International Philanthropy: Creating the Right Climate

ECCVAT and the EAPG organised a two-day conference in September 2005 entitled International Philanthropy: Creating the Right Climate. The conference focused on the wider issues surrounding cross-border philanthropy and the illogicality of allowing tax relief on giving, only to tax the expenditure of charities. Its purpose was to draw the attention of legislators, officials, donors, foundations, NGOs and charities to the barriers to cross-border giving in Europe.

The conference took place at the International Press Center in Brussels on Wednesday, 14 & Thursday, 15 September 2005. The full programme and profiles of the speakers are available on this website. The conference was sponsored by the Charities' Aid Foundation, Farrer & Co and the King Baudouin Foundation.

Background to the conference

The potential for cross-border philanthropy in Europe is growing. However, European citizens wanting to give assets located in their country to a foreign beneficiary or wanting to give assets located in a foreign country to a national charitable organisation face huge fiscal and legal barriers that generally impede them in carrying out their philanthropic intention.

Donors, advisors and fundraisers have to deal with complicated rules and unequal treatment of national and cross-border philanthropy. Almost all EU member states do not provide incentives for donors wanting to support foreign beneficiaries. Tax-deductibility for the donor is mostly only granted for donations to domestic charitable organisations and cross-border giving does not generally benefit from reduced gift and inheritance tax. It is even often taxed at the highest applicable rate. This is of course incompatible with EU law.

The conference aimed to help to overcome the recognised lack of structured information and knowledge on this issue and will raise awareness of the need to improve the legal and fiscal environment of cross-border philanthropy in Europe.

The second day of the conference addressed the issue of VAT, which has been a problem for charities for many years. ECCVAT has been working to address the problem since its creation in 1992, but now that a new Commission and a new European Parliament are in place and the EU has gained an additional ten member states, there is a need for an exchange of information across Europe on the VAT position of charities, so that informed decisions can be made based on the actual needs of the sector.