What we knew before FOREMAP
A survey conducted in 2008 by the EFC Research Task Force has found that the foundation sector is growing at a significant speed in Europe. To date, there are some 273,000 organisations in the EU (data not available for Lithuania, Malta and Romania) that refer to themselves as ‘foundations’, of which over a third (some 95,000) are public-benefit foundations. This corresponds to an increase of more than 54% in public -benefit foundations since the previous survey of 2005.
How foundations support research
Different types of research foundations co-exist in the EU. A number of foundations, such as the Pasteur Institute operate their own research programmes and fund their own research laboratories and staff through donations and/or their endowments. Others, such as the Wellcome Trust in the UK or the Volkswagen Foundation in Germany, fund research through grant programmes using their endowments. They may also run their own in house laboratories. These endowed foundations support varying research and research related activities however their policies vary greatly as do the manner in which grants are attributed and managed.
Not all foundations support research exclusively. Some have a broader range of activities and research is only one element in their programme of activity. This is the case of a number of foundations such as the Fondazione Cariplo and other Italian foundations of banking origin. In addition, a number a foundations consider research as a means to an end. These foundations do not perceive themselves as funders of research, even if they support research projects that are linked to their activities.
Plugging the knowledge gap
The total number of foundations involved in supporting research activities across the EU is unknown, as are their policies and impact on the overall European research effort. Yet these foundations have a unique role to play in supporting European research. They are able to act and react flexibly and quickly, free of political or market pressure. They can afford to take risks in the projects they support; and in the case of endowed foundations, the perpetuity of their funds allows them to be reliable long term partners.
Centralised data on research foundations and their activities is currently unavailable in many Member States, even in the published accounts of numerous foundations. The task of collecting and analysing this data in the 27 Member States requires an investment in time and effort, knowledge of the various national environments and local characteristics that define how foundations operate, that go beyond the means of any single national or trans-European organisation. The various legal forms that foundations can take in the different countries and their modus operandi also complicate the task.
FOREMAP aimed at overcoming these hurdles to collecting data on research foundations, by developing common tools and a methodology to map the activities of research foundations across the EU. This metodology and tools were piloted in four Germany, Portugal, Slovakia and Sweden where we now understand better research foundations's contribution to the research and development arena.