Venture Philanthropy in Europe
The 7th Annual Conference of the European Venture Philanthropy sets the guidelines for a new industry
di Staff
It’s a pivotal moment for venture philanthropy in Europe. During the 7th European Venture Philanthropy Associacion (EVPA) Annual Conference, which is taking place in Turin today and tomorrow, 400 leaders of venture philanthropy in Europe will gather together to discuss the first ever study on European Venture Philanthropy Industry and the launch of its first guidelines.
The study was conducted by EVPA’S Knowledge Center and is expected to be repeated every year . The study will include a VP industry report expected in early 2012 and benchmarking data for the participating VP organizations.
The study reports some interesting data on VP. As a matter of fact Venture Philanthropy funds create societal impact by supporting young or very young social purpose organizations and venture philanthropists are usually hands on and medium term partners of the organizations they support.
Cumulative investments made by European Venture Philanthropy reach 1.04 billion Euros and half of the money is directed towards Health and education issues.
The guidelines that will be presented during the Conference will be a mandatory principles-based Code of conduct which will have to be followed by all EVPA’s members and employees, in order to develop the highest professional standards for the EVPA community .
“Venture philanthropy has grown from being a nascent phenomenon to a proven model that increases societal impact. “ Said Serge Raicher, Chairman of EVPA. “The fact that NGOs and social businesses have now received over 1 billion Euros of support is another proof that VP has established itself as an important tool in the philanthropic toolbox. EVPA is committed to act as thought leader and the new practice guidelines are one further step in making our sector as efficient and transparent as possible.”
EVPA was established in 2004 and is a unique network of venture philanthropy organizations and others committed to promoting high-engagement philanthropy funds, grant-making foundations, private equity firms, philanthropy advisors and business schools. Currently the association has 141 members from 19 countries.
