppliers are to live up to Enkotec’s Supplier Code of Conduct, which is in conformity with the UN’s Supplier Code of Conduct.
Read about Enkotec here.
Dormitories
With the Bikuben Dormitories, we want to make good, modern living quarters available for students, so they can get an education. Today, there are Bikuben Dormitories of high architectural quality in Aalborg, Odense, and Copenhagen. We put weight on social sustainability and lease 10% of the rooms at our dormitories in Ørestaden and Odense to young people on the edge of homelessness. Beyond housing, we help young people adjust to the dormitory community. In 2024, we evaluated this work, which shows good opportunities for helping young people get on in life. Therefore, we continue to reserve 10% of the residences for young people on the edge of homelessness.
We also focus on running the dor mitories sustainably. The dormito ries are run on green energy from offshore wind turbines and solar cell systems.
Investments
Long-term, dynamic investment strategy
Our financial strategy is the economic fundament for our philanthropic work. Since 2004, we have had a long-term investment strategy. In 2024, we updated the strategy, which now also contains a comprehensive ESG policy for investment.
The goal of the strategy is to define the framework for the Bikuben Foundation’s investments in order to optimise profit while engaging in defensible risk management and respecting the Bikuben Foundation’s desire to show social responsibility with a focus on sustainability.
Moreover, this long-term approach helps secure a more stable development in our returns. It also interacts well with our grants, which often stretch over several years.
While this financial strategy has a long-term focus, we accept liquidity and volatility risks in order to achieve additional yield for more riskfree investments. We can do this because there are no demands for sudden, unexpected distributions in our award strategy – rather, stable grants distributed over time. On the other hand, this distribution strategy is capital intensive.
We invest in listed and unlisted stocks and bonds, real property, industry, and private equity and
private debt foundations and only use derivative financial instruments to a modest extent. Most of our investments take place outside of Denmark: northern Europe, the economically-developed parts of central and southern Europe, and the US. Other OECD countries, Emerging Markets, Brazil, India, China, and Asia constitute only a smaller part of our investments.
At the group level, we are invested in 29 foundations that cover private equity, real property, and private debt. At the end of the year, we achieved a level of 17% of our investment assets placed in listed securities and 83% placed in unlisted securities in which private equity, private debt, and Enkotec A/S are the most important assets. In 2024, we made commitments to Kartesia Senior Opportunities II and Triton Debt Opportunities Fund III.
See an overview of our administration and collaborative partners here (in Danish).
Case: social investments provide attractive yields
VIn recent years, we have begun to introduce mission-directed investments, which support to a higher degree our philanthropic work– including an Impact Private Equity foundation (LGT Crown Impact), which invests with three themes in mind: health, inclusion, and climate. We see many interesting social investments here, particularly providing help to children with special needs and children in poor school districts and low-income families.
The firm Action Behavior Centers in the US, which is a leading provider of treatment for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), runs over 200 treatment centres in Texas, Colorado, Arizona, and Illinois. Around 400 specialists help children between 2 and14 to handle their ASD symptoms and live a better life, including transition to ordinary schools with greater success. 98% of the payments for treatment are covered by insurance, so everyone may receive treatment.
Imagine Learning in the US, which is the largest provider of digital reading plan solutions for students from kindergarten to 12th grade, serves over 7,000 school districts and employs more than 2,700 per-
sons, including 1,200 teachers, to develop educational materials, design course plans, ensure compliance with state standards, and teach virtual courses. The firm was founded to invest in new digital technologies that affect how teachers teach and students learn. The courses are provided to millions of students via a web-based platform, and many of the programs are designed to assist students who need extra help. In 2023, the firm announced grant distributions in the amount of $400,000 to support student welfare outside the classroom, which is an increase of 60% from 2022.
The annual yield for Action Behavior Centers is 53%, and investments have returned the money again 3 times*, while the annual return for Imagine Learning is at 11.8% and has returned the money again 1.48 times*.
Both firms are examples of how one may both create social impact and achieve an attractive return.
* This is an expression for the overall return as of 31.12.2024 (where there has been a return on investment many times over in the form of realised and unrealised returns).
Financial value creation
Financial value creation is a result of ideas and strategies that have been used for years. The return in 2024, therefore, is not borne by investments we have made in that year alone but, to a high degree, by investment decisions we have taken over the last many years.
See the development of financial value creation from 2021-2024 here (in Danish).
Comprehensive ESG policy for investment
In 2024, we prepared a comprehensive ESG policy for investment. For many years, we worked with active ownership, exclusion criteria, mission-directed investment, ESG considerations, and options for unsatisfactory investments but, this year, incorporated these various elements into one comprehensive policy to set a more sustainable direction for our investments.
The policy takes its starting point in the international standards for responsible business conduct from the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the UN Guiding Principles on Human Rights and Business. Moreover, the Bikuben Foundation supports the UN Global Compact’s 10 principles for responsible business conduct for human rights, labour rights, the environment, and anticorruption.
The policy is to guide the foundation’s approach to investments, to ensure a clear alignment of expectations with our asset managers, and to provide insight into the Bikuben Foundation’s ambitions and demands for sustainability in our investments.
Read the ESG policy for investments here (in Danish).
Annual ESG analysis of investments
In order to act more responsibly and to be transparent about how we operate, we undertake annually a review of our investment portfolio from a viewpoint of sustainability by an investment advisor Curo Capital. In the analysis, our managers measure the impact of their portfolios on climate, people, and society. We use the analysis as a basis for strategic discussions of how sustainability may be reflected more clearly in the portfolio in the future and what measures must be taken to achieve that.
The level for what may be considered good results for ESG is not absolute but in constant movement. We want our investments and their derivative influence to move the level up and help investment managers to raise their requirements for ESG on a running basis. However, we realise that, in some contexts, we are a minor investor, but we see it as an obligation to help influence a sustainable direction and our ability to report on it.
The analysis from 2023, among other things, led to a decision in 2024 to sell off a fund and individual companies in the desire for a more sustainable direction. For other investments that do not live up to our expectations for responsible investment, we have commenced a dialogue and put pressure on our investment managers to push for change.
The annual sustainability analysis from 2024 shows that our investment portfolio has generally developed in a positive direction. The ESG risk is reduced, and exposure to the oil and gas industry has fallen since last year. At the same time, the analysis shows that certain investments have a negative impact and require our attention. We are in the process of assessing these and related options.
Read our sustainability analysis from 2024 here (in Danish).
Financial development
Even though the 2024 investment year had fluctuating returns in various return classes, we have had a nice positive return on the overall portfolio in 2024. Financial value creation ended at DKK 213.4 million corresponding to a return of 13.1%. Our parent foundation’s net result was DKK 182.7 million against DKK 160.7 million the year before. From this result, DKK 149.4 million were granted for foundation purposes against DKK 145.4 million the year before. The operating results for the parent foundation were in 2024 DKK -44.9 million against DKK -36.2 million in 2023, which is lower than operating results in previous years as a consequence of increased activity in the foundation. Our income derives from investment returns and profits from Enkotec A/S.
We consider the 2024 results to be satisfactory. A significant cause is a good return from the listed securities and the PE funds.
As of 31 December 2024, the Bikuben Foundation had a balance of DKK 2,291.3 million against DKK 2,248.9 million the year before. Own funds constituted DKK 1,804.5 million against DKK 1,759.3 million the year before. Of the parent foundation’s assets, DKK 1,527.4 million are financial investments and DKK 351.2 million are material investments. The financial investments are the basis for the foundation’s future earning power.
As of 31 December 2024, Enkotec A/S had a balance of DKK 111.5 million and own capital in the amount of
DKK 55.1 million. The result in 2024 constituted DKK 26.4 million against DKK 67.1 million in 2023.
As of 31 December 2024, Høbbet A/S had a balance of DKK 292.8 million against DKK 214.1 million the year before and own capital in the amount of DKK 118.2 million against DKK 124.4 million the year before. The results for 2024 constituted DKK–6.1 against DKK–4.6 million in 2023.
BIFI A/S had as of 31 December 2024 a balance of DKK 769.5 million against DKK 706.9 million the year before and own capital in the amount of DKK 717.6 million against 706.7 million the year before. The results in 2024 were DKK 120.9 million against DKK 46.3 million in 2023.
The annual result realized is in agreement with the announced expectations in the annual report for 2023. The year’s result is considered satisfactory.
We expect in 2025 a result in the order of DKK 140 – 150 million. The year’s result is subject to some uncertainty depending on how the financial markets develop.
Uncertainty as to recognition and measurement
The group’s investments in other equity interests consist of unlisted equity interests that are structured as private equity funds. These unlisted investments are recognized and measured at fair market value. The fair market value is assessed based on non-observable input, which implies an inherent uncertainty connected with the assessment of fair market value.
Subsequent events
There are no subsequent events that have any material influence on accounting.
Bikubenfonden