”The Foundation can act as a leverage” - Johanna Småros in Talouselämä newspaper

Better to do this more systematically than to donate to fluffy pandas randomly, thought Johanna Småros when she decided to start RELEX Foundation for a better future together with Marko Nikula, Michael Falck and Mikko Kärkkäinen.

Financial newspaper Talouselämä interviewed Johanna on why she started a foundation and what it takes.

All four founders had made donations individually but thought a foundation would enable more long-term work. “It benefits yourself, too. Research shows helping others increases your happiness more than consuming more”, says Johanna.

For someone used to a rapid business pace, the steps required in registering a foundation can come as a surprise. “This has been a sort of a zen exercise. We began to set this up a year ago with great enthusiasm, and now we are finally kind of starting.” For example, donating shares to the Foundation was not straightforward. A tax authority’s decision was required on whether tax needed to be paid on the donations.

Many foundations have helped along the way with advice.

As all the founders are in operational positions at RELEX Solutions, they can’t use many hours monthly figuring out the foundation’s strategy or evaluating potential initiatives. That is why they hired a CEO. Outi Kuittinen started in the position at the end of May 2023.

Many big questions still remain. Shall the Foundation focus on one topic or start with a broader scope? Is the approach global or more Finland-based in the beginning?

For Småros, monitoring the impact is important. “We, the founders, are all pretty stereotypical engineers. In our own field of supply chains, it’s rewarding that everything is very measurable. You change one parameter a bit, and waste is reduced. But measuring prevention of social exclusion does not work the same way.”

Donating a million euros or two in a year does not make miracles. What Småros is looking for in the Foundation is leverage. It might be difficult for the public sector to fund something that might reduce costs in ten years. But a foundation can experiment with and support new things until results are shown. Maybe then there will also be other funding available.

The whole story here in Finnish in Talouselämä for subscribers.