Sonne Copijn
Innovator
Beefoundation
Netherlands
Environmental
Rural Areas
Rural area close to city
The innovation journey
The Bee Foundation was founded in 2015 by Sonne Copijn to champion the cause of bees. The Bee Foundation advocates that bees and humans benefit from a bee-friendly environment. She raises awareness that bees are responsible for around 90% of all pollination on Earth and that the disappearance of bees will result in significant biodiversity loss.
The Foundation’s country house in Groenekan (Utrecht), a village of 1,965 people, serves as an educational centre. The Copijn family has lived here for over 140 years, as botanists, landscape architects and beekeepers. Sonne Copijn, the fourth-generation family member, is carrying on this legacy in a transformative way.
The innovation impact
With a Board of Trustees, staff, advisors and thousands of volunteers, the Bee Foundation’s mission rests on four pillars: (1) to fascinate people with the biodynamics of bees, (2) to educate about bees and biodiversity, (3) to create a bee-friendly built environment, (4) to advocate for the welfare of bees. They organize theatre workshops, train aspiring wild beekeepers, advise landowners on how to set up hives and publish annual surveys of bee mortality and warnings of threats to bees.
From 2015 to 2023, the foundation has created more than 30 hectares of bee oases across the Netherlands in partnership with government, businesses, and civil society organizations. Its vision is to create 10,000 hectares of bee oases by 2028, with more than 10,000 participants educated about bees and biodiversity.