News and Updates

Next week, Philanthropy Advocacy (joint Dafne and EFC initiative) will be represented by Hanna Surmatz at two EESC public hearings. On Monday 6 September, Hanna Surmatz, Philanthropy Advocacy co-le...

Did you know that foundations can pursue only public-benefit purposes in Spain? Or that the Netherlands do not require a minimum capital to establish a foundation? Were you aware that political activities are taboo for Finnish foundations? Or that in France, foundations can receive legacies and donations, but corporate foundations can only receive contributions from the founding company? Join us on 1 October for the release of the 2021 edition of “Comparative Highlights of Foundation Laws”.

TUSEV, the Third Sector Foundation of Turkey, has published a statement as a reaction to the most recent developments in Turkey regarding the philanthropy sector, focusing on foreign funds. They are concerned about the statements and declarations in social media and other mediums regarding CSOs receiving foreign funds and they emphasise the importance of civil society in the development of democracy.

Apply for the open position of Policy and Communications Trainee at Philanthropy Advocacy. Starting on 20 September 2021, you will work for six months at the Philanthropy House in the centre of Brussels. The position offers great learning opportunities and access to a great European network in politics and philanthropy. Read more...

The ongoing process of globalization applies not only to business operations, but also to philanthropy. While it is easy for goods and services to move freely across Europe, it is still difficult for businesses and individuals to donate across borders. According to ERNOP, the annual amount of philanthropic contributions in Europe is estimated at 87.5 billion Euro. Will a single market for philanthropy become a reality in the EU?

Javier Nadal, Chair of the Association of Spanish Foundations (AEF), has been interviewed by José Carlos Gallardo on Europa 2021, a Spanish public TV programme dedicated to the main issues on the EU weekly agenda and concerns for European citizens.  NextGenerationEU recovery plan that involves civil society and philanthropy has been part of the conversation.

The European Commission has presented the long-awaited package of legislative proposals to strengthen the EU’s anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) rules. The purpose is harmonisation across the EU of AML and CFT rules. The package also proposes the creation of an EU authority to fight money laundering.

European Commission acknowledges civil society as a key partner for the EU in its work to promote a stronger European rule of law culture. However, the enabling framework for civil society is included only as a part of the 4th pillar on checks and balances. Read our overview.

Siep Wijsenbeek, Director of the Association of Foundations in the Netherlands (FIN) calls on European philanthropy and civil society organisations to engage with policymakers and the public around legislative proposals that affect our sector.

  FATF Publication on the Plenary 21 - 25 June 2021 - Published 25 June 2021 “FATF President, Dr. Marcus Pleyer, chaired the second Plenary under Germany Presidency in June 2021. The Plenar...

The European Union’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic that strengthens Europe’s resilience has seen a lot of progress over the past few days. The National Recovery and Resilience Plans, whic...

Slovenia has assumed the Presidency of the Council of the European Union on 1 July 2021. Slovenia holds its second presidency of the Council and celebrates the 30th anniversary of its independence. Th...

Philanthropy Advocacy takes stock of the recent G7 agreement to back a new global minimum tax rate of at least 15 percent applicable to companies regardless of where they are based. The agreement also...

The Philanthropy Advocacy initiative prepared and submitted comments to the online consultation on the Dutch act on transparency of civil society organisations of the Netherlands. We have collaborated...

The Conference on the Future of Europe is an opportunity for European citizens to debate on Europe’s challenges and priorities. The European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission have...

The climate crisis is one of the greatest challenges of our time and requires urgent action. There is only one decade left to act. “We cannot do this without civil society”, said Executive Vice-President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans who is in charge of the European Green Deal. And further: “The way in which foundations can operate in our societies is the reflection on the quality of democracy in Europe,” showing his willingness to engage in a dialogue for a better operating environment for philanthropy and civil society.

Register here                                            Taking place in parallel with the Conference on the Future of Europe (#CoFoE), we will host a webinar on 15...

Did you miss our Legal and Policy Update for European Philanthropy? Read our wrap-up!   Brussels Beats  Watch the latest Brussels Beats report by Max von Abendroth and Hanna Surmatz. Ma...

By Hanna Surmatz, for Philanthropy Advocacy, a joint Dafne and EFC initiative   More than 100 researchers and practitioners joined the European Research Network On Philanthropy (ERNOP) web...

‘A statute for European cross-border associations and non-profit organisations’   The EPRS (European Parliamentary Research Service), a think tank and advisory body for the European Parli...

By Hanna Surmatz and Hanna Hanses   On 18 May 2021, the European Commission has adopted a Communication on Business Taxation for the 21st Century. The Communication sets out both a long-ter...

By Hanna Surmatz, Hanna Stähle and Stephanie van Berckel The European Social Economy Summit organised by the City of Mannheim in partnership with the European Commission on 25-26 May brought toget...

Siep Wijsenbeek, Director of FIN, the association of Dutch charitable funds and corporate foundations, and Stephanie van Berckel, EU Public Affairs and Communications trainee at Philanthropy Advocacy...

Protection of the core EU values The launch of the New CERV (Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values) Funding Programme with the Civil Dialogue week, has been heralded by an inspiring open ceremony w...

Tuesday 25 May 2021, 10-11 AM CET In this third monthly seminar of the ERNOP Science and Society Seminar Giedre Lideikyte Huber from the Geneva Centre for Philanthropy at the University of Geneva,...

We welcome you to join the roundtable during the European Social Economy Summit (#EUSES) on 26 May 2021 11:30 – 13:00 (CET) to explore with key European policymakers, researchers as well as represen...

A strong civil society to live up to the Union’s values A strong civil society protects democracy, fundamental rights, and the rule of law. This was recognized by the adoption of the Citizens, Eq...

The European Commission is preparing an action plan for social economy, which will be launched this year. This plan seeks to boost the contribution of social economy actors to a fair and sustainable g...

Michael O’Flaherty, Director of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) since 2015 has a rich experience in human rights. He was a professor of Applied Human Rights and Co-director of the Human R...

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) launched a new project to study and mitigate the unintended consequences resulting from the incorrect implementation of the FATF Standards. The philanthropy sect...

A new EESC study demonstrates the essential contributions of civil society organisations during the initial and continued response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The study raises the question how CSOs will...

All good things take a while. After many months of deliberations, the European Parliament adopted the InvestEU programme for 2021-2027 at its plenary session on 9 March 2021, upon which the Council ad...

Today, European Parliament President, David Sassoli, Prime Minister of Portugal António Costa, on behalf of the Presidency of the Council, and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have signed th...

The European Commission adopted the Action Plan to implement the European Pillar of Social Rights. The Action Plan specifically refers to the potential of the social economy and the related future act...

2021 Work Programme of the EU adopted This week the European Commission adopted its 2021 Work Programme, designed to make Europe healthier, fairer and more prosperous, while accelerating its long-t...

Single Market for Public Good – How can we unleash private resources for European solidarity? Thursday, 1 October 2020 / 16.30 – 18.00h | Philanthropy Debate   Join us on the European Da...

By Hanna Hanses Beyond Recovery and Towards Values The Multi-annual Financial Framework reflects the priorities of EU institutions and delimits the entry points available to European philanthrop...

We are offering a full-time paid Policy and Communications Trainee for six months starting on 28 September 2020. You would support the Philanthropy Advocacy team at the Philanthropy House in Brussels...

Challenges facing Europe today are tremendous and require an orchestrated response from both the private and public sectors. The COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated how interconnected our continent has b...

The German EU Presidency kicks off on Wednesday, 1stJuly 2020. It ends on 31 December 2020 and is the first Presidency of the EU-Presidency-Trio: Germany – Portugal – Slovenia. These three Preside...

Francesca Fanucci, Senior Legal Advisor at ECNL and Hanna Surmatz, Enabling Environment Manager at the EFC and co-lead of the joint DAFNE & EFC Philanthropy Advocacy initiative jointly developed...

Civil society organisations have been badly hit by the COVID-19 crisis. In Croatia the earthquake on 22 March increased the burden for NGOs and charities. Cvjetana Plavsa-Matic, urges the EU to re...

  When in 2017, Poland installed a new Disciplinary Chamber (Izba Dyscyplinarna) within the Supreme Court of Poland (Sąd Najwyższy), critics argued that the government would be able to inves...

In emergency situations, governments must act quickly to prevent escalation. Most constitutions provide executive bodies with extraordinary competences, when a state of emergency has been declared. CO...

On 5th March 2020 the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) published Advocate General Kokott´s opinion  in the case on the 2017 Hungarian Law on Higher Education and argued that Hungary mus...

Commemorating the World NGO Day, on 28 February 2020, the Conference of NGOs (INGOs) of the Council of Europe (CoE) organised a workshop “From the Past to the Future: A Living Civic Space for a Livi...

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the inter-governmental body established in 1989 with the objectives of setting standards and promoting effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operati...

Citizens are increasingly striving to do ‘good’, working together to fix the systemic issues affecting their communities. As such, they represent a wealth of philanthropic potential, energy and de...

On Tuesday 4 February 2020, Philanthropy Advocacy (DAFNE and EFC) participated at the annual seminar between the European Investment Bank’s (EIB) Board of Directors and civil society organisations a...

The Philanthropy Advocacy (DAFNE and EFC) team organised in early 2020 a series of training's and information sessions on how philanthropy can engage around money laundering and terrorism financing po...

On 14 January 2020 the Advocate General Campos Sánchez-Bordona released his opinion, in which he concluded that the restrictions imposed by the Hungarian Transparency law are not compatible with EU l...

At the beginning of December 2019 the new mission letter for Vice–President Jourová was published on the European Commission's website. President Von der Leyen has modified the mission of Vice-Pres...

Looking at the priorities of the new European Commission, that took office on 1 December 2019, Max von Abendroth highlights the overlap with the work and ambitions of the philanthropy sector – ident...

Federal Council plans announced at the end of February 2019 to make charitable foundations subject to the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) have been withdrawn for the time being. As the Federa...

Report on the EESC Conference on Fundamental Rights and the Rule of Law | 05.11.2019 in Brussels The EESC Conference on "Fundamental Rights and the Rule of Law: Trends in the EU from a Civil Societ...

Ahead of negotiations of multiannual EU budget, the Batory Foundation initiates an advocacy campaign to increase EU funding for civil society organisations which promote and protect European values wi...

Brussels, 7 October 2019 – MEPs, representatives of the European Commission and the European Economic and Social Committee and relevant stakeholders from philanthropy, civil society and social econo...

This event is hosted by Vice-President Nicola Beer, MEP and aims to introduce the debate about the potential of philanthropy for the public good to MEPs and key stakeholders. Confirmed speakers includ...

PRESS RELEASE (pdf version here) Brussels, 22nd May 2019 - Donors and Foundations Networks in Europe (DAFNE) and the European Foundation Centre (EFC) welcome the European Economic and Social Commit...

With only a few weeks to go until the European elections on 23-26 May, a new study from the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) anticipates that 30% of the newly-elected MEPs will represent E...

Brussels, 22 March 2019 – On Wednesday evening the European Philanthropy Manifesto, including four key recommendations to introduce a Single Market for Philanthropy, was launched at Philanthropy Hou...

Massimo Lapucci, the EFC Chair since 2017, and Secretary General of Fondazione CRT, has written an article for Alliance magazine titled ”Putting a foot in Europe’s closing doors”, that seeks...

”Social Economy for the Future of Europe” was the final hearing of the Social Economy Intergroup of the European Parliament, held at the EESC on the 6th February. The hearing sought to take...

Philanthropy and its as yet untapped potential in Europe was the topic of discussion at a hearing held by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) on the 16th January. The hearing brough...

The European Charities’ Committee on Value-Added Tax (ECCVAT) has published its recommendations for changes to the VAT rules proposed by the European Commission earlier this year. On 18 Janua...

The EFC has co-signed a statement in support of civil society titled ”Civil society on the frontline – 5 points for EU action” at the Annual Colloquium on Fundamental Rights in Brussels on the...

The time is ripe for a European Single Market for Philanthropy Brussels, 10 October 2018 – Yesterday evening’s lively debate in the European Parliament hosted by MEP Ivana Maletic (EPP/HR), an...

EFC’s Enabling Environment Manager, Hanna Surmatz, has delivered a presentation on the key trends of foundation supervision from a comparative perspective to 130 participants at the Zurich seminar�...

Philanthropy recognised as key partner in event on “Co-creating a Single Market for Philanthropy” – Conference report now available Seeking to make the case for a Single Market for Philanthr...

The Expert Group report on “Foundations, Venture Philanthropy and Social Investments”is focusing on how to better enable philanthropic foundations and philanthropists to take part in promoting re...

The recent launch of the European Commission’s infringement procedure against Poland regarding the Polish law on the Supreme Court is strongly supported by the EFC and DAFNE. This is an important...

A single voice for a single market for philanthropy On Monday, 28 May over 150 key representatives from politics, philanthropy and civil society came together in Brussels to discuss ways to incre...

The operating environment for institutional philanthropy in parts of Europe is under threat. Therefore DAFNE and EFC are launching today  the commissioned study “Enlarging the Space for European Ph...