It was in the basement of the Due Jensen family’s red brick house on the corner of Østergade and Jørgens Allé in Bjerringbro, that Poul Due Jensen received the order to build his first pump. The pump was since built in a workshop building, he had built in the backyard in 1944.
“South 1 is the birthplace of Grundfos, and therefore it is natural that the foundation is located here – in the building where the actual large-scale production began 80 years ago,” explains Kim Nøhr Skibsted, Executive Director.
Grundfos staff in front of the South 1 premises, 1950. Gradually, the company grew, several buildings on the site were added for production, and Grundfos eventually outgrew the block and established production elsewhere. Photo: Grundfos History Department
An independent Grundfos
Founder, Poul Due Jensen, established the Foundation on 19 May 1975 to ensure Grundfos’ future development. He transferred 85% of the shares to the foundation, while the family kept 15%. Today, the foundation owns almost 88% of the shares.
Poul Due Jensen announced his decision in Vandposten 2 – 1976 (in Danish)
“Grundfos is running smoothly, and it is my great wish that this development will continue in the future. Therefore, I want to bring about a generational change that secures an independent Grundfos and that the wealth created can continue to work for the benefit of the employees to the greatest extent possible, Poul Due Jensen told the employee magazine Vandposten in February 1976.
At its inception, the foundation was named Poul Due Jensen’s Foundation, but the apostrophe was removed from the name in December 2014. Today, the Foundation uses the Poul Due Jensen Foundation when communicating locally or internally, while the Grundfos Foundation is used nationally and internationally to ensure that the Foundation’s relationship with the Grundfos Group is visible to external parties.
Two parties and an open house
The jubilee is celebrated on several different occasions. On Friday 16 May, the foundation invites its closest ‘friends and family’ from Grundfos and the local community to a backyard party at South 1, and in connection with the annual democracy festival in Bornholm, the foundation organizes a lunch for national partners and decision-makers.
On 31 May, you can meet the foundation’s employees, hear more about Grundfos’ volunteer policy and the foundation’s Community Engagement Grant, which this year can distribute up to DKK 50 million to organisations and projects all over the world where Grundfos employees contribute with voluntary work. The Board of Directors of the Jubilee Foundation for Grundfos will also be present to talk about their support for smaller humanitarian and social activities in Grundfos’ local area.
As of 12 May, the foundation’s wall and windows are decorated with historical images related to the faundation’s history and activities. Photo: Grundfos Foundation
South 1 dressed up for the occasion
The foundation moved to South 1 in 2019. Initially, the premises occupied the first floor between the canteen and The Factory, but in 2023, the Foundation took its new boardroom into use. It is located on the ground floor, where Niels Due Jensen’s office has also been preserved and will in future function as a family office.
“We are so privileged that the Due Jensen family still plays an active role at Grundfos, and we want it to continue to do so, and that is why it is important to us that future generations also have a place where they can feel at home when they arrive ,” says Kim Nøhr Skibsted.
To mark the anniversary, the foundation has put up photos from both the its own and Grundfos’s history on the windows facing the backyard. These will be on display for the rest of the year so that visitors and employees can take a visual trip back to when it all began.
Visitors and employees can travel back in time through the photos on the lab windows in the South 1 yard. Photo: Grundfos Foundation