Kootje was the name I gave to a little man who was the hero in stories I spontaneously told to my children at bedtime. Popping out of nowhere, with his special backpack from which he produced the right remedy for the situation, Kootje rescued many a poor unfortunate.
Knowing that when the tension would become unbearable and that my children would “dash in” to help with ideas of their own, I allowed situations to deteriorate to the point where it seemed impossible that Kootje could succeed. The ideas they offered Kootje to bring the tale to a happy end, were wonderful and surprising. Today the spirit of this little man lives on in the Kootje Foundation. The Kootje logo consists of our family coat of arms and the motto ‘sine ope nihil’ by which I wish to express that Kootje will always dare to do the thing that needs to be done.

Bert Bolkenstein – Founder.

Kootje consists of  a main foundation and three sub-funds: Moeke, Jambo and Moose.

Aims

• The main foundation has not been limited to specific objectives but has been set up to help people who would, for various reasons, remain ineligible to receive aid. Furthermore it is free to develop charity projects on it’s own accord should it see fit to do so.
• The subfunds operate within three global themes: Moeke to aid children; Jambo to aid projects in Africa and Moose to aid environmental projects.
• The annual budget is divided equally between the main fund and the three sub-funds.

Request Conditions

• Kootje will support small scale private enterprises with goals to improve the quality of life and leave a lasting positive outcome on the community.
• Engaging the local community with the project is mandatory.
• After initial funding and once set up, the project should be able to proceed independently.