The European Foundation

Progressing European integration calls for an instrument to serve the European public good. The European Commission is already preparing for the future framework of not-for-profit organizations. The European Foundation Project aims at developing the legislative draft for the legal form of a European Foundation. This form is designed to provide donors with an alternative to the national legal forms available in EU member states. To this end, a team of top-level experts in comparative law from all around Europe has been commissioned by the Bertelsmann Stiftung, the Compagnia di San Paolo, and the Zeit-Stiftung Ebelin and Gerd Bucerius to provide basic feasibility research and develop a proposal for the legal form of a European Foundation. This volume presents both the resulting draft and detailed explanatory memoranda. In doing so, the editors hope to lay the ground work for policy and advocacy initiatives in the foundation sector.