What Fondation de France does

Fondation de France is a French philanthropic foundation headquartered in Paris, founded in 1969 and recognized of public utility (reconnue d'utilité publique). It functions as a national philanthropy infrastructure: operating 6 regional branches, sheltering 974 sub-foundations (fondations abritées) under its legal umbrella, and supporting roughly 13,000 projects annually across health, research, social inclusion, environment, and territorial development. It serves individual donors seeking to establish personalized giving vehicles, corporations launching branded foundations, and nonprofit associations applying for funding through open appels à projets. The organization is supported by 480 volunteers and 251–500 employees.

The foundation's core operating technology is the "Place aux solutions" crowdsourcing platform, through which it publishes calls for projects and receives applications. As of 2025, this platform integrates OpenAI-powered text assistance to help applicants draft project descriptions. Beyond this, the foundation runs program-specific infrastructure for each thematic appel à projets, and administers compliance, due diligence, and grant disbursement for the sheltered-foundation ecosystem. The platform architecture is application-facing rather than AI-native: AI is a single UX feature layered on top of third-party OpenAI models, with no disclosed proprietary models or in-house ML capability.

Revenue mechanics are nonprofit in nature: the foundation is funded by individual donations, legacy gifts, corporate contributions, and returns on its endowment, then redistributes these as grants to projects selected through the appels à projets and partner programs. The sheltered-foundation model generates a recurring administrative and fiduciary fee stream, and corporate partnerships such as UNICANCER (oncology research scholarships) and the Fondation Brico Dépôt pour l'habitat (housing) extend the donor base via branded sub-foundations. No revenue, donation inflow, or endowment value is disclosed in the source material.

Name

Fondation de France

Legal name

Fondation de France

Website

https://fondationdefrance.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1969

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

Fondation de France is a French philanthropic foundation (founded 1969) that operates 974 sheltered foundations and 6 regional branches, funding roughly 13,000 projects annually across health, environment, and social causes for individual donors, corporations, and nonprofit associations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Philanthropy and Charitable Grantmaking

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211)

akta.pro primary industry

Private Foundations (BPAGAKAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Community Foundations (BPAGAKAB), International Grantmaking & Development Foundations (BPAGAKAH), Philanthropy & Foundations Advisory (Donor-Advised Funds, Endowments) (FSAAABAH)

Keywords

• Philanthropy foundation
• Charitable grantmaking
• Sheltered foundations
• Donor management
• Nonprofit project funding

Headquarters

HQ city

Paris

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Charitable Contributions: The foundation receives donations from individuals (one-time and recurring), corporations, and philanthropists. Donations are directed to specific causes or the foundation's priority areas. The foundation also receives legacies (legs) and donations (donations).
2. Sheltered Foundation Management: The foundation hosts and manages 974 sheltered foundations (fondations abritées) under its legal umbrella, providing governance, administrative support, and operational infrastructure in exchange for a share of foundation activities.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Fondation de France is a nonprofit philanthropic foundation that collects donations from individuals, corporations, and philanthropists, and redistributes those funds as grants, scholarships, and project funding to nonprofit associations and project holders in France. It also operates a network of 974 sheltered foundations (fondations abritées) under its legal umbrella, providing governance, administrative, and operational infrastructure for philanthropists who create their own foundations.

Product overview

Fondation de France operates as a philanthropy network offering a comprehensive suite of digital platforms and programs. The core offerings include: an online donation platform for charitable contributions; multiple user portals (Philanthrope, Donateur, eAwards for project applicants) enabling different stakeholder interactions; an Annuaire des appels à projets and Annuaire des fondations abritées directory with 974 sheltered foundations; a Guide des bourses scholarship finder; the 'Place aux solutions' collaborative platform with AI-assisted features; and thematic programs in environmental transition, coastal/maritime protection, and territorial development. The organization connects donors, philanthropists, and project leaders through these integrated digital services while managing calls for projects across diverse social causes.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Plateforme de dons (Online Donation Platform)

Quantifiable outcome

• 13,000 projects supported in 2025
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration9 records

AI capability2 records

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• UNICANCERcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFondation de France and UNICANCER jointly award scholarships to physicians or pharmacists to initiate a first international mobility project on a clinical, translational, or fundamental research topic in oncology outside their original institution, abroad.
• FIRAH (Fondation Internationale de Recherche Appliquée sur le Handicap)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerIn partnership with FIRAH, Fondation de France supported projects for producing knowledge to feed inclusive approaches favoring the full social participation of people with disabilities of all ages.
• Santé mentale (review)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInitiated by the Santé mentale review and supported by Fondation de France, the Prix Equipes Soignantes en Psychiatrie encourages and rewards initiatives that improve the quality of care proposed to patients and their quality of life in psychiatry.
• Coalition des fonds et fondations pour les forêts françaisescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerA coalition of funds and foundations united for virtuous management of French forests, coordinated by Fondation de France to pool efforts for forest conservation and sustainable management.
• Planète Mer and AFDPZ (Association Française des Parcs Zoologiques)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartners in a call for expressions of interest (AMI) for co-construction of knowledge for biodiversity conservation, engaging research teams in participatory research projects.
• SalesforcecoreTechnology or IntegrationUsed as the CRM platform for donor management, philanthropist portal, project holder portal, and the 'Place aux solutions' platform. Data transfers to the US are covered under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.
• Microsoft (Azure/Office 365)coreTechnology or IntegrationUsed for messaging and file storage tools. Data transfers outside the EU are covered under standard contractual clauses.
• eVisioncoreTechnology or IntegrationProvides the eAwards platform used by project applicants to submit their funding applications to the foundation. Data transfers to Canada are covered under Canada's adequacy decision.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• King Baudouin Foundation: Large Belgian public-utility foundation operating a comparable philanthropic network model across Belgium and Europe, including donor-advised funds, sheltered foundations, calls for projects, and thematic programs in health, environment, education, and social cohesion.
• Swiss Philanthropy Foundation: Swiss foundation offering sheltered foundation hosting and cross-border philanthropy services with international grant-making, structurally similar to Fondation de France's 974 fondations abritées model.
• Charities Aid Foundation: UK-based philanthropy intermediary providing donor-advised funds, international grant-making infrastructure, and research on global generosity — a directly comparable philanthropic network to Fondation de France.
• Robert Bosch Stiftung: Major German public-utility foundation running thematic calls for projects in health, education, democracy, and international relations — comparable scale and similar themed program structure.
• Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation: Portuguese foundation of public utility operating an integrated philanthropy model combining grant-making, sheltered initiatives, and a research observatory — directly parallel to Fondation de France's structure.
• Fondation Edmond J. Safra: Large French-registered private foundation of public utility operating a similar sheltered-foundation model with grants across health, education, and culture.

Broad incumbents

• Wellcome Trust: UK-based global charitable foundation with much larger AUM, focused on health research and society; relevant as a broader incumbent in European philanthropy with overlapping thematic areas like health and research.

Emerging players

• European Foundation Centre (Philanthropy Europe): Brussels-based membership and advocacy organization for European foundations — a peer ecosystem convening and policy counterpart rather than a direct grant-making competitor.
• HelloAsso: French nonprofit payment platform enabling associations and donors to give and receive funds online — adjacent competitor in the French donation infrastructure space.

Others

• Fondation de France — Geneva (FDF Genève): Local Geneva foundation of the Fondation de France network — same brand, sister entity handling Swiss-based giving; comparable structure but legally separate and serves a different canton-level jurisdiction.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Fondationfrance
• Facebookfacebook.com/fondationdefrance

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Fondation de France