Start Foundation

Start Foundation is an established Venture Philanthropy Fund (founded in 1998) that makes both grants and Social Investments. Start Foundation developed out of Start Temporary Recruitment Services. Start Temporary Recruitment Services was founded in 1977 to combat unemployment by offering flexible labor contracts. The founders represented employers, trade unions and national government. Start Foundation inherited both its capital as well as its ideology. Its endowment size is approx. 125 million euros.

Venture Philanthropy: Start Foundation adopted the Venture Philanthropy model (VP). VP works to build stronger social purpose organizations by providing them with both financial and non-financial support in order to increase their social impact. Start Foundation’s approach includes both the use of social investment and grants. The key characteristics are: high engagement, tailored financing, multi-year support, non-financial support, involvement of networks, organizational capacity building and performance measurement. The field of operations includes charities, socially-driven businesses as well as traditional businesses. The total amount of annual spending, both in grants and investments, is approx.4-6 million euros.