Scale of French generosity revealed in Fondation de France study

A total of €7.5 billion is donated annually in France, a study by Fondation de France has shown.

Individuals are responsible for 60% of this total, according to the study, Panorama national des générosités, with donations mentioned in tax returns for 2015 amounting to €2.62 billion, up 70% since 2006. 5.7 million households declared donations in 2015, representing 15% of tax paying households.

According to Fondation de France, the increase is the result of both more households declaring donations, which has risen by 20%, and an increase in the average donation. This has risen 44% in the past decade from €320 to €460, the study says.

Corporate donations are also increasing, it found, with the estimated total expenditure for corporate philanthropy reaching an estimated €2.9 billion in 2015, of which €1.6 billion is declared expenditure and €1.3 billion is an estimate of undeclared expenditure.

In addition, a study of 300 beneficiary organisations estimates legacies amount to nearly one billion euros a year. Nearly 50% of legacies go to foundations, with the three most popular causes being medical research (23%), education (13%) and solidarity (13%).

The study also looked at methods of giving and shows that collections in public spaces or on private sites and big events such as telethons provide at least €47.5 million annually, while donations through crowdfunding have also increased significantly over the last three years in France, from €13.7 million in 2014 to €37.4 million in 2016.

Micro donations, such as the rounding up of cash or online purchases are still low in France, but growing, raising €1 million in 2015 and €1.6 million in 2016, according to figures quoted in the study from MicroDon.

2015 is the most recent year for which all the sources quoted in the report are currently available, including tax figures.

The full report can be downloaded from the Fondation de France site.