Vehbi Koç Vakfı

About Us

Modern Turkey’s first major private foundation

The Vehbi Koç Foundation

        History

    The Vehbi Koç Foundation (Vehbi Koç Vakfı) was first endowed on 17 January 1969. It’s establishment made it the first major private foundation of the Turkish Republic and brought about a revival of the age-old tradition of the Vakıf – philanthropic endowments for the public good. The Foundation has since then carried out a great number of activities in the fields of education, healthcare and culture - all of which are of utmost importance to the nation’s wellbeing and further development – and has become a role model to a great many other philanthropists. In its first years, the Foundation used its resources to fund the establishment of several schools, student dormitories, libraries and clinics, handing each over to the relevant public administration. Later, it pioneered the setting up of a number of major not-for-profit institutions in each of its focus areas of education, healthcare and culture. Throughout its history, the Foundation has been providing thousands of scholarships to help talented students in need attain equal opportunity in education.

     Aims

   To help speed up Turkey’s development through the work of its proprietary institutions, regular programmes and project support in areas that are most fundamental to life, namely education, healthcare and culture, to set an example for excellence across all of its activities, and to benefit the nation by creating sustainable and replicable models.

Institutions of the Vehbi Koç Foundation

            In the beginning of the 1980s, the Foundation’s management started work on setting up proprietary, well-funded and well-organized institutions in each of its focus areas. Previous experience had shown that ensuring the continuation of a philanthropic project is as significant as its establishment. Careful planning and execution ensured that each institution would continue to provide top quality services. Furthermore, each institution aimed to become a centre for excellence and a role model in its own field.

          Thus, the Foundation established Turkey’s first private museum, the Sadberk Hanım Museum in 1980, followed by the Koç High School in 1988. And after intense preparatory work, completed in a record period of only five years, this was followed by the establishment of Koç University in 1993 and completion of its present campus in Istanbul’s Rumeli Feneri district in 2000.

          The Foundation further extended its activities in the field of culture with the establishment of the Vehbi Koç and Ankara Research Center (VEKAM) in 1994, the Suna-İnan Kıraç Research Institute on Mediterranean Civilizations (AKMED) in 1996, the Kaleiçi Museum in Antalya’s old city quarter in 2000 and, under the aegis of Koç University, the Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations (RCAC) in 2005.

          In the field of healthcare, the Foundation decided to acquire the American Hospital in 1995. It had been providing financial support to the hospital for many years prior and embarked on a large-scale investment project that lasted twelve years and turned the hospital into a truly cutting-edge, world-class healthcare establishment. The Foundation has also been especially active in supporting the nursing profession, which it serves with two important institutions: the Semahat Arsel Nursing Education and Research Center (SANERC), first set up in 1992, and the School of Nursing that was established under the aegis of Koç University in 1999. The

          75th anniversary of the Turkish Republic in 1998 represents another significant milestone for the Foundation. To celebrate this occasion and the start of mandatory eight-year elementary education in Turkey, the Foundation built thirteen elementary schools across the country. Instead of simply transferring these schools to the Ministry of Education, however, the Foundation decided to continue caring for their needs, based on a new, “build-transfer-look after” operational model. Further four schools were added to this project in the 2006-2008 period, bringing their total number to seventeen.

Project Support

The Vehbi Koç Foundation also provides funding and other support to large-scale projects in its focus areas of education, healthcare and culture.

The Vehbi Koç Award

        The Vehbi Koç Award is organized and financed by the Vehbi Koç Foundation. Since 2002, the Vehbi Koç Award is given every year to individuals or institutions that have made an outstanding contribution to Turkey’s development in the area of education, healthcare or culture.

        Vehbi Koç Award Recipients:

        2002 – Culture The Topkapı Palace Museum

        2003 – Education The Mother-Child Education Foundation (AÇEV)

        2004 – Healthcare Bilkent University Faculty of Sciences, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics

       2005 – Culture Fazıl Hüsnü Dağlarca

       2006 – Education Governor Nuri Okutan

       2007 – Healthcare Prof. Dr. Aziz Sancar

       2008 – Culture Prof. Dr. Mehmet Özdoğan