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Create a donor-advised fund

Contacts

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Sabine de Soyres

FOUNDATION DEVELOPMENT AND BEQUESTS MANAGER

Tel : +33 1 85 53 30 00
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Brochure

Answers to all your questions

Read our “Becoming a Founder” brochure (FR)

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Why create a foundation?

Creating a foundation represents a strong commitment to one or several charitable causes. In addition to the financial assets allocated to their nonprofit, founders often choose to be actively involved in its operations.

Creating a foundation can be a personal endeavor, which expresses the founder’s commitment, with an added dimension: philanthropy. It can be prompted by a couple’s long-held dream, a family project, or a group of friends might want to create a foundation. Entrepreneurs and companies – from very small enterprises to major international corporations – can also be founders. They can align their corporate strategy, governance and charitable activities and at the same time, mobilize staff beyond their economic contribution.

All of these potential founders want to have a positive and lasting impact on society.

Further reading: The ins and outs of foundations, endowment funds, and associations in France

Further reading: Foundations, endowment funds and associations, what's the difference ?

Becoming a founder at Fondation de France

Setting up a donor-advised fund at Fondation de France means joining the leading philanthropy network in France. To design your project with you, we draw on our expertise, consolidated over the past fifty years in all nonprofit sectors (vulnerable people, medical research, the environment, culture, etc.).

Which causes would you like to make your priority? What resources are required? What systems need to be set up? Our teams are here to help you, right from the creation of your foundation all the way to its management over time, not forgetting monitoring the impact of supported projects.

Having a donor-advised fund at Fondation de France means:

Complete freedom

With no administrative, legal or accounting duties to perform, you can dedicate your time and resources to your project essentials. We do not interfere with funding decisions for your foundation. However, we are also here to ensure compliance with the legislative framework. You have access to our expertise in all societal, financial, legal, fiscal and estate-related matters as well as communication.

A 100% secure framework

With a donor-advised fund, no new entity is required. The legal entity is the sheltering foundation. Legal risk is therefore borne by Fondation de France, which ensures that the rules governing nonprofits are complied with, among other services. You can therefore rest assured that your actions will be in line with the legislation and tax provisions in force.

Personalized guidance

A dedicated specialist in a specific cause you are passionate about, who is also an expert on foundation management, works with you and guides you throughout the process. Thanks to our experts and the surveys produced by the Fondation de France Philanthropy Observatory, you can read up and follow the trends and news in the sector (social impact investment, social entrepreneurship, venture philanthropy, etc.)

A strong network

When you join Fondation de France, you join a community of more than 900 foundations. This is a network we facilitate to share experiences and give philanthropists the opportunity to exchange views, work together, find out about the best projects and support them, together.

Tax benefits for your donors

Because Fondation de France is officially recognized as being of public interest, people who make donations to foundations automatically benefit from tax deductions thanks to our legal status. In practice, deductions for French tax residents, and companies and certain real estate properties based in France are:

66% for income tax (up to 20% of taxable income);
75% for real estate wealth tax (IFI) (up to 50,000 euros);
60% for corporate tax (up to 20,000 euros or 0.5% of annual turnover for larger amounts).

Further reading: Create a donor-advised fund in four steps

What level of endowment should you bring to your donor-advised fund?

Endowment from 200,000 euros, to be provided within five years, enables a donor-advised fund to be created at Fondation de France. This is equivalent to 40,000 euros each year for five years.

In addition, pooling the services we offer reduces operating costs: they are based on the foundation’s actual activity, in other words, its expenditure. Operating costs are 3% of the funds allocated, with a minimum of 2,500 euros per year.