The Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation
The Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation was established in early 2010 in memory of Daniel Carasso, founder of Danone in France, and his wife Nina. Its objective is to fund projects in two areas critical to human well-being:
- Sustainable food and diets, to nourish the body
- Art, to nourish the mind.
Both art and nutrition are central to the history of Carasso family. Nutrition was the driving force behind the Daniel Carasso saga. Art was his passion – one shared by his wife Nina and their daughter, Marina.
The Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation seeks both to support completed projects which can be put to practical effect in the real world and to foster nascent projects. The Foundation seeks to facilitate encounters and opportunities that bring together fields of enquiry whose paths do not always cross.
It aims to act in furtherance of general interest projects and create the right conditions for co‑operation between the projects it funds and the beneficiaries of such projects.
Its work focuses chiefly on Europe, particularly France and Spain. The Foundation is nevertheless prepared to take action in other countries in response to emergency situations, particularly environmental crises.
The Premio Daniel Carasso (Daniel Carasso Prize), which recognizes and encourages outstanding scientific research on sustainable diet and food for long-term health, is one of the first initiatives undertaken by the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation. The Foundation also backs a nationwide educational campaign in Spain. Its aim is to raise awareness of cardiovascular risks among school-age Spanish children and promote the importance of a balanced diet and physical exercise.
In keeping with its commitment to support for the vulnerable, it also backed emergency and development projects in Haiti in the wake of the earthquake in January 2010.
In the arts, the Foundation has worked with the World Monuments Fund to fund projects to restore and preserve heritage sites. They include the renovation of the Albi Cathedral (formerly the St. Cecilia’s Cathedral) in Albi in France and, in Spain, the restoration of the Hall of Abd al-Rahman III in the palatine city of Madinat al-Zahra outside Cordoba.
The Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation operates under the aegis of an umbrella organization, the Fondation de France. The Foundation is very much a family organization. On its Executive Committee sit its president, Marina Nahmias, the daughter of Daniel and Nina Carasso, her husband, children, and individuals with great expertise in both profit and non-profit organizations.
Contact :
Marie-Stéphane Maradeix
Fondation Daniel et Nina Carasso
Director