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Het Cultuurfonds, headquartered at Herengracht 476 in Amsterdam, traces its roots to August 10, 1940, when Prince Bernhard founded the Prins Bernhard Fonds in London amid Nazi occupation. Exiled Dutch donors raised over 20 million guilders to buy more than 100 Spitfire fighter planes for Allied forces, including D-Day operations. Post-1945, surplus funds fueled cultural rebuilding in the Netherlands, shifting focus to "spiritual resilience" through arts initiatives.
Renamed Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds in 1999 and simply Het Cultuurfonds in 2023, it now allocates at least 40 million euros annually—previously cited as 35 million—across over 3,500 grants for culture, nature conservation, and science in the Netherlands and six Caribbean islands of the Kingdom. With 12 provincial branches and a dedicated Caribbean committee, it funds visual arts, music, theater, heritage preservation, history, literature, and talent development, including 1.5 million euros yearly for 150 artists studying abroad.
Recent grants support continuous applications in disciplines like heritage restoration and music, alongside prizes such as the Charlotte Köhler awards—30,000 euros each for under-35 talents in visual arts and theater. Private donations, "named funds," and historical lottery ties sustain operations.