Turing Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Amsterdam-based Turing Foundation supports land and ocean conservation, education and vocational training in Africa, leprosy research and visual performing arts in the Netherlands. It has made just a handful of grants in the U.S., primarily to conservation efforts.
IP TAKE: The Turing Foundation’s education initiative is its largest area of giving and supports teacher education, school development and vocational training programs in Africa. The funder runs open application programs for each of its initiatives, but guidelines, instructions and due dates vary by program and subprogram. All applications are linked to the foundation’s applications page.
PROFILE: Established in 2016, the Turing Foundation honors the memory of British scientist Alan Turing, but was founded by a Dutch couple, Pieter and Françoise Geelen. Pieter Geleen is a co-founder of the Netherlands-based Turing Machine Company, a consumer electronics endeavor which was later renamed TomTom. At the time of TomTom’s IPO, the Geleens established the foundation with €100 million from the sale. Based in Amsterdam, the Turing Foundation focuses its grantmaking on nature, education, art, and leprosy.
Grants for the Environment
The Turing Foundation makes grants for climate change, environmental conservation and marine conservation through it's nature program, which largely focuses on supporting environmental efforts in developing countries, Africa, and in the Netherlands.
Grants for Environmental Conservation
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the foundation has partnered with the Jane Goodall Institute to build the capacity of community-led conservation groups to include agroforestry, thereby protecting the shrinking habitats of chimpanzees and other species. Another recent grant went to Tree Aid, an organization that helps people in arid areas of Africa to “unlock the potential of trees to combat poverty and protect nature.” Other conservation grantees include Guinea’s Milly Mamoudou Foundation, the Sustainable Development Institute, Flora and Fauna International and the Institute for Human Activities.
Grants for Marine and Freshwater Conservation
Through the same program, the Turing Foundation also invests in ocean and shoreline conservation, as well as in the biodiversity of “nurseries of the sea.” Marine conservation grants prioritize developing nations.
In a recent year, the Marine Megafauna Foundation received funding for its Sustainable Seas program in Inhambane Province, Mozambique, which promotes sustainable fishing and ocean management. Another recent grantee, Conservation International, used funding to increase and improve management of coastal areas in Liberia.
Grants for Climate Change
The Turing Foundation incorporates the cause of climate change into their broader grantmaking goals, and they make grants to players in this area regularly. For example, the organization JONGE KLIMAATBEWEGING (Young Climate Movement) has received a recent multi-year grant, making it possible for them to continue their work of empowering young people to be advocates for a sustainable environment. The Turing Foundation has also given multi-year awards towards marine conservation in Madagascar, protecting the habitat of hammerhead sharks in Costa Rica, and similar grants for food sustainability in Europe.
Grants for Global Development
The Turing Foundation’s education initiative, which appears to be winding down as the funder stopped accepting applications for these initiatives after 2021, has supported global development with a strong focus on developing countries in Africa.
Priorities included vocational training, teacher education and the development of quality schools in underserved areas of Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Cameroon, Liberia, Mali, Niger and Sierra Leone.
Vocational training grants have supported nursing education programs run by Artsen Zonder Grenzen in Sierra Leone, the African Sustainable Development Council’s sustainable farming education program in Burkina Faso and a mobile school for vocational training in the Democratic Republic of Congo run by the nonprofit De Toekomst Zaaiers.
Education-related grants focused mainly on teacher training but have also supported literacy programs and the building of new schools in underserved areas. The AgriDynamic Foundation received funding for its teacher training and public library development programs in Cameroon.
Other education grantees included Build Africa, the Canadian Organisation for Development through Education and the Second Wave Educational Foundation, which runs digital education programs for students in Guinea and Niger.
Grants for Women
A significant portion of Turing’s vocational and education funding has supported women’s organizations in Africa. A grantee in Togo, the Centre d’Appui pour la Gestion et le Développement, received funding for its job placement programs for underprivileged women, and in Guinea, Aide et Action International received support for the development of “girl-friendly schools.”
Other grantees supporting education and vocational training for women and girls included the Forum for African Women Educationalists, Action on Poverty and Belgium’s Hubi and Vinciane Foundation, which helped to build a women’s vocational training center in the city of Parakou in Benin.
Grants for Disease Research
The Turing Foundation supports research on the diagnosis and treatment of leprosy. A significant portion of recent grantmaking has supported trials of medications used in the treatment of leprosy and LepVax, a leprosy vaccine developed by the Seattle-based Infectious Disease Research Institute and the American Leprosy Mission. Other recent grantees include the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the Indian Council of Medical Research and Netherlands Leprosy Relief.
Grants for Arts and Culture
Turing’s arts funding supports the visual and performing arts in the Netherlands. Recent visual arts projects that have received support include an exhibit of the works of the Flemish painter Jacob Jordaens at the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem and an exhibit of ceramic masterpieces at the Design Museum Den Bosch in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. In performing arts, the foundation supported Amersterdam’s Het Grachtenfestival, a classical music event, and afternoon performances for students at the Dutch National Opera and Ballet.
Important Grant Details:
The Turing Foundation makes about €2 million a year. Its average grant size is about €30,000. For additional information about past grantmaking, see the foundation’s recent annual reports.
The Turing Foundation accepts applications for each of its funding programs, except education, and links separate guidelines and instructions for each program on its applications page.
This funder gives primarily to organizations based in Africa or the Netherlands; however, it gives just a few grants to U.S.-based organizations focused on conservation only. Recent 990s show the last time Turing gave to a U.S.-based organization was in 2009, so reach out to this funder to gain more clarity around where it is willing to fund.
General inquiries may be directed to foundation staff via email.
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