The European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA), formed in 2005, now has over 50 members and associate members. Those members come from 14 countries and represent a wide variety of organizations and individuals. Recently recruited members include venture philanthropy organizations in the Netherlands and France, European private equity firms or their foundations, and philanthropists based in Norway and Israel.

Members also include social enterprise groups, universities and professional services firms. The idea is that EVPA should appeal equally to groups looking to use their philanthropic resources more effectively and to groups that see the value of networking and sharing experiences and are interested in exploring the ways in which different types of organization can work together.

EVPA sees its role as threefold: to promote venture philanthropy by bringing in new participants, ideas and capital; to provide a networking platform for venture philanthropy across all European countries; and to set up working groups to address issues such as measuring and increasing the impact of venture philanthropy and identifying social enterprises with the potential to contribute significantly to the solution of major problems.

Among its other services, EVPA publishes a quarterly newsletter and a European Venture Philanthropy Directory which gives contact details and profiles for all its members.

EVPA’s second annual conference in Paris in September last year attracted 271 delegates from 21 countries and a similar turnout is anticipated at this year’s conference, to be held in Madrid on 25 October.

For more information
http://www.evpa.eu.com

For further details and an invitation to the Madrid conference contact conferences@evpa.eu.com