Endowment Fund

Verified 18 June 2025 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

The endowment fund is a patronage body intended to collect donations to help another organization non-profit to carry out a work or mission of general interest. We present you the information you need to know (creation, method of financing, resources, publication of its annual accounts, etc.). They differ according to the department in which the endowment fund will be or has its headquarters.

An endowment fund is a not-for-profit organization created by one or more individuals, physical or moral, for a fixed or indefinite period.

The purpose of the endowment fund is to:

  • to carry out a work or mission of general interest (useful to the community, at a given period)
  • or to assist another non-profit organization in carrying out a work or mission of general interest by granting it funding.

It may be a philanthropic, educational, scientific, social, humanitarian, sporting, family or cultural work or mission. But also the promotion of artistic heritage, the defense of the natural environment or the dissemination of French culture, language and scientific knowledge.

FYI  

If the purpose of the endowment fund or its actual activity is not in the public interest, the prefect has the possibility to suspend the fund’s activities and initiate its judicial dissolution.

The establishment of the endowment fund is subject to a statement to the prefecture of department in which it will have its head office.

The declaration of creation must be made using an online service:

Establishment of an endowment fund

A receipt shall be issued in the month following the lodging of the declaration when the declaration file is complete.

The prefect sends the declaration receipt to the Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Dila) for publication in the JOAFE: titleContent.

Leaders can download a copy of the ad published in JOAFE, called proof of publication.

This publication is free.

Information needed

The creation request must contain the following information:

  • Endowment Fund Email and Phone 
  • Personal information on founder(s) (surnames, first names, date of birth, occupation, domicile, country of residence and nationality)
  • List of banking institutions with which the endowment fund will have accounts or means of payment and their contact details (any change of banking institution will have to be declared to the prefecture)
  • List of persons entrusted with administrative, management or supervisory functions

Documents needed

The declaration file shall include the following documents:

  • Endowment Fund Articles of Agreement. In particular, they must state the name and address of the registered office, its purpose and the period for which it is established.
  • List of persons in charge of its administration with their surname, forename, date of birth, occupation, country of residence, domicile and nationality.

Characteristics of the identifier number

Each endowment must have a unique identifier number, which remains the same throughout its existence.

This number is included in the national repository of funds and foundations.

Assignment of the identifier number

2 cases are possible (new fund or existing fund):

Répondez aux questions successives et les réponses s’afficheront automatiquement

New Fund

The number is assigned automatically at the end of the procedure for establishing the endowment fund.

Existing funds

The number is to be requested before making any request to the prefectures or the Ministry of the Interior.

To request an ID number, an existing endowment fund must use a teleprocedure:

Request for NWA identifier

This number is to be kept throughout the life of the endowment fund.

To create an endowment fund, founders must provide, in cashduring the first accounting year, an initial allocation of at least €15,000.

This allocation must be granted in full and on a definitive basis.

The endowment fund is administered by a board of directors that includes at least 3 members appointed, the 1re once, by the founder(s).

The statutes shall lay down the composition and conditions of appointment and renewal of the Management Board.

The endowment must report within 3 months to the competent prefecture all changes in its administration.

These changes apply to any person acting as a director, supervisor or director of the endowment fund.

The declaration shall contain the following information for each data subject:

  • Last name, first name
  • Date of birth
  • Nationality
  • Occupation
  • Home
  • Country of residence
  • Nature of actual interests held in the endowment fund (e.g. participation in decisions, voting rights, economic benefits)

This declaration shall be transmitted using an online service:

Reporting on changes in the administration of an endowment fund

The endowment fund shall publish its annual accounts within six months of the end of the financial year. It shall appoint at least one auditor and one alternate, where the total amount of its resources exceeds €10,000 at year-end.

The Fund shall appoint at least one auditor when the amount of its resources exceeds €10,000 per year.

Where the fund's donations exceed €1 000 000, the use of an advisory committee shall be mandatory. This committee is composed of qualified persons from outside the Management Board, and is responsible for making and following up on investment policy proposals.

In addition, the endowment fund sends each year to the prefect within six months of the end of the financial year an activity report, its annual accounts and the report of the auditor.

Transmission is by using an online service:

Annual deposit of the accounts and activity report of the endowment funds

The annual activity report, sent to the prefecture, must contain the following elements:

  • Report on the activities of the endowment fund, covering both its internal operations and its relations with third parties
  • Detailed report on the general interest measures financed by the endowment fund and their amounts
  • Report on the activities of the endowment fund, covering both its internal operations and its relations with third parties
  • Name, address of registered office, e-mail address, telephone numbers and nature of legal persons recipients of redistributions, and the amounts of redistributions paid.
  • List of the donations received, indicating the amounts of the donations and the persons issuing the donations.

The prefect may suspend the activities of the endowment fund if the latter does not comply with this obligation.

Unless regularized, the endowment fund may be dissolved by court.

The resources of the fund may consist of the following amounts:

  • Income from her endowment
  • Proceeds from activities authorized by the statutes
  • Proceeds from fees for service rendered.

The fund can appeal for public generosity after prefectural authorization. The application for permission to appeal to public generosity is to be made using an online service:

Endowment Fund Public Generosity Call for Authorization

Please note

The Endowment Fund cannot it must receive public subsidies and only be financed by private funds.

Statutory amendments and changes in the administration of the endowment fund are subject to review statement to the prefecture of the department of its head office.

The declaration must be made within Three months.

The change declaration shall be made using an online service:

Editing an Endowment Fund

The file includes the following documents:

  • Documents relating to the amendments (new registered office, new list of directors, new articles of association)
  • Decision of the legislative body.

A receipt shall be issued within one month of the lodging of the declaration when the declaration file is complete.

The Endowment Fund may be wound up in the following circumstances:

  • In application of the articles of association, where the endowment fund is for a fixed term
  • By decision of the members
  • By decision of the court (within the jurisdiction of which the endowment fund has established its seat) at the request of the prefect in the event of serious malfunctions in the realization of the purpose of the endowment fund.

The fund shall be wound up under the conditions laid down in the statutes or by the liquidator appointed by the court.

Unused resources are transferred to another endowment fund or to a recognized public benefit foundation.

The declaration of dissolution shall be transmitted using an online service:

Dissolution of an endowment fund

The prefectural authority sends the declaration of dissolution to the Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Dila) for publication in the JOAFE: titleContent.

FAQ