Van Leer Foundation

What Van Leer Foundation does

Van Leer Foundation is an independent private philanthropic foundation established in 1949 and headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands, recognized as a Public Benefit Organisation (Algemeen Nut Beogende Instelling, ANBI) under Dutch tax law. It is dedicated to early childhood development, operating across three pillars: A Good Start (its flagship early childhood development programme), Van Leer Institutions (recurring grants to the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and the Jerusalem Film Center), and The Endowment, which finances all philanthropic activity through a diversified portfolio of public-market equity, debt, private equity, ESG-screened investments, and mission-related investments aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The foundation does not raise external funds; its operating model is entirely endowment-funded.

The foundation delivers impact through grantmaking, knowledge production, and convening. Core programs and products include the Urban95 initiative (helping cities design urban environments for babies, toddlers and caregivers), the €2.6 million Good Start Challenge (a 2024-launched global prize initiative for innovators in parent/caregiver wellbeing), the Early Childhood Matters annual magazine, the Van Leer Fellowship for interdisciplinary leaders, the ITCN Resources framework for child-friendly Indian smart cities, and a public Knowledge Library of publications, toolkits and case studies. It also supports the Oasis Game in Brazil through Instituto Elos, training programmes for anganwadi workers in Odisha, and partnerships with Gehl, the Open Data Institute, UN-Habitat, Harvard Kennedy School and India's Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

The foundation serves governments (national, regional, municipal), civil society organizations and businesses across at least 12 countries, with country offices in Brazil, India, Israel, Jordan and Senegal and a headquarters team of 40+ professionals representing more than 20 nationalities. Its distribution is primarily direct: grant partnerships, open-access publications, and convening at events such as CityLab. Technology is not central to its operations — the foundation's core competency is curated knowledge, field-level grantmaking and convening power, rather than software or AI products.

Name

Van Leer Foundation

Legal name

Van Leer Foundation

Website

https://vanleerfoundation.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1949

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Van Leer Foundation is a 1949-founded Dutch private philanthropic foundation that funds, curates knowledge for, and convenes partners to improve early childhood development globally, serving governments, civil society and businesses across at least 12 countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Philanthropic Foundation / Early Childhood Development

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321), Child and Youth Services (62411)

akta.pro primary industry

Early Childhood Education & Childcare Nonprofits (BPAGADAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Early Childhood Development (ECD) & Pre-Primary Education (BPADAKAB), Grantmaking & Philanthropic Funds (Institutional Donors) (BPADAOAB), Maternal, Child & Family Health Program Funding (HLAJALAG)

Keywords

• Early childhood development
• Philanthropic grantmaking
• Child-friendly urban design
• Knowledge sharing publications
• Social impact investing

Headquarters

HQ city

The Hague

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices6 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Others, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Endowment Investment Returns: The Foundation relies on its endowment to finance philanthropic activities. The endowment invests in a highly diversified portfolio of public market equity and debt and has a substantial allocation to private equity. The full portfolio is screened to meet ESG criteria. They also have an allocation for mission-related investments (MRI) through which they invest in funds aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals closest to their work on early childhood development.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Van Leer Foundation is a private philanthropic foundation that finances and supports early childhood development worldwide. It provides grants, technical expertise, and knowledge products to government, civil society, and business partners through flagship programmes (A Good Start, Urban95, Good Start Challenge), annual publications, open-access toolkits, and recurring grants to the Van Leer Institutions (Jerusalem Institute and Jerusalem Film Center). Activities are funded entirely from the foundation's endowment.

Product overview

Van Leer Foundation is a private philanthropic foundation (founded 1949) focused on early childhood development. The organization operates through three main activities: A Good Start (flagship early childhood development programme), Van Leer Institutions (support for Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and Jerusalem Film Center), and The Endowment. Key offerings include: the Early Childhood Matters annual magazine; the Urban95 initiative providing city planning tools and resources; the €2.6 million Good Start Challenge funding programme; the Van Leer Fellowship network; the Knowledge Library containing publications and toolkits; and the ITCN Resources framework for child-friendly urban design. These resources are distributed through newsletters and a public-facing Knowledge Library.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Urban95: A flagship programme focused on improving urban environments for babies, toddlers, and their caregivers, working with cities worldwide to create child-friendly spaces.
• Early Childhood Matters
• Good Start Challenge
• Van Leer Fellowship

Products and services

• A Good Start Flagship early childhood development programme of the foundation through which it funds and partners with government, civil society, and business actors to develop and scale effective services for young children and families.
• Urban95 Initiative helping cities design urban spaces for families with young children, providing tools such as starter kits, design guidelines, and practical resources, and working with city leaders to embed early childhood considerations in urban planning.
• The Good Start Challenge A €2.6 million global initiative to uncover and support innovators developing solutions that improve the wellbeing of parents and caregivers of babies, toddlers and young children, delivered by Challenge Works and co-funded with FEMSA Foundation, Fundação Maria Cecilia Souto Vidigal, and the LEGO Foundation.
• Van Leer Fellowship An interdisciplinary community of leaders exploring the intersection of their work and the wellbeing of babies, toddlers and their caregivers, convened by the Van Leer Foundation.
• Knowledge Library A curated collection of publications, reports, toolkits, guides, and case studies on early childhood development topics accessible to the public via the foundation's website.
• Early Childhood Matters Annual magazine publication exploring early childhood development topics, featuring articles on parenting, urban design, policy, and research.
• ITCN Resources (Infant, Toddler, Caregiver-Friendly Neighbourhood) A collection of five publications helping smart cities in India create infant, toddler and caregiver-friendly neighbourhoods, including policy frameworks, design guidelines, evaluation metrics, and best practices, developed with India's Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, National Institute for Urban Affairs, and BDP.
• Measuring Urban Experiences of Young Children Toolkit A toolkit providing tools to gather data on young children and caregivers in cities, including people moving counts, stationary activity mapping, intercept surveys and sensory mapping, adapted from Gehl's Public Space Public Life survey for the Urban95 programme.
• Newsletters (Urban95, Early Childhood Matters, Publications Alert) Email newsletter subscriptions delivering updates on early childhood research, foundation activities, and new publications, across the Urban95, Early Childhood Matters, and Publications Alert titles.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 75 years of experience supporting early childhood development globally
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

25 partnerships are on record, tiered core, strategic and minor.

• Challenge WorkscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Delivers The Good Start Challenge, a €2.6 million global initiative to uncover and support innovators improving wellbeing of parents and caregivers of young children.
• FEMSA FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Co-funder of The Good Start Challenge initiative supporting innovators for parent and caregiver wellbeing.
• Fundação Maria Cecilia Souto VidigalcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Co-funder of The Good Start Challenge initiative supporting innovators for parent and caregiver wellbeing.
• LEGO FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Co-funder of The Good Start Challenge initiative supporting innovators for parent and caregiver wellbeing.
• Slum Dwellers International (SDI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to explore how to enhance early childhood development in slums and informal settlements across Africa, expanding knowledge base and co-developing practical solutions.
• Centre for Early Childhood DevelopmentcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner with SDI and Van Leer Foundation on early childhood development interventions in informal settlements in Africa.
• GehlcoreTechnology or IntegrationCollaboration to produce tools for gathering data on young children and caregivers in cities, adapted from Gehl's Public Space Public Life survey for the Urban95 programme.
• Open Data InstitutecoreTechnology or IntegrationCollaboration to explore how data dashboards could help guide city leaders to make better policy decisions about early childhood development.
• Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (India)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to help smart cities in India create infant, toddler and caregiver-friendly neighbourhoods through ITCN resources and guidelines.
• National Institute for Urban Affairs (India)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to help smart cities in India create infant, toddler and caregiver-friendly neighbourhoods through ITCN resources and guidelines.
• BDPstrategicTechnology or IntegrationEuropean interdisciplinary design firm collaborating on ITCN resources for creating child-friendly urban neighbourhoods in India.
• Urban Clinic at Hebrew UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEstablished Peer Cities Network to enable Urban95 solutions to scale across Israel by providing a space for cities to exchange experiences.
• Women and Child Development Department, Government of OdishacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to scale up mother tongue-based multilingual early learning, covering 7,200 villages with anganwadi centres in remote tribal areas.
• Van Leer Jerusalem InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOne of the Van Leer Institutions supported through recurring annual grants, focused on human sciences promoting inclusive societies.
• Jerusalem Film CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOne of the Van Leer Institutions supported through recurring annual grants, focused on arts promoting inclusive societies.
• Centurion University of Technology and ManagementstrategicStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupported training of 7,202 anganwadi workers from 12 districts of Odisha for mother tongue-based early learning program.
• Centre for Early Childhood Education and Development (CECED)strategicStrategic or Co-development PartnerConducted baseline survey and developed curriculum for training workforce, adapting existing curriculum with new areas such as parent support and brain development.
• Bloomberg PhilanthropiesstrategicGTM or Marketing PartnerCo-organizer of CityLab event where Van Leer Foundation hosted Urban95 breakfast to engage city leaders on early childhood in urban design.
• Aspen InstitutestrategicGTM or Marketing PartnerCo-organizer of CityLab event where Van Leer Foundation hosted Urban95 breakfast.
• The AtlanticstrategicGTM or Marketing PartnerCo-organizer of CityLab event where Van Leer Foundation hosted Urban95 breakfast.
• Placemaking LatinoaméricaminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPartner in organizing placemaking event in Valparaíso focused on reconquering public space for children and families.
• Project for Public SpacesstrategicStrategic or Co-development PartnerAssociation with leading placemaking organization to advance Urban95 concept internationally.
• UN-HabitatstrategicStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in placemaking leadership forum advancing Urban95 concept in urban spaces globally.
• Harvard Kennedy SchoolstrategicStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommissioned case studies exploring transition to scale of early years initiatives as part of a series on scaling early childhood programs.
• Instituto ElosstrategicStrategic or Co-development PartnerImplemented Oasis Game participatory community development methodology in Brazil, creating leisure streets and toy libraries for communities.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Open Society Foundations: Large global grantmaking foundation supporting human rights, education, and social justice. Comparable as a similarly structured multi-issue private foundation with global programs and country offices, though operating at much larger scale.
• Ford Foundation: Large US private foundation with global programs on inequality and social justice. Comparable as a similarly structured, internationally active private foundation, though at materially larger scale than Van Leer.
• Bloomberg Philanthropies: Major philanthropic vehicle of Michael Bloomberg funding public health, environment, education, and cities. Directly comparable to Van Leer through the CityLab/Urban95 partnership and overlapping city-focused program work.
• Conrad N. Hilton Foundation: US private foundation funding programs for children, education, and humanitarian relief. Comparable as a similarly structured, long-tenured private foundation with significant grantmaking activity in child welfare and international development.
• Wellcome Trust: Large UK charitable foundation funding health research and social initiatives. Comparable as an endowment-funded, internationally active foundation operating at much larger scale with similar governance structure.

Direct peers

• LEGO Foundation: Denmark-based philanthropic foundation focused on early childhood development through learning through play. Directly comparable to Van Leer given co-funding relationship (Good Start Challenge), similar ECD mandate, and overlapping global program footprint.
• Heising-Simons Foundation: US family foundation with a major early childhood portfolio. Comparable as a private foundation with significant ECD grantmaking and similar knowledge-production approach.
• Buffett Early Childhood Fund: Private fund focused on early childhood education and equitable outcomes for young children. Closely comparable to Van Leer given pure ECD mandate and grantmaking-led operating model.
• World Childhood Foundation: Sweden-based foundation funding projects for children in vulnerable situations, including early childhood. Comparable mission, similar grantmaking model, and similar international program portfolio targeting young children and families.
• Foundation for Early Childhood: Private foundation dedicated to early childhood, focused on improving outcomes for young children through grantmaking and field-building. Comparable as a peer ECD-focused grantmaker operating at similar scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

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• Facebookfacebook.com/BvLFoundation
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/van-leer-foundation
• Instagraminstagram.com/vanleerfoundation

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Van Leer Foundation