Through a 60-year-long, childless marriage together, industrialist Anton Helffer and his wife Christine Kootkar built their fortune in electrical insulation. They set up their foundation in Amstelveen, south of Amsterdam, in 1980. Endowed with money from both, their foundation was to become the one public legacy that Anton and Christine, now dead, ever made.

There is no marble edifice, no permanent secretariat, not even a Hellffer-Kootkar Foundation website, but since 1981 the couple's endowment has pumped out close to $1 million in cash into dozens of humanitarian efforts. The deliberately low-key philanthropy exists for this purpose alone: "Promoting social citizenship worldwide is all-important" says Jan Joosten, the foundation's secretary-general. "The foundation is very much in the background: we want to spotlight the prize-winners."

Beneficiaries of the award, which ranks around fifth in size among Holland's top private-sector prizes, have been a motley selection of individuals or organizations, from soup kitchens and surgeons through trades unions to a circus, that work with the homeless, underpaid domestic workers, teenage delinquents, the physically handicapped or the mentally ill.

The Prize Foundation board, comprised of leading Dutch academics, reviews written proposals, submitted by mail, from individuals or organizations seeking recognition.

Postal address: Helffer-Kootkar Stichting, Secretariaat, Hagenstraat 10, 6225, ER Maastricht, The Netherlands
Enquiries: jan.joosten@zw.unimaas.nl

Other pages in this news feature
Dysfunctional healthcare means "desperate call" for training
OMGE wins major private sector award
AIDD: an African 'first'
OMGE training centers in seven countries - and counting
South African expatriate's long struggle to prevail

Need help using Gastro-Pro?

All contents copyright© GastroHOPES Ltd unless otherwise noted. GastroHOPES Ltd and Gastro-Pro do not sell products or services. The contents of this website are intended for access by healthcare professionals only. This website is not intended for patient education. Minors and those of a sensitive nature might find some sounds and images on this site distressing. Visitors are invited to read our privacy policy and full legal notice.

20.04.04