Are you working on an innovative and experimental project in architecture, design or crafts? If so, your project may be considered for funding from Danmarks Nationalbank’s Anniversary Foundation.
In the assessment of applications, priority is given to good craftsmanship, high quality in expression and design, innovative and experimental projects – and to ensuring that with its funding the Anniversary Foundation makes a difference for the individual project. Funding is awarded to practising craftsmen, designers or architects.
The Foundation receives 4-500 applications and awards approximately kr. 3 million in grants each year. The Foundation awards about 100 grants of kr. 15,000-50,000 each.
The Foundation also makes kr. 100,000 awards in appreciation of the recipient’s dedication and an honorary award of kr. 500,000 kr. These are non-application awards.
The Anniversary Foundation was established in 1968 to mark Danmarks Nationalbank’s 150th anniversary. The reason for establishing the Foundation was a wish to support Danish crafts and the work with beautiful packaging and design of Danish products.
Can your project be considered for funding?
The Foundation mainly provides funding for the development and design of new products in the areas of design, crafts and architecture. Funding is also provided for the development of prototypes and product development.
Design, crafts and architecture exhibitions, fairs etc. in Denmark and abroad may also be considered for funding, and work and travel grants are awarded for artistic merit in architecture, design and crafts.
Funding for books and catalogues, movies and live pictures to promote the popularity of Danish design, crafts and architecture is provided only in very exceptional cases and only if the topic has not already been covered.
The Foundation uses a number of principles to prioritise funding
- Crafts over arts
- Practice over theory
- Specific new works over operating funding
- Performing and creative processes over documentation in the form of books and the like
- Craftsmen, designers and architects over institutions, galleries etc.
- Both new and established craftsmen are eligible to apply for funding.
- Specific works in Denmark and abroad
- Elements that make a significant difference in the creation of a new work
The Foundation does not provide funding for students or study-related projects; nor is funding provided for activities taking place before the board meetings.
Although your project may be within the scope of the Anniversary Foundation’s funding areas, there is no guarantee that you will be awarded funding. The number of applications we receive far outnumbers the funds available. No reasons are given for rejections of applications.
Please note that it is only possible to apply if you have a Danish civil registration number (CPR no.) or a Danish company registration number (CVR no.).
How to apply
Your application must meet the following formal requirements regardless of whether you are applying as an individual, company or group. The application will not be processed by the Committee of Directors if the formal requirements are not met.
The formal requirements are:
- A description of the objective, meaning of and motivation for the project and the reason why the Anniversary Foundation should provide funding for the project.
Maximum one standard page with 2,400 characters. - CV for the applicant and any other project participants.
Maximum one standard page with 2,400 characters. - Project budget of maximum one standard page with 2,400 characters.
- 1-4 pages of sketches of your project with a maximum of four images per page. Please note that these should be your own sketches and not mood boards.
For images, please provide information about materials, dimensions and year.
If you apply for a work, sketches must be included. - 1-4 pages of previous work with a maximum of four images per page. For images, please provide information about materials, dimensions and year.
Please note that you can submit a maximum of 10 pages.
If the project has multiple project participants, the Foundation requests a joint application. Grants are paid to your NemKonto (normal bank account that you assign as your NemKonto)
The Anniversary Foundation only accepts applications submitted through our application portal. Find a link to the portal below. You need to start by creating a profile. The next steps are to create your application and save it as a draft until you are ready to submit it. If you want to submit an application at some later stage, all you have to do is log into the existing profile to create a new application.
You need to select the category in which you apply for funding. Then complete the application form and attach your documents in pdf format. Please consider gathering your documents in one PDF file and uploading it under 'Application' and not anywhere else. It is the only place where uploading documents is mandatory. This helps ensure that you don't exceed 10 pages in total.
All applications with more than 10 pages attached will be rejected.
The Anniversary Foundation Board
The Anniversary Foundation Board has seven members. Governor Christian Kettel Thomsen is Chairman of the Board, and Anne Hedensted Steffensen, Managing Director, is Deputy Chairman. The other members are:
- Clothing designer Bettina Milling Bakdal
- Architect Christina Capetillo
- Designer Ditte Hammerstrøm
- Textile designer Isabel Berglund
- Ceramicist Marianne Nielsen.
The Anniversary Foundation Honorary Award
The Anniversary Foundation grants an annual honorary award of kr. 500,000 to a practising Danish architect, designer or craftsman. Goldsmith Gerda Lynggaard Monies received the honorary award in 2025.
Gerda Lynggaard Monies is a trained goldsmith and continued her education in Germany and the USA. She started the company Monies in 1973 with her husband, Nicolai Monies.
Over the years, Monies has designed jewellery for several fashion houses, and in addition to their workshop and store in Copenhagen, they also have stores in Paris, Rome, Milan and Istanbul.
Reasons given by the Board
Gerda has been making a name for herself with her innovative jewellery for more than 50 years in her own company, Monies, which she started with her husband Nikolai Monies in 1973.
Over the years, Gerda has enriched many people with her great talent in Denmark and abroad, through her use of raw, unmanipulated materials and her insistence on pushing the boundaries of our traditional perception of jewellery.
In her compositions and scale with her materials, Gerda has set a whole new agenda for what jewellery can do, creating opportunities for later generations to dare to think differently and break with our common perception.
Her sense for combinations of materials and large scale has, despite the rawness and strength, a poetic starting point with considerable humility for materials such as wood, metal, stone, horn and leather. Always with great respect for simple materials and the naturalness of colours.
Gerda masters a delicate balance between pure avant-garde and a classic approach. Anyone can recognise a piece of her jewellery that entices and fascinates in the most magical way every time. It's pure power and raw elegance. Gerda's approach to jewellery making is nothing short of groundbreaking, and yet she has succeeded. Her designs have become timeless with their refined, simple storytelling.
That's why Gerda Lynggaard Monies is honoured with Danmarks Nationalbank's Jubilee Foundation's Honorary Award 2025.
The award will be presented at a reception for invited guests in November 2025.
Previous awardees of the Anniversary Foundation Honorary Award
You may download the photos of the Anniversary Foundation’s Honorary Award exhibitions next to each artist. The photos are in jpg format. If you wish to use the photos, you must explicitly credit Danmarks Nationalbank as the source, and the photos may not be altered or manipulated in any way.