Stichting INGKA Foundation

__NOTOC__The Stichting INGKA Foundation is a Dutch foundation founded in 1982 by Ingvar Kamprad, who is chairman. The name "INGKA" comes from a contraction of his name; "Stichting" is the Dutch language word for foundation. The stated purpose is "To promote and support innovation in the field of architectural and interior design."

The foundation owns the private Dutch company INGKA Holding based in Leiden, which is the holding company controlling 207 of the 235 outlets of Swedish multinational furniture store chain IKEA. It does "not" own the IKEA concept and trademark; these are owned by Inter IKEA Systems B.V. in Delft, also in the Netherlands.

The foundation's worth is an estimated US$36 billion.

The Dutch Tax Service has declared both the Stichting INGKA Foundation and the associated Stichting IKEA Foundation "Institution for General Benefit" ("algemeen nut beogende instelling", ANBI).

Charity

Detailed information about its grantmaking is unavailable, as foundations in the Netherlands are not required to publish their records. But IKEA has reported that in 2004-2005, the INGKA Foundation's donations were concentrated on the Lund Institute of Technology in Sweden, and the Lund Institute reported the receipt of $1.7 million grants from the foundation during both of those years.

Criticism

In May 2006, the Newspaper "The Economist" estimated that the foundation was worth US$36 billion, making it the world's wealthiest - more than the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In the same article, "The Economist" alleged that INGKA uses the foundation structure for corporate tax-avoidance and ml|Takeover|Tactics_against_hostile_takeover|anti-takeover protection scheme for IKEA.cite web| url=http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=6919139 | title=Flat-pack accounting |accessdate=2007-01-02|publisher=The Economist]

ee also

* List of wealthiest foundations

References

External links

* [http://www.ikea-group.ikea.com/?ID=25 How IKEA Works] - from the IKEA Group corporate site