Our History

The Origins of the Network

One day, a donor came to the King Baudouin Foundation in Belgium, wishing to make a donation to the Louvres Museum in France. The donor discovered that if they made their donation to a beneficiary in France, they would not receive the same tax benefits as if they had donated to a local organization. This small event highlighted the need to create a cross-border, tax-efficient and secured philanthropic environment in Europe.

While the European Union theoretically guarantees the free movement of capital between its member States, unfortunately, most European countries do not grant income tax deductibility to donors wanting to support a foreign beneficiary in another Member State.

To meet this new demand, in 1995, four pioneering European foundations, King Baudouin Foundation from Belgium, Charities Aid Foundation from the UK, Foundation de France from France and Juliana Welzijn Fonds from the Netherlands decided to join forces and create the Transnational Giving Europe Network.

From 4 to 20 Partners

Over the years, the network has expanded to include new foundations from countries all over Europe, growing from the 4 initial foundations in 1995 to 20 in 2021. Some partners have changed, and many others have joined to work together on cross-border philanthropy in Europe. The latest partner to have joined our network is the Academy for the Development of Philanthropy in Poland.

Each year since its creation, TGE has enabled more and more donors to support the good cause of their choice by providing a platform to make tax-efficient cross-border giving possible. 2020 was a historic year for TGE, with the pandemic unleashing an unprecedented wave of generosity, totaling no less than 28 million € in donations.

Future of the network

Transnational Giving Europe is continuously looking for new partners and countries to join its network. Interested potential partners can contact us at [email protected] for more information.