Be Philanthropy, an event organized by the King Baudouin Foundation, aims to promote philanthropy and at the same time make people think about the social role and recent evolutions in philanthropy. More than 1,100 philanthropists, policy makers, bankers, entrepreneurs, and foundations from the Netherlands and abroad showed up for the event on Thursday.
Be Philanthropy wants to “study the trends, opportunities, difficulties and innovations of philanthropy and how it can achieve even greater impact in the service of the common good”, according to the King Baudouin Foundation. The event in Autoworld was kicked off on Thursday with an opening speech by Queen Mathilde. This was followed by Pierre Wunsch, chairman of the King Baudouin Foundation, and Finance Minister Vincent Van Peteghem (CD&V).
The official program did not start until a quarter past eleven. Twelve speakers, including Sofina CEO Harold Boël and CEO of the National Lottery Jannie Haek, came in parallel speaking sessions to discuss the trends, opportunities and challenges of philanthropy. The program is built around four central themes: innovation, involvement, the new responsibilities of philanthropy and how to create opportunities in this.
Barometer
On Tuesday, the King Baudouin Foundation also announced its barometer of philanthropy. It showed that last year about 56 percent of Belgians – 59 percent Dutch speakers and 52 percent French speakers – made a donation to charity, considerably less than in 2019 when it was still 63 percent. The most popular charities have traditionally been those around health and medical research and these also received the most donations.
This article is originally published on bruzz.be
