75% growth in charity donations from France’s ‘shared savings’ schemes

French savers donated €14.9m to charities and foundations through a specialist type of product in 2024, with sector leaders hoping that growth will continue.

A new report by sector body FAIR shows that in 2024, €2bn was held in ‘l’épargne de partage’ (shared savings), a special type of savings product in which at least 25% of interest received is donated to good causes.

Payments made to charity had been between €3.9m and €4.8m every year between 2018 and 2022, before nearly doubling to €8.5m in 2023, and again growing significantly in 2024. The total savings held in such accounts grew by 13% between 2023 and 2024.

L’épargne de partage is a small section of France’s wider ‘finance solidaire’ (solidarity finance) category, comprising savings invested in a range of organisations and projects that support the wider public interest.

Total ‘finance solidaire’ funds in 2024 grew 7% to €29.4bn. This represents 0.5% of all savings in France – a significant figure for a sector which has only existed in earnest since the mid-1990s.

A total of 2m people out of France’s 69m population use a ‘finance solidaire’ account, according to Patrick Sapy, director general of FAIR. He comments:

“Enthusiasm for solidarity products continues unabated and today, nearly 2m savers understand that solidarity finance is not only finance based on strong values but also finance offering concrete and useful solutions for all French people.”

Philippe Pailliart, president of EFA member France générosités, notes that 67% of French people do not have enough knowledge of the sector. He says:

“This lack of cultural awareness is the main obstacle to its development. To address this, it is essential that certain banks expand and further promote their offering of shared products. In addition, public awareness must continue to be raised through major campaigns such as the Semaine de la Finance Solidaire (Solidarity Finance Week) organised by FAIR. Community networks and France générosités also have a key role to play in relaying these messages to citizens.”

The 2025 Semaine de la Finance Solidaire takes place from 10 to 16 November.

Picture by Céline Martin on Pixabay