Volkswagen Foundation

The Volkswagen Foundation is Germany's largest private, non-profit organization engaged in the promotion and support of academic research. Even though its name might suggest otherwise, it is not a corporate foundation and not affiliated to the Volkswagen automobile manufacturer. The purpose of the Foundation is the promotion of science and technology in research and higher education The Foundation's funding programs address projects in the humanities and social sciences as well as science and technology in higher education and research – both in Germany and abroad. The Foundation’s administrative office is located in Hanover. History After the Second World War, there were various claims with regard to the future of the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg, which had been built by the National Socialists primarily for the production of armaments. The governments of the Federal Republic of Germany and the State of Lower Saxony finally agreed to convert the then Volkswagenwerk GmbH into a stock corporation and to use the proceeds from the company going public to set up a foundation. Equipped with an endowment capital of one billion deutschmarks, the Volkswagen Foundation was founded in Hanover in 1962.