Are spending policies of European foundations sustainable?

European foundations are a very heterogeneous pool of institutions whose defining characteristics often depend on local factors and the regulatory environment. In comparison with the US, foundations in Europe have played a less prominent role until now and have certainly been far less transparent. To use the words of Rien van Gendt, chair of the European Foundation Centre International Committee, the traditional approach in Europe was “the old charity with occasional financial handouts from accumulated wealth with not much transparency and accountability”. The very definition of a European foundation is still sometimes hazy, although in recent years the work of Bertelsmann (2001) and Anheier (2001) have tried to create some common ground to enable cross-country comparisons.