The Foundation mainly funds research projects of high scientific potential and provides individual support to outstanding scientists.
From time to time, the Foundation also initiates strategic projects and scholarship programs.
Dr. Tech. Marcus Wallenberg established Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation in connection with his wife’s 70th birthday in 1963.
The initial endowment amounted to SEK 22.7 million. The Foundation has distributed more than SEK 2.8 billion in grants since its establishment, mainly to Swedish universities and other academic institutions.
During 2019 funding allocated to research totaled SEK 2.4 billion. Most of the funding by the Wallenberg Foundations is grants from Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, which focuses on basic research in medicine, science and technology. But the Wallenberg Foundations also award substantial grants in other field, including social sciences, humanities, education and archaeology.
The Wallenberg Foundations is the collective name for the non-profit public and private foundations established by individual members of the Wallenberg family or in honor of family members.
The three largest Foundations granted a total of SEK 2.4 billion in 2019.
The largest of the Wallenberg Foundations is the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, founded in 1917, which promotes excellent researchers and research projects beneficial to Sweden within the natural sciences, technology and medicine.
The other two large foundations are Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation (social sciences), and Marcus and Amalia Wallenberg Foundation (scientific research mainly within the humanities and learning).
In addition, there are a number of other Wallenberg Foundations.