European Foundation Centre appoints Delphine Moralis as chief executive

The European Foundation Centre has announced Delphine Moralis, the current Secretary General of Terre des Hommes International Federation, as its next CEO.

Moralis takes up the post in September and is the EFC’s first female chief executive. She succeeds Gerry Salole, who will retire at the end of this month after leading the EFC for the past 15 years.

Moralis brings several years of international experience in building and leading pan-European associations and organisations, including in the human rights and development sectors. From Belgium, she has extensive experience in representation, fundraising, network management and coaching with her previous organisations which include Missing Children Europe, Child Focus and Cable Europe. She also has multiple engagements in Board and advisory roles including Concord, the European NGO confederation for relief and development.

“Delphine is the perfect person to build upon the EFC’s legacy and to lead the EFC into the next phase of its journey towards strengthening the voice and role of philanthropy in Europe”, said Angel Font, recently elected Chair of the EFC and Corporate Director of Scientific Research, “la Caixa” Foundation. “I very much look forward to working with her and to witnessing her own unique contribution in this critical role of representing the EFC’s members and tackling today’s substantive issues, not least in light of COVID-19 but also the other great challenges we all face from rising inequality to climate change.”

“I am delighted to be given this opportunity at such a critical juncture”, said Delphine Moralis. “We are living in challenging times, and philanthropy – with all its diversity and strengths – has a vital role to play. I look forward to working with EFC members, who are already so invested in finding the solutions to such challenges, as well as the other philanthropy support organisations in Europe and around the world. I firmly believe that this is our time to show philanthropy at its best.”

Angel also acknowledged and thanked Gerry Salole for his contribution to the EFC over the past 15 years. “Gerry has transformed the EFC into a lighthouse on whom foundations can focus and depend upon as they navigate through both calm and rough seas. He has been the lighthouse keeper, and on his watch, the EFC has diversified its networks, developed its peer learning and knowledge capacity and amplified its policy voice, both for key thematic issues and for the wider sector.”