"We're still in the middle of the crisis"

 

by Jean-Marie Colombani 

We may be starting to see the end of the financial and economic crisis, but already two clear themes are starting to emerge. On the one hand, corporate social responsibility will be ever more prominent on the agenda. On the other, the increasing role of the State as governments have heavily engaged in spending and implemented new public policies in a bid to get out of the crisis.
There is one sector we often don't immediately think of when we talk about the crisis -   and that's the foundations sector. Foundations have obviously suffered, in terms of assets, of resources at their disposal. … During the recent debates in Luxembourg, representatives from foundations discussedtheir future.
In the short term, what do foundations need to do to get out of the crisis? Of course, there are the usual cost reduction measures. But mergers and alliances are also possible, as well as,  new approaches to social investment.
In the long term, the challenges include  a review of foundations' strategies and refocusing  their initiatives to ensure that they remain in line with  public policies, so as to perpetuate their missions and make them more efficient than before. Indeed, Europe has a diverse and extensive heritage of local foundations and a long-standing experience with public-private partnerships.
Those were the themes debated in Luxembourg, in a conference that brought together a broad cross-section of foundations from 22 countries. And from those debates, I can see that foundations are adapting, that they will continue to adapt and will remain a key player in the landscape.