First Round Table of Public Interest Foundations

The Fondation de Luxembourg regularly organises round tables with the aim of encouraging dialogue and stimulating collaboration and the sharing of experience.

For the first time, we welcomed more than twenty representatives of other charitable foundations, as well as a representative of the Ministry of Justice, thus initiating the very first forum aimed at bringing together the foundations of the Grand Duchy.

Discussions focused on a wide range of topics, including the European Philanthropy Manifesto, a recent initiative by the European foundation sector which will shortly be debated in the European Parliament. The aim is to promote ‘A Single Market for Philanthropy in Europe’ and a favourable environment for foundations.

We also discussed the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) peer review process on the financing of terrorism and the fight against money laundering, which will take place in Luxembourg in 2020.

We were delighted to have with us Hanna Surmatz, an expert in cross-border donations in Europe, from the European Foundation Center (EFC), who shared her experience in this area, particularly on the basis of the peer reviews that have taken place in Belgium and Switzerland.

Other important issues for foundations were also discussed, such as taxation issues, and in particular the constraints resulting from the obligation for foundations to be subject to VAT, as well as experience in implementing the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

It is highly likely that this first meeting will be the start of a long series that will ultimately lead to a strengthening of the charitable foundation sector as a whole, and subsequently to a more philanthropy-friendly environment in Luxembourg.

The Round Table ended, as is traditionally the case for this type of event, with a lunch during which discussions continued informally.

Information

Start date : 23.09.2019 10:00

End date : 23.09.2019 13:30