Establishment of the Alfred Nobel Norwegian Memorial Foundation 

The Alfred Nobel Norwegian Memorial Foundation was established on 14 October 2022 by the Swedish Alfred Nobel Memorial Foundation for the purpose of "providing long-term financial support to the Norwegian Nobel Institute to ensure the operation of the institute and its independence". The creation of the foundation was the result of several years of focused efforts aimed at improving the institute's financial situation. The plan called for the new foundation to manage a fund of NOK 230 million allocated by the Storting (Norwegian Parliament), with the return on the fund providing an annual operating grant to the institute of approximately NOK 6 million.

Background 

From the mid-1990s, the invested capital of the Swedish Nobel Foundation increased significantly in value. The Nobel prize-awarding committees, including the Norwegian Nobel Committee, were provided with more resources. Over time, the Norwegian Nobel Institute also generated significant income from the Peace Prize concerts in Oslo and from a partnership with the Mint of Norway on the sale of Peace Prize commemorative medals abroad. Altogether the institute had a solid financial foundation that allowed for new hiring and an increased level of activity, particularly in the research field.

The financial crisis of 2008-2009 led to a substantial decline in the value of the Nobel Foundation's assets. In 2012, the operating grant to the prize committees was reduced by 10 percent and remained at the same level until 2023.

For the Norwegian Nobel Institute, this tightening was especially painful, partly because it coincided with a sharp reduction in income from the Peace Prize concerts and the sale of commemorative coins. The annual operating grant from the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm was also paid in Swedish currency, which in the 2010s was about 10 percent weaker than the Norwegian krone even as the cost of living in Norway was about 20 percent higher than in Sweden.

Searching for a Solution

The situation was further complicated by the fact that the Norwegian Nobel Committee had long been significantly more expensive to operate than the Swedish Nobel Prize committees. Norway's higher cost of living was part of the explanation. The Nobel Foundation also had significant maintenance expenses for the Nobel Institute's property in Oslo, Henrik Ibsens gate 51, which the Nobel Foundation had purchased in 1903 and made available to the Norwegian Nobel Committee. Last but not least, the Swedish prize committees received direct or indirect financial support from the City of Stockholm and the Swedish state, while the Norwegian Nobel Institute received only limited support earmarked for operating its library.

At a meeting in Stockholm in the spring of 2015, the executive director of the Nobel Foundation at the time, Lars Heikensten, and the new director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, Olav Njølstad, agreed that exploratory talks should be undertaken to see if Norwegian municipal and state authorities would be willing to assume similar responsibility for the Norwegian Nobel Institute's financial framework. The director received full support from the Nobel Committee to make such inquiries. Over the next few years, several initiatives were pursued to obtain state and/or municipal support, but without success.  

Up Against the Wall

By the spring of 2019, the situation had become so serious that the director warned the Nobel Committee that the institute's equity would soon be lost if it did not receive increased operating funds. This would necessitate a reduction in activity, downsizing of the staff and, in the worst-case scenario, sale of the property at Henrik Ibsens gate 51. The director of the institute and the Nobel Committee's chair, Berit Reiss-Andersen, were tasked with presenting the matter to the President of the Storting and the Secretary General of the Storting. On 25 April 2019 a meeting took place in the office of the President of the Storting during which the institute's challenges and potential solutions were outlined.

In the following months, the director held additional meetings with the Storting Administration while members of the Nobel Committee met with the parliamentary leaders of the parties represented in the committee. As a result of these consultations, on 8 September the Nobel Institute sent a letter to the President of the Storting that she could use as a basis for informing the Presidium.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic caused the Nobel Committee to put the matter on hold, so as not to burden the Storting more than necessary during a very challenging time for the country. In early May 2020, dialogue with the Presidium of the Storting resumed, but it came to an abrupt halt when the Presidium concluded that the matter was not up to it to address.

On 12 October 2020, the director of the Nobel Institute delivered a letter to the Storting's Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs applying for financial support. For unclear reasons, this letter was not answered until the beginning of May the following year. In its response, the standing committee stated that it could only address matters referred to it by the Storting.

The situation remained at a standstill until late May 2021, when the newspaper Dagens Næringsliv published a series of articles on the institute's difficult financial situation. In interviews with committee chair Reiss-Andersen and director Njølstad it was revealed that there was a real danger the Nobel Foundation would have to sell Henrik Ibsens gate 51. If that happened, the Nobel Committee would also have to consider moving the Nobel Institute's operations to Stockholm.

Dagens Næringsliv argued in an editorial that Norwegian authorities should safeguard the Norwegian Nobel Institute's financial operating conditions. Other leading newspapers followed. A common theme was that it would be a national disgrace if the Nobel Institute were to relocate to Sweden. 

The Storting Takes Action

At this point the Storting signalled that it wanted to contribute to a resolution of the matter. At the request of the Presidium, the Nobel Institute prepared a detailed new account of the institute's operational situation.

On 18 November 2021, the matter was introduced in the Storting and assigned to the Standing Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs. An important milestone was passed on 11 May 2022, when rapporteur Peter Christian Frølich and deputy chair Lubna Jaffery of the Standing Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs met at the Storting with the executive director of the Nobel Foundation, Vidar Helgesen, and director Njølstad. At the meeting it became clear that it would be possible to find a solution serving the interests of the Nobel Foundation, the Norwegian Nobel Institute and the Storting alike.  

The Pieces Fall into Place

On Friday 17 June 2022, the director of the Nobel Institute and the executive director of the Nobel Foundation had a follow-up meeting with representatives of the Standing Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs. The meeting resulted in a shared understanding that became the core of the standing committee's final recommendation. The main points of the recommendation were: (1) the Storting allocates NOK 300 million to a fund to be managed by a newly established foundation, (2) NOK 70 million of the amount is used to purchase the property at Henrik Ibsens gate 51 from the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, and (3) the annual return on the fund is used to cover the Nobel Institute's operating expenses so that the institute can remain at Henrik Ibsens gate 51 "for eternity". It is noteworthy that, as part of the solution, the Nobel Foundation allowed the Norwegian Nobel Institute to acquire the property for an amount equivalent to approximately half of its estimated market value (NOK 145 million).

In the final adjustment of the 2022 national budget, on 21 December 2022, the Storting approved a one-time allocation of NOK 300 million to the Alfred Nobel Norwegian Memorial Foundation, of which NOK 230 million remained in the Memorial Foundation after the purchase of Henrik Ibsens gate 51. It was now up to the Memorial Foundation to ensure that the goal of an annual return of NOK 6 million, sufficient to secure the Norwegian Nobel Institute's finances in the long term, would actually be achieved. 

--
Olav Njølstad
Director at the Norwegian Nobel Institute, 12 September 2024

Here you can read about the annual report (only in Norwegian) (PDF, 515KB).