Philanthropie et financement des associations en Belgique - Etat des pratiques

Abstract

The question of philanthropy is more and more present today due to the diminution of the public financing. This study will first define the concept of philanthropy and explain the different issues of this growing way of financing. Then it will clarify the concept of associations, more especially the not-for-profit associations, and the different ways they have to finance themselves. A last part will describe the key figures and trends of this environment. Once all this concepts are defined, the practical part - which concerns a database of 240 philanthropic organizations - will attempt to find links between several elements. First it will be question of the employment according to regional and sectoral perspectives. The importance of organization size will also be analysed. A second topic is about the repartition and the evolution of costs and proceeds, still with a regional and sectoral perspective. The aim is here to confirm the increase of philanthropy and more especially the donations. The third point of this practical part will try to show links between parameters. We will begin with the link between staff and volunteers. Then we will examine three other parameters in order to find potential causes for the increase of private donations and corporate patronage. These parameters include the volunteers, the fund-raising costs and also the costs in information, awareness raising and education. At the end of this research, these results will be discussed and finally prospective will be announced.