The Foundation's activities began on 3 December 1977, with the cycle "Culture in Dialogue", by the former Director of the Casa de Mateus Foundation, Fernando de Sousa Botelho Albuquerque, son of Francisco.

Since then, the Foundation has held events that fulfil the cultural, artistic, educational and scientific purposes for which it was established, as set out in Article 3 of its statutes.

As far as cultural activities are concerned, since 1977 the FCM has organised seminars on subjects of national relevance in the fields of economics, politics and health, among others. In addition to seminars, the Casa de Mateus Foundation has also organised International Music Courses since 1979 and, since 1985, the Casa de Mateus Music Festival, which is highly regarded worldwide. Among the usual cultural activities are collective poetry translation seminars and the awarding of the D. Dinis Literary Prize.

In the field of scientific activity, the Casa de Mateus Foundation chairs the Casa de Mateus International Institute, created in 1986, of which Portuguese Academies, Universities and Scientific Institutes are members.

Today, the Managing Director, Teresa Albuquerque, continues to fulfil the legacy of the founder and his father, offering and developing a set of programmes focused not only on the problems of today's world, but also applying a sense of tranversality, temporal, cultural, educational and scientific.