Happy New Year from The Inner Foundation!

Dear Inner Foundation community,

Wow, has this ever been a year! One full of hopeful beginnings and miserable happenings. One in which we introduced ourselves as the newly hatched - The Inner Foundation. One in which the entire world grappled with the after-effects of the Covid pandemic, the misery of the Russian-Ukrainian War, geopolitical tension between superpowers, layoffs, and an overall higher cost of living. Challenges that have immensely impacted mental health for many more people than ever before. For us at the Foundation, now is the time to truly, deeply address and heal mental health – the globe over. For that, we are here. And for that, we are very grateful to have your support, expertise, and energy.

The Inner Foundation was born out of a burning desire to tackle the issues dearest to our hearts. The lack of support for inner health – compounded by low levels of diversity, equity, and inclusion in our societies – was boiling my blood. If I, along with Pär-Jörgen, could take our resources and transform them into direct actions to tackle these heartbreaking discrepancies, we would. Both of us had first-hand experience of the devastating strength of mental health issues over a life, and had seen them wreak havoc on individuals, groups, and societies. From the very start, we knew that emerging adults – those aged 18 to 30 – were an underserved and vulnerable group, so set our sights specifically on them. Not only are they incredibly crucial to the current and future prosperity of the society, so too are they sadly overlooked, and often met with a toughen-up and get-on-with-it approach.

Our mission is now underway. We set out to propel a new wave of philanthropic work into the world, challenging existing ways of funding by combining impact investing with a cutting-edge grant-giving scheme to make a substantial contribution, hopefully inspiring others to follow suit. We strike partnerships with ambitious entrepreneurs and organisations that have the motivation and the plan in place to create true impact, those still in the early stages, and those that set big goals to either directly or indirectly improve mental health. After all, we believe that true healing is possible.

Now, as we say farewell to 2022, I’m excited to share with you that we've invested north of €6 million in total, across 18 for-profit and non-profit organisations. We received over 150 inquiries for funding and still counting. When it comes to our philanthropy investments, we have now paired up with 8 organisations, including Strong Minds (USA, Uganda), 1825 Therapy Center for Young Adults (Sweden), World Childhood Foundation (USA), The Human Aspect (Norway) in partnership with Friendship Bench (Zimbabwe), just to name a few. Our for-profit impact investments in mental health include Meela, NudgeLab, Allbry, Ment, and Braive, all based in the Nordics. Our DEI-themed investments are funds that in turn support hundreds of companies, including First Close Partners (USA), Ingressive Capital (Nigeria), Unconventional Ventures (Denmark), and Bling Capital (Sweden). Stay tuned here, as we are just about to close a few additional investments.

The Inner Foundation would not at all be where we are without our wonderful team. First off, Caroline Stiernstedt Sahlborn, Partner, has been with us since the very beginning and continues to play a major role in our work. We welcomed Ye Liu-Poon, Investment and Portfolio Manager, to our growing team coming from a managerial ESG role at Nordea Bank. Precious Jocson hopped on board as my Chief of Staff and right-hand woman, while Josefine Sandell joined our journey as an indispensable Research and Communication intern.

As we head into 2023, we believe our $100 million commitment to improve mental health and to strengthen inclusiveness, equity and diversity in society requires us to be bold, brave, and to move deliberately with speed, yet with patience over the long haul. Radical, lasting transformation requires collective efforts to build an ecosystem that is strengthened over time. With joined forces, and without losing sight on the overall mission, your continued support, expertise and faith, we will get ever closer to solving one of the greatest societal challenges.

We are enormously grateful for having you being part of our growing community at The Inner Foundation. We look forward to continuing the conversation and to do our part in making the world a more liveable place for all. May 2023 be the best yet for you and your loved ones!

In gratitude and hope,

Annika