The European Foundation Centre launches European Forum on Philanthropy and Research Funding

The European Foundation Centre (EFC)

The European Foundation Centre (EFC) is an international association of foundations and corporate funders. It is Dedicated to creating an enabling, legal and fiscal environment for foundations. It aims to document the foundation landscape, strengthen the sector’s infrastructure. The EFC promotes collaboration not only among foundations but also between foundations and other actors: to advance the public good in Europe and beyond.

The European Forum on Philanthropy and Research Funding

With support from the European Commission and individual funders, the EFC has recently set up a European Forum on Philanthropy and Research Funding.

EPHA held an interview with Pier Mario, Secretary General of Fondazione Cariplo in Italy, the current Chair of the Forum Steering Group.

1. What exactly is the European Forum on Philanthropy and Research Funding?

The Forum is an open platform which gives research stakeholders, funders and operators a platform to come together and debate practical issues and problems in order to find solutions related to philanthropic and foundation support for research.

It also offers an opportunity to raise awareness of the role foundations play in furthering European research and their added value. Of the 95.000-plus public-benefit foundations operating in Europe, many fund research. These foundations have developed diverse approaches to supporting research, which is an asset for European research.

2. Why did EFC decide to set up a Forum with these characteristics?

The Forum is a joint initiative of EFC and its members: The Wellcome Trust, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lundbeckfonden, the Foundation for Polish Science and, of course, Fondazione Cariplo. It is a cooperative venture with the European University Association and the European Commission.

The Forum was created because foundations wanted to exchange experiences, best practice and tackle the common obstacles to supporting research. Foundations support research in partnership with universities, researchers, policy-makers, etc... so we felt it was also important to create room for dialogue between all these stakeholders. This will bring a more favourable environment for them to work together and for philanthropy to develop as a source of research funding in Europe.

EFC and the European Commission ran an open consultation to identify the issues of greatest concern to stakeholders which would benefit from being investigated by the Forum. Four key issues were identified:

 Philanthropic organisations’ research funding policies
 Legal, regulatory and fiscal issues relating to donors and philanthropic organisations
 Governance and ethical issues relating to philanthropic support for research
 Fund-raising from philanthropic sources from universities

These are the topics the Forum will investigate, while also remaining open to address other timely issues.

3. What kind of activities will the Forum run?

The Forum will hold workshops, peer learning events and other activities relating to each of the four key issues, as appropriate. An annual stakeholders’ conference takes stock of the progress of Forum activities and debates key developments linked to philanthropy and research. In 2008, the conference’s theme will be ‘Partnerships in Research’. The event will take place on 2 December, hosted in Milan by the Fondazione Cariplo. A website and newsletter have also been developed as a source of information on the Forum, its activities and the issues addressed.

4. During its initial phase from 2007 to 2010 the Forum will address specific issues. How will these be investigated?

The Forum was launched on 4 December 2007 by European Commissioner, Janez Potočnik, and Wilhelm Krull, EFC’s Chair. Work has since begun on two issues: How to evaluate the outcomes and impact of research projects and programmes How to deal with ethical issues in the grant-making process and their role in the intrinsic nature of research fields Dedicated working groups were initially set up. Their preliminary outcomes will be debated with the wider spectrum of stakeholders later in the year. This will set the scene for activities to be held within the Forum. Further themes linked to legal and fiscal issues and fundraising by universities will be investigated as from next autumn.

5. How can people join or contribute to the Forum?

Today anyone may take part and contribute to the Forum’s activities. These are advertised on the Forum web pages and communicated to interested parties through the Forum’s mailing list. If anyone would like to get involved, please send us their contact details at researchforum@efc.be. We shall also publish a call for ideas for the 2008 Forum stakeholders’ conference. This is a further opportunity to contribute and help shape the conference by sending us ideas for sessions or case studies linked to the theme ‘Partnerships in Research’ to feature in the programme. Details on the call will be published on the Forum web pages in late June.

For more information on the European Forum on Philanthropy and Research Funding’s activities, please contact Emmanuelle Faure or Mathieu Cantegreil.