The generosity and drive of both citizens and companies are required to meet certain needs of society. The Fund’s founders want to focus on aiding underprivileged children and protecting cultural movable heritage. On occasion, the Fund may also support projects to strengthen democratic society.
The Fund uses its own resources to support projects in both Europe and Africa; donations help bolster that aid.
New projects may be proposed as long as they are in line with the priorities set.
Objectives of the Fund
Two main and one complementary objectives were set for the Fund that correspond with the priorities of both the Foundation, its founders and their parents.
‘Childhood should be a joyous experience: a time to play, to laugh, to develop their creative potential. It is very important to ensure for all the best possible start in life, especially for children with special needs as the vulnerable and disadvantaged’
(Queen Mathilde of Belgium, dinner speech for the King Baudouin Foundation in New York, 9 May 2005).
Our parents thought also that good education was the basis for a good life, and that vulnerable children needed special attention to give them equal chances.
‘Culture is what remains, when everything else is forgotten’.
(Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian foreign minister and co-founder of the European Economic Community, precursor of the European Union, 1899-1972).
Our parents had multiple cultural interests. While father was an avid reader, mother sang in a choir in her youth and enjoyed concerts and opera well into her 90’s. A poem was read at home every evening.
‘We never really thought about Europe as a home, a shelter … Europe is a certain idea of ‘der Mensch’, the person… Each person counts. This is the core value of our great civilization, worthy of protection. This is Europe’s message to the world’.
(Herman Count Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, on receiving the Charlemagne Prize, Aachen, 29 May 2014).
Our parents saw their youth disturbed by the second world war, and believed in an open, democratic society in a more integrated and collaborative Europe, and a renaissance of Africa.
Motivation
Gratitude and memories often form the basis of philanthropy when paired with social needs. There are undoubtedly a great number of way to thank parents for their love and support, but at some point it becomes clear that what Dante Alighieri, of Inferno fame, said still applies:
“There is no greater sorrow than to recall happiness in times of misery.”
Since the earliest civilisations, art has been used to keep the memories of loved ones or those we admire alive. But their ideals, that contribute to a better world, must also be perpetuated.
The idea had been forming for a while already, but in 2015 use was made of the possibility offered by the King Baudouin Foundation to set up a permanent Fund, named after our parents, Joseph Schepers (1921-1962) and Germaine Lijnen (1921-2015).
Joseph Schepers
(by Jozef Tysmans, © private collection)
Germaine Lijnen
(by Malou Swinnen, © private collection)
