What Stichting Komma does

Stichting Komma is a Dutch nonprofit foundation (stichting) founded in December 2020 by Michel de Hond following the death of his brother Marc from terminal cancer. The foundation's core offering is a free, professionally filmed video life-story portrait — a short personal film that terminally ill parents can leave behind for their children. Production relies on a nationwide network of 40 to 60 volunteers operating in coordination with named filmmaking partners, with each portrait costing approximately €500 to produce. The organization operates with only one paid staff member and is headquartered in Almere, Netherlands.

The foundation is funded through a mix of individual donations, institutional grants (notably from KWF Kankerbestrijding, the Dutch Cancer Society), and merchandise sales. It holds ANBI status and CBF certification, providing donor tax-deductibility and audited governance credentials within the Dutch nonprofit sector. Notable partners include De Portretmakers (production capacity), OMA, and Ladies in Art (creative collaborators), with palliative care physician Sander de Hosson serving as public ambassador.

As of March 2025, Stichting Komma had produced more than 1,250 cumulative life-story portraits, indicating sustained scaling from approximately 50 in January 2021 and roughly 1,165 by December 2024. The business model is fundamentally philanthropic: there is no pricing for the end recipient, no subscription or recurring revenue, and growth is constrained by volunteer capacity and grant inflows rather than market demand for the service.

Name

Stichting Komma

Legal name

Stichting Komma

Website

https://stichtingkomma.nl

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Stichting Komma is a Dutch nonprofit foundation that produces free, professionally filmed video life-story portraits for terminally ill parents, creating a personal legacy for their children. Founded in December 2020, it has produced over 1,250 portraits as of March 2025.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Almere

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Donations from Individuals: Individual donors contribute financially to support the cost of creating video portraits (averaging €500 per portrait). The service is free for qualifying parents, funded entirely by donations.
2. Merchandise Sales: The organization sells branded products including a card game 'Komma op met je verhaal' (€15.95), workbook (€19.95), combo deals (€32.50), cotton shoppers (€6.50), and limited edition items (€27.50). All proceeds support the mission.
3. Institutional Grants and Support: KWF Kankerbestrijding provided funding that enabled expanding services to include teenagers (children up to age 18). The organization holds ANBI status for charitable giving.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Stichting Komma provides a free, professionally filmed video portrait service for incurably ill parents residing in the Netherlands who have at least one child aged 18 or younger. Trained volunteer interviewers and camerapeople travel to the family's home to conduct a 1–1.5 hour filmed life-story interview, which is delivered as a wooden Memory Box containing USB sticks with the video and three personalized greeting cards. The video is also archived on Stichting Komma's encrypted, GDPR-compliant server for future retrieval by authorized next-of-kin.

Product overview

Stichting Komma offers a single unified service centered on the 'Komma' (Comma) — a free, professionally filmed video portrait of an incurably ill parent's life story, delivered as a physical memory box (houten kistje) containing USB sticks with the video and three greeting cards with personal messages for the children. The foundation also sells complementary products through its webshop — notably the 'Komma op met je verhaal' card game compiled from 850+ life story interviews, an accompanying invulboekje (fill-in booklet), a combideal bundle, a limited edition daily memory product, and branded merchandise — with all proceeds funding the core service. The foundation has an ambassador program featuring well-known Dutch personalities and produces a podcast series and an online video series ('Het gesprek van je leven').

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Het Gesprek van Je Leven: Online series where famous Dutch personalities volunteer as interviewers to record life stories of terminally ill parents, aiming to raise awareness for the foundation.

Products and services

• Komma (Video Portrait / Life Story Interview) The foundation's core service: a professionally filmed 1–1.5 hour video interview of an incurably ill parent, conducted at the family's home by a trained volunteer interviewer and cameraman/woman. The resulting video is delivered on USB sticks and stored on Stichting Komma's secured server. Provided free of charge to eligible parents residing in the Netherlands who have at least one child aged 18 or younger.
• Memory Box (Houten kistje) A wooden memory box delivered to each family together with the video portrait. It contains USB sticks with the professionally recorded video and three greeting cards with personal messages from the parent to their children. Families can add additional personal items such as a wedding ring or photos.
• Komma op met je verhaal (Card Game) A card game containing life lessons and questions compiled from approximately 850 video portraits produced by Stichting Komma. Designed for individuals, families, and groups to share and discuss life stories. Sold at €15.95 with full proceeds going to the foundation.
• Invulboekje (Fill-in Booklet) A fill-in booklet companion to the Komma op met je verhaal card game. Allows users to record and reflect on their own life stories, memories, and lessons. Sold at €19.95 with proceeds supporting Stichting Komma.
• Combideal (Card Game + Fill-in Booklet Bundle) A bundled package combining the Komma op met je verhaal card game and the invulboekje fill-in booklet at a discounted price (€32.50). Full proceeds support Stichting Komma's mission.
• Limited Edition: Iedere dag een mooie herinnering A limited-edition product offering daily beautiful memories. Sold through Stichting Komma's webshop at €27.50 with all proceeds supporting the foundation's mission.
• Katoenen Shopper (Cotton Tote Bag) A branded colored cotton tote bag sold through Stichting Komma's webshop at €6.50. Purchasing supports the foundation's mission.
• Liefs van Memorybox (Greeting Cards for Memory Box) Personal greeting cards included in each Memory Box for parents to write individual messages to each of their children, complementing the video portrait.

Quantifiable outcome

• 1,250+ life stories recorded in 4 years, averaging approximately €500 cost per portrait.
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Ladies in ArtminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 17 December 2024Organized a benefietconcert (benefit concert) for Stichting Komma featuring Arthur and Lucas Jussen in Laren on December 17, 2024. Ladies in Art leverages its network to host fundraising events.
• De PortretmakersminorOthersReferral partner for families that do not meet Stichting Komma's criteria. De Portretmakers creates similar video portraits for €299 for anyone, and Stichting Komma recommends them as an alternative.
• Sander de HossoncoreOthersLongarts (pulmonologist) at Wilhelmina Ziekenhuis Assen and co-founder of Zorgplatform Carend. Serves as ambassador, raising awareness for both palliative care and Stichting Komma's mission through speaking engagements, media appearances, and the 'Het Gesprek van je Leven' video series.
• OMA (Office for Metropolitan Architecture)minorOthersOMA publicly supports Stichting Komma, providing visibility and credibility as a known institutional backer.
• Arthur and Lucas JussenminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPianists who performed a benefietconcert for Stichting Komma, donating their performance to raise funds and awareness for the organization.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• StoryCorps: Large US-based nonprofit whose mission is to record, preserve, and share personal conversations; offers the most direct conceptual analog to Stichting Komma's filmed life-story interviews, but operates at much greater scale, across broader populations, and as an archive rather than a per-family legacy deliverable.

Emerging players

• LifeBio: US company that produces life-story content (written reminiscence, video, audio) for older adults, hospice patients, and families; comparable in offering personalized legacy content for end-of-life populations, but operates commercially rather than donation-funded.
• MemoryWell: US life-story service that captures personal narratives for individuals with dementia, illness, or aging-related needs — overlapping Stichting Komma's target population (seriously ill individuals leaving a personal legacy) but focused on written biographies and care-plan context rather than filmed family portraits.

Regional players

• Stichting Ambulance Wens: Dutch charity fulfilling last wishes for terminally ill individuals via volunteer-driven, donation-funded operations — comparable in mission space (end-of-life support) and operational model (national volunteer network, donation-funded), though its deliverables are outings rather than video legacy content.
• Make-A-Wish Nederland: Dutch affiliate of an international charity fulfilling wishes for children with critical illnesses; shares Stichting Komma's Dutch geography, donation-funded model, and overlap in families facing serious parental/caregiver illness, but serves children's wishes rather than parental legacy.

Direct peers

• De Portretmakers: Dutch video-portrait service explicitly cited as a referral partner by Stichting Komma for families that do not meet Komma's criteria; offers similar filmed interview portraits (for a €299 fee) and competes for the same beneficiary pool, but as a paid service rather than free charity.

Others

• Carend: Dutch palliative care platform co-founded by Stichting Komma ambassador Sander de Hosson; not a direct service competitor but an adjacent ecosystem enabler that channels referrals, content, and credibility between palliative care professionals and Komma's beneficiary families.
• KWF Kankerbestrijding: The Dutch Cancer Society is Stichting Komma's anchor institutional funder (enabling the 2022 expansion to teens up to 18) and a much larger national charity; not a peer in service offering, but a strategically important ecosystem participant whose continued support materially affects Komma's growth.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/stichtingkomma
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/stichtingkomma
• Instagraminstagram.com/stichtingkomma

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Stichting Komma