Stichting INGKA Foundation
The Stichting INGKA Foundation is a Dutch foundation founded in 1982 by Ingvar Kamprad, who is chairman. The name "INGKA" comes from a contraction of his name; "Stichting" is the Dutch language word for foundation. The stated purpose is To promote and support innovation in the field of architectural and interior design.
The foundation owns the private Dutch company INGKA Holding based in Leiden, which is the holding company controlling 207 of the 235 outlets of Swedish multinational furniture store chain IKEA. It does not own the IKEA concept and trademark; these are owned by Inter IKEA Systems B.V. in Delft, also in the Netherlands.
The foundation's worth is an estimated US$36 billion.
Charity
Detailed information about its grantmaking is unavailable, as foundations in the Netherlands are not required to publish their records. But IKEA has reported that in 2004-2005, the INGKA Foundation's donations were concentrated on the Lund Institute of Technology in Sweden, and the Lund Institute reported the receipt of $1.7 million grants from the foundation during both of those years.
Criticism
In May 2006, the Newspaper The Economist estimated that the foundation was worth US$36 billion, making it the world's wealthiest - more than the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In the same article, The Economist alleged that INGKA uses the foundation structure for corporate tax-avoidance and {{#invoke:Takeover|Tactics_against_hostile_takeover|anti-takeover protection scheme}} for IKEA.[1]
See also
References
- ^ "Flat-pack accounting". The Economist. Retrieved 2007-01-02.
External links
- How IKEA Works - from the IKEA Group corporate site
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