Luxembourg's generous side

Luxembourg may have a reputation for being a wealthy nation but it is no Scrooge when it comes to distributing funds to worthy causes.

The Grand Duchy's annual budget for charitable donations grew by just under 100 million euros during five years.

In 2010, the state gave out a whopping 303.57 million euros to not-for-profit organisations, otherwise known as ASBLs.

This figure represented 1.09% of national revenues and showed a substantial growth in donations since 2005, when Luxembourg gave away 207.38 million euros (0.8% of total revenues).

The country's generous side was brought to light by minister for cooperation and humanitarian action Marie-Josée Jacobs, responding to a parliamentary question by ADP deputy Fernand Kartheiser.

She explained that the largest single donation to an organisation was 53.05 million euros, given to the Fondation Caritas. The other main beneficiaries were Médecins sans frontières (27,120,618 euros) Handicap International (18,994,923 euros), Fondation Luxembourgeoise Raoul Follereau (14,141,326 euros) and Appui au développment autonome (ADA) (12,763,938 euros).

Mrs Jacobs said: “Humanitarian aid plays an important political and governmental role in terms of cooperation, which explains the substantial growth in budget during previous years.”

To qualify for funding, ASBLs must be active for two or more years, have a head quarters in the Grand Duchy and have a solid base of donors.

It is not only the Luxembourg state which generously supports ASBLs. According to the 2011 World Giving Index, Luxembourg is ranked 16th out of 153 countries for individual charitable donations. The report, by the Charities Aid Foundation based on data from Gallup's World Poll, showed that 55% of respondents in Luxembourg had given money to a not-for-profit.