The Wellcome Trust has again been ranked the top European charitable foundation both in terms of grant expenditure and assets, according to Philanthropy in Europe magazine. The second annual ranking of Europe’s biggest foundations, the charts show the top 50 by expenditure and top 20 by assets.

The Wellcome Trust is by far the biggest spender, giving away €806 million, €405 million more than its nearest competitor, despite the fact its assets have fallen by €8.8 million over the last four years.

Although the charts are dominated by foundations from Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain, ten UK foundations made it into the top 50 Foundations by expenditure, and two into the top 20 Foundations by assets.

Spend is also catching up with that given by American organisations. Europe’s top 50 foundations gave away over €3.8 billion in comparison to America’s biggest organisations which gave away €6.4 billion. However, Europe’s foundations give far more to international causes than the 40 top American foundations, only 14 of which made grants outside the US.

Top 10 European Foundations 2003 (by expenditure)
Foundation name                                                      Assets €million
1. Wellcome Trust (UK)                                             €806 
2. Atlantic Philanthropies (Ireland)                              €201.7 
3. La Caixa Foundation (Spain)                                  €179.5 
4. Fondazione Monte dei Paschi di Siena (Italy)          €146 
5. Fondazione Cariplo (Italy)                                      €144.1 
6. Stichting NOVIB (Netherlands)                               €134.7
7. Compagnia di San Paolo (Italy)                              €120.85 
8. Fondation de France (France)                                €116.7 
9. Fundacion ONCE (Spain)                                      €112.1 
10. Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (Germany)                       €110 

Top UK foundations (by expenditure)
Foundation name                                                      Assets €million
1. Wellcome Trust (UK)                                             €806 
2. Garfield Weston Foundation                                   €54
3. Gatsby Charitable Foundation                                €52.5
4. Wolfson Foundation                                              €46
5. Esmee Fairbairn Foundation                                  €39
6. Lloyds TSB Foundation                                         €36.3
7. Henry Smith’s Charity                                           €34.3
8. Health Foundation                                                €30.4
9. Tudor Trust                                                          €23.4
10. Nuffield Foundation                                             €17.4

Top 10 European foundations 2003 (by assets)
Foundation name                                                     Assets €million
1. Wellcome Trust (UK)                                            €13,015,500,000 
2. Fondazione Hans Wilsdorf (Switzerland)                 €9,110,000,000
3. Compagnia di San Paolo (Italy)                              €6,500,000,000 
4. Bertelsmann Stiftung (Germany)                            €6,000,000,000
 5. Fondazione Cariplo (Italy)                                     €5,726,500,000 
6. Fondazione Monte dei Paschi di Siena (Italy)          €5,531,700,000 
7. Sandoz Fondation de Famille (Switzerland)             €5,205,000,000
8. Robert Bosch Stiftung (Germany)                           €5,102,550,000 
9. Landesstiftung Baden-Württemberg (Germany)        €3,027,000,000          
10. Atlantic Philanthropies (Ireland)                            €2,980,500,000