Van Leer Group Foundation

The origins of the Van Leer activities lie with Bernard Van Leer, a Dutch industrialist and philanthropist. In 1919 Bernard Van Leer founded a small packaging company in The Netherlands that became a world leader in the industry and provided him with the resources to pursue his philanthropic activities. His objective, in essence, was to use the fruit of his labor to benefit others.

When he died in 1958, Bernard Van Leer had arranged his affairs to ensure his business interests would continue to fuel his philanthropic work. Having gained the agreement from his wife Polly and his two sons, Oscar and Wim, to relinquish their inheritance rights, he bequeathed his fortune to a foundation with broad humanitarian goals, set up in 1949 in Lucerne, Switzerland. In this way, under Oscar van Leer's leadership, the income flow for his philanthropic goals could be guaranteed.

Oscar Van Leer worked on furthering his father's objectives until his death in 1996. To begin with, he created and formalized the legacy's organizational structure. The Van Leer Group Foundation which is based in The Netherlands and run by a seven-member Governing Council, took over the tasks of the original Swiss foundation. Oscar Van Leer also gave the philanthropic work clear and focused targets. The Van Leer Group Foundation is today the custodian of Bernard Van Leer's legacy.

The Van Leer Group Foundation is a charitable foundation and performs a holding function in relation to all the charitable activities of the so-called Van Leer Entity. The Van Leer Entity embodies the main goal of the Van Leer family, namely a recognizable relation between earning money and spending money for charitable purposes. This is presently embodied in the Van Leer Group Foundation, Bernard Van Leer Foundation, Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and Jerusalem Film Center as regards the charities and the general investment portfolio and Crecor B.V., regarding the sources of income.

The Van Leer Group Foundation has three statutory objectives:
1. to promote the optimum development of socially and economically disadvantaged children up to the age of  8, with the objective of developing their innate potential to the greatest extent possible.

2. to contribute to the development and strengthening of a Jewish, democratic national home in Israel committed to a free, equitable and just society for all of its citizens; and to contribute to the pursuit of regional peace, for the benefit and betterment of social cultural and individual lives in Israel.

3. to promote and to further the continuity and the preservation of the identity of  Van Leer Entity.

The first objective is implemented by the Bernard Van Leer Foundation. This Foundation is funded by the Van Leer Group Foundation, the Governors of which are simultaneously appointed as Trustees of the Bernard Van Leer Foundation. Also, the Executive Director of the Van Leer Group Foundation attends the meetings of the Board of Trustees of the Bernard Van Leer Foundation as an observer.

The implementation of the second objective is materialized through the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and the Jerusalem Film Center. The Van Leer Group Foundation provides a substantial part of the funding for these organizations and is represented by the Governors and the Executive Director of the Van Leer Group Foundation on the Board of these organizations.

The third objective of the Van Leer Group Foundation that deals with the promotion of the Van Leer Entity, implies that the Van Leer Group Foundation takes a particular responsibility with respect to the way in which the legacy of the Van Leer family is translated in existing and new humanitarian ventures and income generating activities.

As a holding foundation, the Van Leer Group Foundation takes the lead with respect to the governance issues, such as the board composition, profile of members, geographical composition, tenure etc. of itself and of the Bernard Van Leer Foundation and Crecor B.V.

In order to finance its charitable activities, the Van Leer Group Foundation is entrusted with the investments of the Van Leer assets and Crecor B.V. The major part of the Van Leer Group Foundation's assets consists of a global portfolio of equities and fixed interest securities, that sharply increased after the sale of the shares in Royal Packaging Industries Van Leer N.V. Historically, the assets of the Van Leer Group Foundation were from its founding in 1969 up to the Initial Public Offering of Royal Packaging Industries Van Leer N.V. mainly the shares of the latter.

Until 1996, the Van Leer Group Foundation was the sole shareholder of the shares in the packaging company Royal Packaging Industries Van Leer N.V. This company resulted from the packaging company that was founded by Bernard Van Leer in 1919 and which was globally operating in a substantial number of industrial and consumer packaging markets. In 1996, the company was listed on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange and the Van Leer Group Foundation sold almost 50% of its shares, maintaining a majority interest. The members of the Governing Council remained members of the Supervisory Board.

In 1999, the Finnish packaging company Huhtamaki made a bid for the shares of Royal Packaging Industries Van Leer N.V. that led to the sale of all shares of RPIVL to Huhtamaki. The Van Leer Group Foundation then bought a share in the newly-incorporated company Huhtamaki Van Leer. Subsequently, however, in September 2001 the Van Leer Group Foundation sold its share in the new company after the latter in 2000 divested all its industrial packaging activities to the U.S.-based company Greif Bros.

Today, the Van Leer Group Foundation's assets consist of a global investment portfolio of equities and fixed interest securities, which are its main source of income, with a value of more than Euro € 750 million.

Crecor B.V. is a fully owned company which is active as an Israeli venture capital company. The Van Leer Group Foundation's Governing Council serves as its Supervisory Board.

For more information:
Andre Betting, Executive Director
Van Leer Group Foundation
Van Heuven Goedhartlaan 119
1181 KK Amstelveen
The Netherlands
Tel: +31 (0)20 645 32 31
Fax: +31 (0)20 645 33 32
Internet: www.vanleergroupfoundation.nl