Kjell Inge Røkke is giving a gift of no less than NOK 250 million to Bakketun Folk High School. It is not every day that a Christian school receives donations, and certainly not on this scale. Dagen reports this.

Røkke himself was a pupil at the school, and it was during a 50-year reunion that he surprised everyone by putting NOK 250 million on the table.

Røkke, who also picked up the entire bill for the class’s luxurious celebratory dinner at the venerable Britannia Hotel in Trondheim, makes no secret whatsoever of the fact that his school year in Trøndelag shaped him as a person.

– Bakketun Folk High School and the people I met there have meant a great deal to me. Through this initiative, I want to be part of a community that creates opportunities for others, says Kjell Inge Røkke in an official press release.

Bakketun Folk High School is a Christian folk high school in the Trøndelag village of Verdal, which was established in 1915. The school is owned by the Bakketun Folk High School Foundation, which is affiliated with Normisjon.

The money will be managed by an entirely new fund in which all 67 of Røkke’s fellow pupils are co-founders. They have the right to submit proposals to an independent board. The money is to go to charitable causes that benefit multiple people, not individuals. The first grants will be awarded in the first half of 2027.