Guidelines we follow
Good foundation governance
We report on and strive to adhere to the Recommendations on foundation governance, similar to commercial foundations. In the table below, you can see how the foundation follows the recommendations. The table was last updated in March 2025.
Additional information regarding the foundation’s adherence to the Recommendations on foundation governance:
Villum Foundation may use functionalities that incorporate artificial intelligence and similar technologies (“AI”) to support the efficient preparation and processing of incoming grant applications, as well as for other administrative purposes.
AI is not used in the Foundation’s final decision-making processes regarding the allocation of grants. All such decisions are made manually by the Board and relevant working groups, panels, or committees within the Foundation. Likewise, AI is not used in recruitment processes.
The Foundation has implemented the following principles for the use of AI:
Responsible and Deliberate Use of AI
The Foundation uses AI solely to effectively fulfil its philanthropic objectives. A precautionary approach is applied to the use of AI, meaning that AI will not be used if there is any doubt as to whether its use may conflict with the Foundation’s purpose and interests or the safety and rights of applicants or other individuals.
The Foundation is particularly attentive to ensuring that employees and management maintain a critical approach to the use of AI, and that AI-generated materials and data are never used without human oversight and validation.
Internal procedures and guidelines have been established to govern the Foundation’s use of AI. The Foundation ensures that all employees possess the necessary level of AI proficiency to operate its AI systems safely.
The Foundation continuously evaluates its AI practices and systems and adjusts internal procedures and guidelines as necessary to ensure appropriate use.
Transparency
The Foundation uses AI in a transparent manner. Where information or material has been substantially generated or processed using AI, this will be disclosed in the Foundation’s internal and external communications.
Security and Ethics
In using AI, the Foundation seeks to maintain a high level of security and operates exclusively within the framework of applicable EU and national legislation, and in an ethically responsible manner. Emphasis is placed on ensuring that AI is not used in ways that contribute to or perpetuate discrimination, stereotyping, bias, or other forms of unjustified differential treatment.
The Foundation also places strong emphasis on the protection of confidential information, intellectual property rights, and privacy.
Data Protection
The Foundation’s use of AI is conducted in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and in accordance with its privacy policy for grant applicants and its internal data protection guidelines.
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If you have any questions regarding our AI policy, please feel free to contact us at info@villumfonden.dk
In our communication, we aim to be transparent about our processes and open about our strategies, activities and grants.
The communications department’s primary goal is to support the grant area strategies and goals of attracting the best applicants and the best applications. We are happy to participate in interviews and comments about our work – but we rather want the focus to be on the goal of our actions, i.e. our grantees, their projects, agendas and results.
The communications department must proactively communicate the foundation’s work through relevant channels, and offer timely, responsive service to the media and other stakeholders.
The executive director represents the foundation externally, except regarding the investment portfolio which is managed by the chief investment officer. In special cases, such as those involving the co-ownership of the VKR Group, the chair may also represent the foundation. However, at programme level or in cases where expertise in policies, programmes and projects is crucial, the programme heads typically speak on behalf of the foundation.
The head of communications is the primary contact for matters related to press and communication strategy.
We aim to ensure transparency in our daily work, not least in the area of impartiality and our relationships with applicants, partners, suppliers etc. The foundations’ boards and working groups have therefore adopted a set of principles and guidelines to ensure that both board members, management, employees and experts adhere to common practices regarding impartiality.
In short, the following applies:
- Board members, working group members and secretariat staff may not participate in the reviews of cases where they have a conflict of interest.
- Board members, members of our working groups and secretariat staff will actively recuse themselves on a case-by-case basis if there is a relationship with an applicant or an external expert. Thus, they do not participate in the processing and decision-making of such cases.
- The board decides which cases should be further processed and approved. Management and senior advisers participate in the application review.
- External experts assisting with the professional assessment of applications are asked each time to clarify whether they are impartial in relation to specific applications.