The Carlsberg Foundation was established in 1876, when J.C. Jacobsen secured the future of his brewery by transferring it to the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters. Since then, the Carlsberg Foundation has overseen the Carlsberg Group, ensuring that the brewery is run with the focus on innovation and high-quality products, and supported basic research within the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities. All in accordance with the Brewer’s wishes and vision. J.C. Jacobsen was particularly far-sighted when, in 1876, he created a Deed of Gift transferring Carlsberg to the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters.

At the time, the Academy served as a meeting-place for the Danish Elite researchers, as is the case  to this very day. J.C. Jacobsen's decision was ground-breaking visionary and lasting. His idea was that the Carlsberg Foundation, with its roots in science, should ensure that, even after his death, Carlsberg would strive to continuously improve beer brewing and produce the highest-quality products. When J.C. Jacobsen dies during a visit to Rome on 1887, the Carlsberg Foundation assumes ownership and management of Old Carlsberg. The Carlsberg Group is currently the only global brewer owned by a commercial foundation.

In 1875, J.C. Jacobsen founded an organization known today as the Carlsberg Research Laboratory

From the day of its establishment, the Carlsberg Research Laboratory delivered a number of most exciting scientific breakthroughs in modern history. It was under its roof that in 1883, for the first time in the history of brewing, Professor Emil Christian Hansen isolated a pure culture of beer yeast Saccharomyces Carlsbergensis. And in 1909, Professor Søren Peder Lauritz Sørensen developed the pH scale. At that same laboratory, Professor Linderstrøm-Lang was the first to work on the description of protein structure. Then the innovative study on enzymes conducted at the Laboratory by Professor Martin Ottesen formed the basis for the work of Novozymes — the world’s leading company specializing in biological solutions.

The Carlsberg Foundation supports fundamental research within the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities. The research funds it is supporting has long played a key role in the work of Danish scientists. They were of special importance before 1968, for at that time there was no governmental funding of scientific research. Some of the most prominent scientists, such as Professor Niels Bohr and August Krogh, had worked for several years, financed by the Carlsberg Foundation. The funding allowed the young Niels Bohr to go abroad. This enabled him to take his research to the international scale. Today, the Carlsberg Foundation is placing a greater emphasis on the matter of internationalization. The Foundation features a unique financing portfolio, of which the most part is directed at supporting research in humanities. The Carlsberg Foundation is the largest private organization that finances research of this kind. In particular, the Foundation is financing the archeological excavations in Europe and the Near East.

Niels Bohr and August Krogh had worked for several years on the strength of the support from the Carlsberg Foundation

The Carlsberg family extended after merging with the Danish brewery Tuborg. In keeping with its charter, the Tuborg Foundation designs and implements socially beneficial initiatives, including those useful for the industry. Over the years of its existence, the Tuborg Foundation has granted financial aid to many organizations related to sports, theater and music. The Tuborg Foundation also supports research activities, for example, the Tuborg Research Centre for Globalization and Firms at Aarhus University and the Center for the Study of Civil Society at Copenhagen Business School. In 2015, the Tuborg Foundation unveiled a new strategy. The Foundation will keep supporting local associations, yet it has set out to allocate much more resources to a long-term cooperation with recipients of grants. The Foundation will now focus its attention on charity and non-profit organizations that create value and prove socially beneficial. It strives to act as a catalyst of collaboration between volunteers, the government and the industry in order to resolve social challenges through using novel sustainable methods.

The Foundation has focused its attention on charity and non-profitable organizations that create value and prove socially beneficial

The museum exhibits a precious collection of Greek and Roman statues, Egyptian artifacts and pieces of arts by French impressionists. Like the Museum of National History, the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek has recently set a course for international development, and in 2015, it curated the Gauguin's Worlds exhibition for MUDEC – Museo delle Culture in Milan. The museum’s buildings and the large private collection of works of arts were given to the city of Copenhagen by Carl Jacobsen as a gift

A research study suggests that commercial foundations cause a significant positive effect to the society comparing to other forms of commercial property. According to a research conducted by Professor Steen Thomsen of Copenhagen Business School, which was funded by the Carlsberg Foundation, industrial foundations act as active business owners and exercise direct powerful influence. If a company’s controlling shareholder is a foundation, it can focus on long-term goals.

Therefore, the far-sighted project by Brewer J.C. Jacobsen to establish the Carlsberg Foundation and its undeniable importance for the society still serve as an incredibly valuable example