Our way of working

Fritt Ord is a private non-profit foundation. Foundations are self-owned and represent assets that have been made available for specific purposes that are of a not-for-profit, humanitarian, cultural or social nature.

Fritt Ord’s assets originated with the Narvesen Kioskkompani and subsequent financial investments, and the yield on the assets is the Foundation’s only source of income.

The work of a foundation is different from the work of an activist or special interest organisation. We primarily operate by funding the ideas, projects and initiatives of others. Fritt Ord contributes to and initiates measures that bring knowledge and observations to society and the public. Fritt Ord often contributes support in the early stages of new projects. We are a financial alternative and supplement to the public sector on the one hand, and to business and industry on the other. We are especially interested in projects that are not fully funded by either the public sector or the market.

There are six rounds of project applications each year, meaning that it does not take long to get an answer. The Foundation receives more than 3000 applications each year, and funds slightly less than 40 per cent of the projects – in full or in part. The projects we help support are usually cooperative efforts that rely on several sources of funding, public and private alike.

The Fritt Ord Foundation consists of a seven-member Board of Trustees and an administration consisting of 9.5 full-time equivalent positions.