In 2021, our Foundation will be celebrating our 50th Anniversary. The basis for the existence of a Charity, indeed as a Foundation, is the need to deal with funding and the continuous raising of funds, and of course, disbursal of funds for our dedicated purposes. During these fifty years we have grown from the generous District 7 Charter Flight program gift of $40,000 to a level just over $600,000 and growing. But ‘a need to grow’ is a must! With the growing cost of living we must continue to respond to increased needs – be that for life or educational support. Our goal has always been and continue to be that our investment earnings would support our programs and to allow all donations to immediately become a part of our earning structure. Can we accomplish that? With the help of our membership organizations, good friends and supporters we can certainly move towards that goal.
We now have 34 Voting Membership holders. This includes the twenty five Sons of Norway Lodges, one Ladies Auxiliary group, four Torske Klubbs and two District Lodge (4 & 7) and two International Director (4 & 7) membership units.
In addition to our General Fund which support our Bursary and Grants programs, we operate special bursary units such as the Bjarne and Karel Thorshaug Norwegian Studies, International Summer School in Oslo and Folkehøgskole bursaries as well as funding units such as the Tormod Rekdal Cultural Grants and Lysne Rosemaling Grants. We also operate a Humanitarian Financial Support Fund which can receive charitable donations for further distribution to those suffering losses due to natural disasters.
We can all be very thankful to all those individuals who make our Foundation what it is today. We have the donors, the promoters and those who operate the many parts of this organization. We appreciate very much each person’s efforts in making our Foundation better!