Happy Foundation Day!
Today, across Europe, we once again celebrate the international day for foundations and other actors promoting the general good. The aim of the annual celebration on 1 October is to highlight foundations and donors as well as the significance of their activities to people and, ultimately, to the planet as a whole.Published 1.10.2026
In Finland, Foundation Day is coordinated by the Association of Finnish Foundations, which has today announced the total amount of support granted by foundations to science, art and other social endeavours. The Association’s media release (in Finnish and Swedish) states that Finnish foundations donated a total of 630 million euros last year to promote the general good.
The Sakari Alhopuro Foundation is one of the Association’s 250 members, and it is known for funding research related to ticks, the Archipelago Sea, and the interactions between microbes and humans. Since 2025, the Foundation has also granted funding to artists whose works deal with climate change, the environmental crisis, the state of Finnish nature or nature conservation.
In 2025, the Sakari Alhopuro Foundation granted a total of nearly one million euro to science and art, and a similar amount has also been granted this year. Additionally, in April 2026, the Foundation organised the Baltic Sea Archipelagos Symposium, which brought together researchers, decision-makers and companies that contribute to the improvement of the state of the Baltic Sea archipelagos.
In recent years, the role of foundations as a supporter of Finnish well-being has been emphasised; without the support of foundations, many medical research or cultural projects would be left without funding. The Sakari Alhopuro Foundation wishes to point out that funding granted by foundations is important not only for grant recipients but for everyone.
Sakari Alhopuro Foundation in brief
- Sakari Alhopuro, Doctor of Medical Science and bearer of the Finnish honorary title of Lääkintöneuvos, founded the foundation bearing his name in 2019.
- The first grants were awarded in 2020 to researchers in the fields of medical and natural sciences.
- Since 2025, grants have also been awarded to artists.
- Throughout its history, the Foundation has granted a total of approximately seven million euro to science and art, thus facilitating the work of 102 researchers and 19 artists.
- The Foundation publishes a blog about the work of supported researchers and artists on its website. Since its inception, the Foundation has published 88 blog articles in Finnish, Swedish and English.