Foundations, European: International Activities

Variety

Foundations in Europe are, like foundations in all countries, hugely varied in assets, income, and areas of interest. They also vary in age. In Europe, these differences are in part a product of the different political histories of the various states; so, for example, in postcommunist Europe, foundations were only slowly rebuilt. In France, Fondation de France [Page 594]was created by General Charles de Gaulle's Ministers of Culture and Finance “to act as an engine of foundation development in a barren philanthropic landscape scarred by the practices of France's ancien régime, under which legacies and donations were subject to royal approval” (Macdonald & de Borms, 2008, p. 12). Attitudes to private funding of public benefit and associated fiscal encouragement or discouragement of giving also play an important role in differences between the size and roles of foundations in different parts of Europe.

To add to the complexity, foundations in Europe are changing. Foundations in eastern Europe are growing, but there are other changes as the roles of the state and civil society change.

Various studies highlight the way in which foundations' conceptions of their roles and of their relationships to the state vary among different parts of Europe. So, for example, the United Kingdom adopts a model close to that of the United States with an emphasis on foundations as a counterweight to government, fostering pluralism, advocating reform, and doing what the state does not. In Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands, foundations play different roles in a context in which third-sector organizations often work on contract to the state, and donations and gifts are not encouraged by the legal and fiscal systems. The effect of these different domestic role definitions and relationships on international giving has not been systematically explored (see, e.g., Anheier & Daly, 2007).

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