Before her current position, Dr Liisa Suvikumpu worked as Commissioner for both the WSOY Literature Foundation and the Institutum Romanum Finlandiae Foundation.

– A commissioner is like a managing director. In Finland, a foundation is a non-profit organisation that is required to work for the public good. But its leader has the same responsibilities as the head of a business. A Commissioner is pretty much a jack of all trades for their foundation.

At both foundations Dr Suvikumpu got to see how important their grants were to their recipients. She was also able to work on improving administrative procedures and the activities of the foundations.

– A good leader is one who plans ahead to prevent mistakes and makes boring tasks tolerable. This is still my goal.

Dr Suvikumpu was appointed Managing Director of the Council of Finnish Foundations in Spring 2013, when Dr Paavo Hohti, who had been at the helm since its establishment in 2004, retired.

– I think our Board was very far-sighted in choosing me. I was 36 years old; the job interview was 12 days after the birth of my first child and the three-hour interview was a bit of an ordeal.

In her third year in the post, Dr Suvikumpu is still excited about her job. She has a unique vantage point. She gets to work for the common good, and even to see results of the labours of grant recipients, the concrete end users.

Today the Council of Finnish Foundations boasts 169 member foundations, and in 2014 they contributed EUR 415 million to Finnish research, art, culture, and social causes.

– Foundations support many different kinds of people and issues. In this job you have a 360 degree view over society and its walks of life. It’s inspiring to think that some time in the past there was somebody who believed the best future use of their money was for a foundation to distribute it for the common good. Foundations truly make things possible; they can improve the world and make dreams come true.

• “SuomiAreena goes eduskunta – asiaa kulttuurista. Kaunis kauhea kulttuuri! Rakastetaanko sitä vain juhlapuheissa?” ('SuomiAreena goes Parliament – debate on culture. Good, bad culture! Does love of culture extend beyond rhetoric?'), SuomiAreena 2015. Dr Liisa Suvikumpu takes the floor at 44:00.
• “Jos haluat kuolemattomuutta, sijoita kulttuuriin” (’For immortality, invest in culture’), Kauppalehti June 14 2014.
• A closer look at foundations in their natural habitat: “Mikä Sarana?” (‘COFF who?’), Council of Finnish Foundations November 3 2014.
• “Uudistunut Säätiön hyvä hallinto helpottaa elämää” (‘Revised Good Governance for Foundations makes it easy’), Suomen Tilintarkastajat ry November 23 2015.