Those who think of philanthropy may get Bill Gates-like visions, and those who think of charities may have in mind the monthly donation to KWF or Médecins Sans Frontières. But in between there is a range of fundraising organisations and forms of giving that are somewhat less obvious. Reason for VU University Amsterdam to set up the Center for Philanthropic Studies in 1995.
'Actually, it fits VU perfectly,' says René Bekkers, current director and professor of Philanthropy at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities. 'Because the university itself began in 1880 as a philanthropic private initiative,with start-up capital from wealthy entrepreneurs, among others. Among them brewer Willem Hovy, who today also has his 'own' fund at VUfonds. But capital also came from private individuals: in the 1930s, reformed households had a green 'VU van' on the mantelpiece as standard, where housewives collected change for 'their' university. So VU and philanthropy are closely intertwined.'
Today, the Center for Philanthropic Studies is the Dutch knowledge centre for developments in the philanthropic landscape. And in this, a striking trend has emerged in recent years. 'The Netherlands is not necessarily a generous country when it comes to the size of donations. Most households are under 100 euros per year per charity,' explains René. 'We also see a declining trend in the number of Dutch people giving to charities. But the share of donations from inheritances is actually rising. This is not so much a result of the ageing population, but of the fact that more and more elderly people remain childless. They then often leave part of their assets to one or two charities.'
Many larger charitable organisations saw this trend years ago in their marketing data: 'They adjusted their strategy accordingly and now clearly have an edge in visibility and effectiveness with this target group.' Smaller organisations and universities, for example, lag behind, explains René: 'Universities are relatively young players in the world of philanthropy in the Netherlands. We finance our education mainly from public money, unlike, for example, Anglo-Saxon countries, where private money plays a much bigger role in university budgets.'
That public money mainly covers the student intake, but does not provide space for many valuable research and education initiatives in addition, René argues. 'Take, for example, helping academics who have had to flee their country for whatever reason. Without a safe place and network at, say, VU, their valuable knowledge would be lost. Or think of students who develop pioneering products or services that they want to make socially available through a start-up, but cannot get financing for this through the bank. Then donations, gifts or legacies are a godsend.' More and more universities are therefore making work of these 'fourth streams of money' through fundraising.
'University funds are not so well known as charity,' René explains. 'But you see universities appealing to a specific group, namely their alumni. And that makes sense: you maintain a special bond with your alma mater anyway. And vice versa, alumni know better than anyone the value of their own university.' To strengthen ties with alumni, René believes it is important for universities to listen carefully: 'Know where your alumni are, what they think is important, and also know where in your university the projects and stories are that tie in with that.' And in doing so, it is okay to look wider, he argues.
'Previously, philanthropy was mainly defined as roughly 'donations of money for public benefit', but we see philanthropy much broader. Literally translated from the Greek, philanthropy means: love for humanity. So anything you do with heart for a broader purpose than just your own well-being is philanthropy, you might say. That could include making your business network available to a student-entrepreneur, or mentoring a first-generation student, or participating in research - I'm just mentioning something. We can look at that very creatively. But it starts with listening. That is why VUfonds has now also set up the VUfonds Panel, so that alumni, but also other interested parties, can think along about ways to support the valuable work at VU.'
Just as VU was once born out of dedication from many, as far as René is concerned, its future is also borne by the same commitment: 'You can still see that shared drive and responsibility to offer everyone equal opportunities and build a sustainable future at VU. We should cherish that.'