# Petrus & Augusta Hedlunds Foundation Petrus & Augusta Hedlunds Foundation is an Endowment / Foundation based in Vallingby, Sweden. ## Overview - **Organization type:** Endowment / Foundation - **Headquarters:** Vallingby, Sweden - **Region:** Europe - **Address:** Vallingby, Stockholm County, Sweden - **Founded:** 1962 - **Assets under management:** Undisclosed - **Website:** www.hedlundsstiftelse.se ## Regulatory record - **Reports private funds:** No ## About The foundation was established in 1962 from the estate of Petrus Emanuel Hedlund and his wife Augusta Josefina Qviding. The foundation's deed funnels that industrial legacy exclusively into medical research and humanitarian causes, with the Rector of Karolinska Institutet holding a permanent board seat. Grant-making concentrates on PhD researchers at universities in Stockholm County, targeting brain diseases, psychiatry, and chronic inflammatory conditions. Awards are approved for one-year terms, renewable for a maximum of three years. This is not venture philanthropy; the foundation operates as a pure grant-maker, disbursing funds without taking equity or seats. Financials are not publicly disclosed. The foundation does not publish an annual report with asset values, and it makes no claims about corpus size — typical for a European foundation of this vintage. Its operating footprint is confined to Stockholm County, with no known offices beyond the Vallingby headquarters. Grantees are almost exclusively tied to Karolinska Institutet, one of Europe's leading medical universities, which effectively serves as the foundation's research pipeline and validation layer. The structural differentiator is governance, not capital markets posture. A private manufacturing fortune is stewarded by a board that blends direct family representation with senior figures from the Swedish state church, the royal household, and the environmental NGO sector. That architecture — a legal foundation with state-church-academia-family interlocks — freezes the donor's intent inside a governance structure built to resist both mission drift and external pressure, a distinctly Nordic model of perpetual philanthropic capital. ## Sectors - Healthcare Services ## People - Jan Björklund — Chairman of the Board - Jan Lindman — Board Member; Treasurer and CFO of the Royal Court of Sweden - Andreas Holmberg — Board Member; Bishop of Stockholm - Ann Hedlund — Family Representative - Håkan Hedlund — Family Representative - Maria Schultz — Board Member; Assistant Secretary General at WWF Sweden ## Questions ### Who controls grant-making decisions at the Hedlunds Foundation? A board chaired by former Swedish minister Jan Björklund governs the foundation. Board members include representatives of the Hedlund family, the CFO of the Royal Court of Sweden Jan Lindman, the Bishop of Stockholm Andreas Holmberg, and WWF Sweden's Maria Schultz. The Rector of Karolinska Institutet also holds a permanent seat, providing a direct link to the medical research community that receives most grants. ### What is the foundation's relationship with Karolinska Institutet? The relationship is structural, not merely transactional. The Rector of Karolinska Institutet serves on the foundation's board, and the foundation is a major donor to KI-affiliated researchers. Grant eligibility is restricted to PhD researchers at universities or colleges in Stockholm County, making KI the dominant recipient by design. ### Where did the foundation's endowment originate? The endowment was established from the estate of Petrus Emanuel Hedlund and his wife Augusta Josefina Qviding. Petrus Hedlund built his wealth through Bröderna Hedlund, a Stockholm-based steel construction firm. The foundation was formally created in 1962. ### Does the foundation accept unsolicited grant applications? Based on its public record, the foundation focuses on PhD researchers at Stockholm County institutions — effectively a closed-network model mediated through Karolinska Institutet. There is no public portal or open call for applications, which is typical for a foundation operating through an institutional board pipeline rather than a broad grant program. ### What governance features distinguish this foundation from a typical family charity? The board composition sets it apart. Alongside direct Hedlund family descendants sit the Bishop of Stockholm, a former national politician, the CFO of the Royal Court, and a WWF Sweden executive. This interlock of church, state, royalty, and civil society creates a governance structure designed for institutional permanence — a distinctly Nordic model of perpetual philanthropic capital that resists mission drift and family control erosion. ## Related profiles - [Petrus Advisers](https://altss.com/profile/petrus-advisers) - [PetSure Australia](https://altss.com/profile/petsure-australia) --- Last updated: 2026-08-11T02:43:31.692Z Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/petrus-augusta-hedlunds-foundation Maintained by Altss — https://altss.com — methodology: https://altss.com/methodology