# Europe's top 40 foundations ranked - Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2003/08/10/europe039s-top-40-foundations-ranked/ - Published: 2003-08-10T23:00:00+01:00 - Author: Howard Lake **Europe’s top 40 foundations give 3.2 billion euros a year, according to ‘Philanthropy in Europe’ magazine’s latest research.** Philanthropy in Europe magazine has published the first continent-wide ranking of Europe’s biggest-spending foundations, listing the top 40 by grant expenditure. The list is dominated by foundations from Germany, Italy and the UK, but there are a further nine countries represented in the listing: Belgium, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey. The ranking shows that the Wellcome Trust is by far the biggest spender amongst European foundations, with grants of over €700 million, despite asset falls of approximately €8.7 billion over the last three years. The next largest is the Spanish savings bank foundation Fundación La Caixa. ## Advertisement [⌊Posthub advert. You create the campaign. We'll handle the postal journey. Get started at post-hub.co.uk.⌉](https://fundraising.co.uk/ads/posthub-20261007-300x250/) Europe’s top 40 foundations gave away 3.2 billion euros in 2002, compared to grants from the biggest spending foundations in the United States of €6.8 billion. However, Europe’s foundations are a great deal more international in their giving than their American counterparts, excluding the Italian banking foundations, in general spreading their grants across European and international borders. In contrast, of the 40 top American foundations, only 14 made any grants outside the US. **Europe’s Top 40 Foundations** (by expenditure, with all figures in euros) are: 1. Wellcome Trust (UK) €701 million 2. Fundación La Caixa (Spain) €169 million 3. Stichting NOVIB (Netherlands) €154.7million4. Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation ( Portugal) €132 million5. Volkswagen Stiftung (Germany) €124.4 million 6. Compagnia di San Paolo (Italy) €117.4 million 7. Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (Germany) €110 million8. Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (Germany) €102 million 9. Aga Khan Foundation (Switzerland) €91 million 10. Fondazione Cariplo (Italy) €90.1 million 11. Fondazione Monte dei Paschi di Siena (Italy) €80.05 million 12. Fundacion ONCE (Spain) €78.2 million13. Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftelse (Sweden) €66.15 million 14. Bertelsmann Stiftung( Germany) €65 million15. Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Torino (Italy) €64.5 million16. HIVOS (Netherlands) €59.5 million 17. Wolfson Foundation (UK) €58.2 million 18. Fondation de France (France) €58 million 19. Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation( Sweden) €55 million20. Gatsby Charitable Foundation (UK) €55 million 21. Garfield Weston Foundation (UK) €47.5 million 22. Robert Bosch Stiftung (Germany) €47 million 23. Technologiestichting-STW (Netherlands) €46 million 24. Fundacion Telefonica ( Spain) €45 million (2002)25. Gemeinnützige Hertie-Stiftung (Germany) €45 million 26. Vehbi Koc Foundation (Turkey) €44.4 million 27. Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt( Germany) €40 million 28. Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo (Italy) €40 million 29. Henry Smith’s Charity (UK) €36.4 million 30. Avina Stiftung (Switzerland) €33 million 31. Tudor Trust (UK) €32.3 million 32. ZEIT Stiftung (Germany) €28 million 33. Software AG Foundation (Germany) €26 million pa34. Fundacao Oriente (Portugal) €26 million 35. King Baudouin Foundation (Belgium) €25 million 36. Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Roma (Italy) €25 million 37. Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach- Stiftung (Germany) €24.4 million 38. Bayerische Landesstiftung (Germany) €21.8 million 39. Jacobs Foundation (Switzerland) €21.2 million40. Suomen Kultuurirahasto (Finland) €20 million Total: **€3.2 billion** The magazine also includes a ranking of Europe’s top 10 wealthiest foundations, which includes several of Europe’s “most inscrutable and secretive foundations”. The top 10 wealthiest foundations held assets of an estimated €57 billion in 2002, up from €52 billion in 2000. However, the figures are muddied due to the complicated share structures of two Swiss foundations and their corporate holdings _Philanthropy in Europe is a bi-monthly magazine providing news and analysis on giving by Europe’s individuals, foundations and companies._ * **[A new era of legacy leadership](https://fundraising.co.uk/2008/08/30/new-era-legacy-leadership/)**( 30 August 2008) * **[Planned giving roundtable in Dublin](https://fundraising.co.uk/2008/09/24/planned-giving-roundtable-dublin/)**( 24 September 2008) * **[Three philanthropy groups combine to produce Philanthropy Impact](https://fundraising.co.uk/2013/02/15/three-philanthropy-groups-combine-produce-philanthropy-impact/)**( 15 February 2013)