What is the Mensa Foundation?
The Mensa Foundation was founded in 2013 by Mensa the Netherlands (1963) with the aim of making gifted people and giftedness more visible in society. We are part of the global network of Mensa, the rapidly growing global ‘HIQ Society’ with more than 145,000 members in more than 100 countries. Founded in 1946 in the UK, Mensa is always very careful with its own reputation and refrains from political and religious views. This makes Mensa an excellent partner in knowledge and experience regarding giftedness. A few countries, including the Netherlands, have a separate Mensa Foundation to explicitly shape the external social face of Mensa.
The Mensa Foundation is committed to using the talents of gifted people and making the significance of giftedness for society more visible. We achieve this by spreading knowledge about high general intelligence, and also by encouraging special achievements and supporting projects and research.
1) The Mensa Fund Awards are an annual event that honors individuals, teams and organizations that are making a difference in the world of giftedness. The Awards have several categories, with the Popular Award being the audience favorite.
2) Gray Gold draws attention to gifted elderly people in their later phase of life.
3) The endowed chair in Giftedness, Transitions and Social Impact at Tilburg University, with the aim of strengthening scientific research into giftedness over the entire life span, within various phases and professional domains.
More information? Also see:
Multi-year policy plan 2020-2023;
Board of the Mensa Foundation;
Statutes of the Mensa Foundation;
Board statute; and
our Recommendation Committee
(above all in Dutch).