Everyone matters
That’s our fundamental believe. That’s what we feel in the core of our being. And that is what drives us at the Oranje Fonds. That is why we are committed to building a society in which everyone is able to participate, and no one is left behind. An engaged society, in which people take care of one another. A society in which everyone has equal opportunities, and is connected. Fortunately, lots of people in the Netherlands act daily to make this society a reality.
We support these social entrepreneurs: people who identify an issue and do something about it. The Netherlands has a wealth of wonderful social initiatives set up by such entrepreneurs. Initiatives that are committed to helping people affected by for example poverty, exclusion, loneliness, or lack of opportunities. With, for instance small-scale community projects, mentoring projects for young people who struggle with school, and language programmes for people new to our country.
Over the past twenty years, we have provided support to over 100,000 initiatives. We support these initiatives by providing finance, sometimes for tried and tested ideas, sometimes to experiment with new approaches.
In addition to funding, we bring initiatives together on multi-year programs, so they can develop and share knowledge and skills and help the most impactful projects grow, so that they can reach even more people. We also offer initiatives a type of support that is sometimes worth even more than money: we give them the recognition and visibility they deserve and need in order to be successful.
In a nutshell we are the largest social fund in the Netherlands and the Caribbean part of our Kingdom. A professional organization with 20 years of experience. Established in 2002, as a wedding gift from the entire population of the Netherlands to King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima, our highly engaged patrons. We support thousands of initiatives across our Kingdom. Well known through NLdoet, Appeltjes van Oranje, Burendag, and our Buddy Programme. And through the support to many, many local social organisations.
We would like to end by sharing the core of our convictions once more. Something that we would like to tell everyone in person if we could. That message is this: everyone matters, including you. We are convinced that together we can achieve more. So let’s join forces to build a society in which everyone can participate, and no one is left behind.
