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EFFECT | spring 2007 European Foundation Centre | www.efc.be
Rien van Gendt, Executive Director of
the Netherlands-based Van Leer Group
Foundation and Chair of the EFCs Code
of Practice Working Group that drafted
the Principles, says that for him it is
above all a matter of wanting to be in
the drivers seat and not being taken by
surprise by governments that want to
regulate. If the foundation sector itself
does not take the lead, ignorance about
the sector will end up stifling it.
Changes in the environment in whichfoundations work prompted the EFC to
review its 1996 Code of Practice.
The issue of terrorism; the liberalisation
of legal/fiscal regimes (and
governments expectations of a quid
pro quo); growing interest within
the European Commission in private
money for public good; and changes
in the sector itself, including a great
increase in its size, role, visibility,
diversity and cross-border activities, all
came together to create an urgency for
revising the Code.
As a result, the new Principles
emphasise transparency, stewardship
(with foundations investments now
considered as important as their
charitable spending), partnership, and
sharing of know-how and experience.
In order to accommodate the sectors
diversity, the Working Group decided
to draw up a separate document on
Illustrative Practice Options to help with
implementation of the Principles.
Implementation was in fact a central
concern for the Working Group. It is
very important that the EFC does not
simply say thank you to the Working
Group and then put the new document
on the shelf and go back to business as
usual, says van Gendt. He believes it is
vital that the EFC take a more proactive
approach to the Principles, getting
Centre members to take them to heartand also setting a level of aspiration for
the European foundation community at
large. But what does this mean in more
concrete terms?
According to van Gendt, the Principles
should become part and parcel of the
work of the various EFC committees
being created in the coming months.
These will be committees dealing
with legal/fiscal affairs; researching,
documenting and communicating the
work of foundations; benchmarking
and capacity-building; and networking
and collaborating. Even within the
current committee structure, how
foundations regulate themselves is an
issue that cuts across all activities. When
he was Chair of the EFC International
Committee, for example, there was a
discussion about the US Patriot Act
and Treasury Guidelines and how these
could affect European foundations thatreceive US money or cooperate with US
foundations.
While stressing that the Centre must not
and cannot be a watchdog organisation
or a police force, van Gendt makes it
clear that the EFC will ask prospective
members to agree to adhere to the
Principles, as it has done in the past
with the Code of Practice agreement
to adhere is mandatory. But the EFC
will now go further: It will also ask
current members to publicly showtheir adherence when they renew their
membership.
If problems do surface, the Working
Group recommends clear, structured
and flexible procedures to examine
alleged abuses, with termination
of membership being the ultimate
sanction. As van Gendt puts it, You
mostly need to use the carrot, but
you need a little bit of the stick as well
because if there are cases of proven
abuse or misconduct, it could damage
the credibility of the EFC and of the
sector as a whole.
In order to help its members comply
with the Principles, the EFC has decided
to take a number of steps. It will:
building Philanthropy Institute
Programme (PIP) with the seven
Principles of Good Practice and
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The EFCs new Principles of Good Practice
It is very important that
the EFC does not simply...
put the new document on
the shelf and go back to
business as usual.
-Rien van Gendt
Van Leer Group Foundation
For the first time in a decade, the European Foundation Centre
(EFC) has overhauled its Code of Practice and produced a new set of
Principles of Good Practice. It is not just a question of a revised text,
but also of an enhanced role for such a document.
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EFFECT | spring 2007
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European Foundation Centre | www.efc.be
organise practical roundtable sessions
around them
events, develop with membersself-assessment tools to implement
the Principles
existing resources on foundation
practices
adherence to the Principles on their
websites and annual reports; review
compliance with the Principles at their
board meetings on a regular basis
(e.g. every two years); and share the
Principles with their staff
We would like to see foundations
voluntary compliance and thats what
we ask, and we will ask it not only once
but consistently, says van Gendt.
Van Gendt has put the Principles on
the agenda of the Van Leer Group
Foundations board meeting in the
spring so that his foundation can
assess its own practices against the
backdrop of the Principles and the
Illustrative Practices. Besides individual
foundations, he thinks it is also
important for the EFC to work with
national associations of donors (NADs)and see how the new Principles match
what they have been doing. This way
the Principles can have a wider impact.
According to van Gendt, It is important
that we show to the larger foundation
community in Europe what good
standards are.
The Illustrative Practice Options that
supplement the Principles draw on
NADs codes of practice not only in
Europe, but in the Americas, Asia and
Australia as well. They also draw on
codes from other sectors such as health
and public housing. The Illustrative
Practices show that there are many
different ways that the Principles can be
implemented.Developing the new Principles and the
Illustrative Practices was a two-year
process. Inside the Working Group we
were always on the same wavelength,
although there were many discussions
about various points, says van Gendt.
I enjoyed it very much. It was very
rewarding though not always easy, but
then its good to be challenged and to
exchange ideas.
Nyegosh Dube, EFC
To download the Principles of Good
Practice and the Illustrative Practice
Options, go to: www.efc.be/4564
How does one fundamentally
change a major foundation after
18 years of operation? Just ask
John R. Healy, CEO of Atlantic
Philanthropies, an organisation
with an endowment of $3.8billion. Upon taking the helm of
the foundation in 2001, Healy set
Atlantic on a radically new course
that will see it spend its entire
endowment by 2016 and then
shut down. His task completed,
Healy is handing over to a new
CEO, Gara LaMarche, in April
2007.
Weve put a lot of time into developing
a completely new approach, says Healy.
Im particularly proud of the fact that
Atlantic now has a very explicit mission.
Having abandoned its previous rather
scattershot style of grantmaking,Atlantic now focuses on four areas:
Ageing; disadvantaged children
and youth; population health; and
reconciliation and human rights. I think
weve arrived at a very good approach
and I get great satisfaction knowing
that Atlantic staff are enthusiastic about
what weve built together, says Healy.
Related to this narrower, clearer focus,
We would like
to see foundations
voluntary compliance and
thats what we ask, and we
will ask it not only once
but consistently.
-Rien van Gendt
Some parting thoughts of Atlantics John R. Healy
on transforming a foundation
John R. Heal y,Chief Executive Officer,The Atlantic Philanthropies
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