European countries are making it easier for their citizens to engage in philanthropy and augmenting laws to provide tax incentives and stronger self-governance, a study from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and Philanthropy Europe Association finds.

The report, The Philanthropy Environment in Europe: December 2022 (PDF, 12 pages), which examines philanthropic giving between 2018 and 2020, ranks 33 European countries—the members of the European Union as well as non-member states including Russia and Turkey—across six aspects of the philanthropy landscape such as ease of operation, tax incentives, cross-border philanthropic flows, political environment, economic environment, and socio-cultural environment.

The study indicated that the tax environment has generally improved across the continent benefitting both donors and recipient organizations, while restrictions on the cross-border flow of funding remains an issue across Europe and even within the EU’s single market. Additional reporting requirements designed to address money laundering and terrorism financing, as well as domestic laws that create operational barriers and restrict funding from foreign sources continue to slow philanthropy across the continent. Overall, countries in northern and western Europe scored better on all indices compared to other regions of Europe, although the report emphasized that low performance elsewhere on the continent was relative, and in almost all cases near or above global averages.

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