Philanthropy and Impact Investing
“Families learn more about long-term wealth preservation through giving than they do through spending or accumulating."
- James E. Hughes Jr.
Increasingly, individuals are choosing to give back to society and destine assets to making the world a better place during their life and beyond. There are various ways to pursue social goals, each of which has different legal, tax and financial consequences for the donor or the donor's company. We have in-depth knowledge of laws on public benefit organizations (ANBI), international philanthropy, relevant estate law, and tax planning and can advise you on the right solution for your situation.
Where appropriate, we integrate advice on philanthropy in our advice on the continuity of family businesses and closely held corporations, family governance, estate planning and social enterprises. Family businesses that have been very successful across several generations all have a very strong family governance and are almost all involved in philanthropy. The business case of philanthropy is evident for wealthy families.
- Listen to the podcast 'Is there a right approach to family philanthropy?' a speech performed for the University of Oxford by Dr. Ineke Koele, November 2015
Our work in this area is based on the dissertation "International Taxation of Philanthropy", which was completed in 2007 and which, based on a functional analysis of American, German and Dutch law and tax law systems, proposes a solution to the problems of cross-border flows of funds in the philanthropic sector.
Our international knowledge enables us to comment on Dutch law in comparison with other jurisdictions and give cutting-edge advice on innovative developments, whereby we do not shy away from taking legal action on fundamental issues.
- Read "International Charitable Giving", Chapter on the Netherlands, Oxford University Press
- Read "How will International Philanthropy be Freed from Landlocked Tax Barriers?"
- Read "Trends in cross border philanthropy"
- Read "Ten Things You (Probably) Didn’t Know about Philanthropy in the Netherlands"
If you are considering starting an international philanthropic organization and would like to compare the Netherlands with other jurisdictions, click here to find out more about ANBIs.
- Read "Where to locate an international charity?"
- Read the chapter The location of Family Charity: the Netherlands and beyond in the 2021 published book on Family Philanthropy.
Venture philanthropy and impact investing
Venture philanthropy is an umbrella term for the "hybrid" use of assets based on organizational models that serve social goals enduringly without dependence on donations or grants. Micro-financing is a familiar example. Franchise models and investment models (impact investing) are also applied with the goal of using tipping points to solve social problems on a much larger scale than is possible with pure philanthropy. Tax authorities in the Netherlands and elsewhere have difficulty distinguishing between venture philanthropy and for-profit initiatives, which often gives rise to disputes. Careful preparation and presentation are key to the success of these initiatives.
Shared Giving
We developed Shared Giving for individuals over 65 who do not want to set up a foundation but would like to contribute to a public benefit pursued by one or more ANBIs while optimizing their lifetime income at the same time and seeing the results of their contribution. This is a new, effective way of combining these goals.
Shared Giving was inspired by the long-standing practice of "planned giving" in the US and Canada, a form of giving that enables the donor to retain an interest in the assets without losing the tax benefits over the donated amount. See www.gedeeldgeven.nl.
"People who would like to donate more than a quarter million euro can use initiatives such as that offered by Stichting Gedeeld Geven (gedeeldgeven.nl). A clever approach not only enables the donor to take advantage of all of the tax benefits of a periodic gift, the donor also receives 3% or more ‘interest’ over the donated amount. That's more than you get from a savings account." Aert-Jan Grotenhuis, Consumentengeldgids February/March2015
