July 2010 | Vol. 4. No. 7
I would like to start this month with some important news regarding the European Foundation Statute. The EESC, the EU’s official advisory body on social and economic matters, has given a clear and strong backing to the Statute by approving with a large majority of the votes the opinion drafted by EESC member Mall Hellam. The opinion urges the European Commission to present a proposal for a Regulation on a European Foundation Statute to support public-benefit activities for its adoption by the Council and the European Parliament in due course. The full story is available via this month’s highlight.
Staying with EU affairs, the European Commission Directorate General for “Home Affairs” has released a discussion paper on voluntary guidelines for EU-based non-profit organisations (NPOs) and is now calling for comments from foundations and other concerned stakeholders. At the request of the EFC and partner NPOs, the Commission has extended the consultation period until mid September. EFC Members are invited to provide input by 20 August.
EFC Capacity-Building continues to go from strength to strength in 2010. The European Learning Lab, a dynamic new training series developed by the EFC and Fondazione Cariplo, kicked off in Milan from 29 to 30 June. This initial training event focused on “How to design a good project” with the follow up event scheduled for September 29-30, 2010. Also gaining momentum is the newly formed European Foundation Communications Exchange (EFComEx), a group of communications professionals working for foundations who wish to share their expertise and help one another communicate better the work of their foundations. If you are a communications officer at a foundation and would like more information on the group, please click here.
The European Environmental Funders Group is undertaking an exciting new initiative aimed at identifying the main European environmental funders and mapping out their grants and operational programmes expenditure. The project will cover European public benefit foundations and corporate funders in EU-27 and EFTA countries, including both EFC Members and non-Members. Click here to see how you can provide input.
The next Update will be in September, and so all that remains is for me to wish you all an enjoyable summer.
Gerry Salole
EFC Chief Executive