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Highlighs fom he Symposimon ‘responsible Leadeshipin times of Change’ hosed byBanqe de Lxembogon 9 Ocobe 2009
PLuSDevelopmen of he Lxembogphilanhopy iniiaiveCase sdies fom Eopean fondaionson how hey ae esponding o he cisisIneviews wih Jacqes Sane, DiegoHidalgo Schn, Caig Kennedy, and ohes
special supplement
euroPeanFoundations intimes oF Crisis
 
1Developig philthopy i Luxemboug
The history o the Luxembourg philanthropy initiative so ar, rom the daywhen Banque de Luxembourg started oering philanthropy services.Including interviews with:
Jacques Santer
Philippe Depoorter
Tonika Hirdman
Pierre Bley
Henri Reiter
6 Highlights o the symposium
Including reports rom the workshops and interviews with:
Guy Wagner
Katharine Hopper
Jean Boghossian
18 Itevie ith Diego Hidlgo Schu20 Vies om the dvises
What changes in their clients’ behaviour and preoccupations have theynoticed,
 Alliance
asked a group o philanthropy advisers
22 Euope oudtios’ esposes to the ecoomic cisis
Themes emerging rom a set o case studies o European oundations,looking at how the crisis has aected them and what measures they havetaken to deal with its consequences
32 Itevie ith Cig Keedy
IntErVIEw wItH JaCquES SantEr
Former Prime ministeroF Luxembourg and President oF the euroPean Commission
You e udoubtedly the fst chmpio o thismovemet tods philthopy i Luxemboug.Ho did you get ivolved?
It was really the initiative o Banque de Luxembourg.They approached me both as ormer prime minister andpresident o the European Commission and as someonestill active in oundations in Luxembourg, because theywere aware o untapped potential or oundations herein Luxembourg. Though our ofcial development aidis one o the highest in Europe, the legal rameworkor philanthropy went back to 1928 and was simply outo date.
wht s you ole?
To lobby the government! Theprime minister, my successor, wasvery positive and constructive. Ocourse he knew us very well, hewas my ormer secretary o state.Straight ater the frst symposium,he began drawing up ideas; in May,just a month later, he proposedthem to parliament. By December,we had the new legislation oroundations, and on 2 January2009 Fondation de Luxembourgwas set up. What was also veryimportant or us was that we joinedTransnational Giving Europe in June last year, and thisJuly we acted on the recent European Court o Justiceruling, extending tax incentives or Luxembourgresident taxpayers i they give to recognized publicbeneft organizations based in other EU countries.
You must be extemely plesed ith the pogess?
Yes, I am. I must say that the initiative rom Banquede Luxembourg is remarkable. It is very unusual or aprivate bank to be so engaged in the development o anidea like this.
wht do you hope ill come out o the comigsymposium?
This symposium is really to take stock o what is goingon and how to react to some major challenges comingup rom the fnancial crisis. So it’s much more to dowith the technical aspects o running a oundation andtrying to plan or meeting those challenges.
wht is you visio o the utue o philthopyi Luxemboug?
We have to be quite modest. We have developed newideas or the Luxembourg situation and I hope thatwill bring us into step with the countries surroundingus. The new government has also stressed thatphilanthropy should become one o the major pillarso the fnancial sphere here in Luxembourg. Sothere’s a long way to go, and there are many hurdlesto overcome. Nevertheless, I think we are on theright track.
 There’s a long  way to go,and there aremany hurdlesto overcome.Nevertheless, Ithink we are onthe right track.
Contents
Cete Cultuel de recote abbye deneumüste, hee the symposium s held.
 
AlliAnce mAgAzine speciAl supplement europeAn foundAtions in times of crisis
developing philanthropy in luxembourg
1
 t
he white paper came up with three mainrecommendations for the development of philanthropy in Luxembourg:a better legal and scal environment;
establishment of an ‘umbrella foundation’ along
the lines of the UK’s Charities Aid Foundation orBelgium’s King Baudouin Foundation;getting the public even more involved.
Remarkably, the rst two of these had been achieved within nine months of the rst symposium. The symposium itself was clearly a success,attended by Banque de Luxembourg clients andfriends, government departments and authorities,interested professionals (lawyers, investment bankers), foundations, Luxembourg NGOs,private donors and companies. Speakers includedLuxembourg prime minister Jean‑Claude Juncker, Jacques Santer, representatives from philanthropyadvisers wise partnership, FSG Social Impact Advisorsand New Philanthropy Capital, and from KingBaudouin Foundation and Fondation de France. The contribution of Jean‑Claude Juncker wasparticularly signicant. He spoke of the need todevelop a philanthropy policy for the country and anumber of signicant changes to the tax treatmentof philanthropy, subsequently ratied by thegovernment of Luxembourg in December. The effectof these was that the size of donation that individualscan claim relief on has doubled, and restrictions oncross‑border giving have been relaxed considerably.From that point, the whole initiative has moved very quickly, as a glance at the timetable of eventsconrms. The rst symposium took place on
23
  April
2008
. On
22
May, proposals for reform wereput to parliament. On
19
December, new legislation was enacted and on
2
January
2009
Fondation deLuxembourg was established. As Tonika Hirdman,CEO of the new foundation, commented: ‘One
developingphilAnthropyin luxembourg
In April 2008, Banque de Luxembourg conveneda symposium entitled ‘Seizing the Initiative orPhilanthropy in Luxembourg’, with the aim osystematically ostering the development ophilanthropy in the country. Since starting to oerphilanthropy advice to its clients around six monthsearlier, explains Philippe Depoorter, the Bank’s heado Philanthropy Practice, the Bank had becomeincreasingly aware both o the opportunities todevelop philanthropy in Luxembourg and o theneed to improve the environment or it. Though thesymposium was the rst visible step towards thisgoal, there was activity behind the scenes even beoreit took place. First, Jacques Santer, ormer primeminister o Luxembourg and president o the EuropeanCommission, was drated in as a willing champion orthe initiative. Second, FSG Social Impact Advisors werecommissioned to drat a white paper or presentationto the Luxembourg government on recommendednext steps.
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