Friends Funds
Fundraising in Europe for non-Belgian organisations
Is your not-for-profit organisation based outside the European Union? Would you like to raise funds from European donors (individuals, businesses etc.)?
With a European Friends Fund, managed by the King Baudouin Foundation, you can fundraise in Europe to support specific projects. Thanks to our role in the Transnational Giving Europe, network, such a fund will not only have a presence and a legal base in Europe, but also an effective tax structure for your European donors.
How Does It Work?
Opening your Fund
To open a European Friends Fund, your organisation must first complete a questionnaire, which is then submitted for approval to the King Baudouin Foundation’s Selection Committee for European Friends Funds. Once approved, a European Friends Fund can be created for your organisation that is open to receive donations.
Solicit contributions
Once your European Friends Fund is set up, you may inform donors based in Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France or Denmark that they can support your activities through a direct contribution to your European Friends Fund. The King Baudouin Foundation, and therefore Myriad Europe, is based in Belgium and has recognitions in the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France and Denmark that permit to provide a tax certificate for donations coming from these countries, in accordance with the relevant local tax legislation.
Donors based in other European countries, the United States or Canada can be assisted by the Transnational Giving Europe network, Myriad USA and Myriad Canada.
Myriad Europe will provide you with a dedicated, customisable webpage to receive online donations by credit card.
Making a grant distribution
Send an email to your contact person at Myriad Europe with a title and a short description of the project you wish to fund as well as the recommended grant amount. If you are unsure whom to contact, simply email us at info@myriadeurope.org.
All completed grant request applications are reviewed by our teams. It typically takes between two and four weeks for grantees to receive their payment via wire transfer.
Crowdfunding platforms for a European Friends Fund
Organisations with a European Friends Fund receive a dedicated credit card donation page, which has crowdfunding capabilities. To ensure that your online donations are properly recorded, use your dedicated credit card donation page.
Fee structure
The one-off incorporation fees for a European Friends Fund is 1,000 euros.
Each year, the King Baudouin Foundation is authorised to deduct 5% of the total amount donated to the Fund in order to finance its own activities. This percentage is regressive on sums above 100,000 euros: 3% between 100,000 and 500,000 euros, 1% between 500,000 and 1,000,000 euros and 0.5% on amounts over 1,000,000 euros.