Perhaps not everyone knows that every year in Europe the philanthropy sector has more than 147 thousand donor institutions and foundations, has total assets of more than 500 billion euros, and disburses 60 billion euros for the development of territories and the welfare of citizens!
If you include all the forms of financing (structural funds, territorial cooperation programs, and European programs) the contribution provided by EU institutions remains much higher overall, but disbursements from philanthropic organizations remain of great significance: represent about twice the allocation provided for the main European programs, weighted on an annual basis.
In some areas, the weight of philanthropic organizations is even more significant: for example, the total allocation for the program Creative Europe in the seven-year period 2014-2020 is to 1.46 billion of euros, vs. 4 billion allocated in a single year (2016) by European philanthropic organizations active in the arts and culture.
Philanthropy and European institutions thus share the same goals, commitment and leading role in building a more open, united, innovative, sustainable and inclusive Europe. This is well known by the European Foundation Centre (EFC), one of the leading networks of European and international philanthropy, which sees the possibility of developing co-financing instruments with Europe as one of the pillars on which to work together in the coming years, as stated in theEuropean Philanthropy Manifesto.
This common commitment is increasingly concrete: a growing number of Foundations and philanthropic organizations are dedicating funds to participate in or co-finance European projects and are committed to bringing to Europe the demands of civil society organizations active in our territories.
A commitment that wants to break down walls and build bridges, for a better Europe!
