Oak Foundation

The Zimbabwe-born Parker began his career as an accountant before joining DFS Group (DFS), a Hong Kong-based luxury travel retail brand operating duty-free shops in airports and resorts. As the third-largest shareholder of DFS, Parker received approximately $840 million in 1997 when Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH), a French luxury goods conglomerate, acquired DFS. 

Oak Foundation began as a family foundation following the personal philanthropic passions of Parker, with early funding to organizations in Denmark and Zimbabwe. However, the foundation entered a new phase in the 1990s, when—as a family—they identified specific priority focus areas for grantmaking. Each family member then selected a program area based on their personal interest and assumed responsibility for building out the foundation’s approach. Through this framework, Oak Foundation allows each thematic area to grow and develop individually based on needs and opportunities.

Despite the range of programming, Oak Foundation approaches all grantmaking with an overarching focus on human rights and protections. Its core programs are the environment, preventing child sexual abuse, housing and homelessness, international human rights, issues impacting women, and learning differences. The foundation grants approximately $250 million annually to more than 40 countries while maintaining a programmatic focus on programs in Brazil, India and Zimbabwe. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the foundation increased its grantmaking by more than $24 million to support its partners working on the frontlines.

The Foundation is criticized for its lack of transparency and complex legal structure. Although based in Switzerland, it is registered in Jersey, a British-owned island off the French coast. It is also co-owned by a Canadian trust company and a fiduciary services entity. 

Today, Oak Foundation is among the largest foundations in the world, partnering with nonprofit organizations and other philanthropies to address social and environmental issues of global concern. 

Contributor: Dion McDougal