From the Chair 

At the close of 2025, Kone Foundation welcomed a new Chairperson of the Board of Trustees and an updated strategy. Support for free and multi-voiced research and art continues nonetheless, writes the new Chairperson Ilona Herlin.

The year 2025 was significant for Kone Foundation in two ways. First, it was the final year in which the organisation had the privilege of being led by its long-standing employee and trustee, Hanna Nurminen. At the turn of the year, I received the baton as Chair of the Board of Trustees. Secondly, 2025 marked the end of the previous strategy period and the preparation for a new one. The board and staff came together to reflect on the challenges that a society affected by multiple crises presents to the foundation, and through numerous discussions the Board outlined the guiding principles for the organisation’s future activities at the close of Nurminen’s term.

It is impossible to overstate Hanna Nurminen’s significance to Kone Foundation. In many ways, she has shaped the foundation into what it is today. Not only has she, through her substantial donation, made possible the expansion of the foundation’s activities over recent decades, she has also had a decisive influence on the directions and forms that expansion has taken. Environmental research and support for the arts and culture—crowned by the Saari Residence—are her contributions, but equally important has been her active, inquisitive approach: a keen attentiveness that has characterised the foundation’s work during her leadership. Recruitment has also been central to shaping the foundation’s character: Nurminen has brought together people among whom a shared, genuine sense of connection has developed, allowing for a free exchange of ideas.

It is impossible to overstate Hanna Nurminen’s significance to Kone Foundation.

In its work, Kone Foundation has believed in the power of free research and art. In the 2020s alone, it has provided €265 million in funding, trusting that the outcomes of high-quality research and artistic work enrich Finnish culture and society in ways that cannot be predicted in advance. A decentralised evaluation system has ensured that funding has been directed to excellent projects valued by a wide range of people. Kone Foundation’s own voice has not been intended to be especially prominent; rather, the aim has been to foster a rich and diverse undergrowth of environmental and human sciences and the arts, enabling flourishing—both human and non-human—in Finland.

More attention than the funding of free research and art has been drawn to the foundation’s smaller-scale funding decisions, through which it has sought to participate more directly in societal debate, or at least to support it. In particular, activities under the Metsän puolella (“For the Woods”) initiative have gained visibility. In this work, support for research and the arts has been complemented by journalism, activism and other forms of societal engagement. The state of Finland’s forests required a response from the Foundation, and we took a stand For the Woods. The initiative is well underway, and public debate on forests has become more diverse, which was our original goal. Now, however, the transformation of the world and Finland suggests that we cannot limit our proactive efforts to forests alone. In just a few years, Finland has been reshaped in a way that leaves more room—but also sets greater challenges—for actors in the third sector; at the same time, funding for these actors has been reduced, limiting their ability to operate. Therefore, in our new strategy, we intend to open pathways for broader and more proactive efforts to improve the world together with civil society.

In our new strategy, we intend to open pathways for broader and more proactive efforts to improve the world.

However, we are not abandoning our support for free and pluralistic research and art. We continue to trust that they improve the world, regardless of who funds them. Our renewed approach will therefore involve awarding more funding as well as expanding the organisation. In her final address a year ago, Hanna Nurminen expressed her hope that the organisation would, above all, remain bold in the future. This we will do. In addition to attentiveness and boldness, we will also need wisdom as we strive to influence Finnish society so that it preserves its best qualities—people’s equality in relation to one another and their mutual trust—while renewing itself along paths guided by imagination.

This text is published in the Foundation’s Annual Report 2025. Read the Annual Report here: Koneen Säätiön vuosi 2025 (opens in a new tab). The English summary starts from page 134.