One backdrop to the conference was the topic of immigration in Europe, and in Italy in particular.

Last week, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s government continued its crackdown on illegal immigration, making an arrangement with Libya to deport migrants to Libya before they arrive on Italian shores.

Those actions have been met by dismay and anger by human-rights activists in Italy and elsewhere.

The controversy was evident at the European Foundation Centre’s conference, when, during the opening plenary, Giorgio Napolitano, president of the Italian Republic, spoke about the dangers of xenophobia and intolerance.

That sentiment was underscored two days later at the conference’s closing session, where Emílio Rui Vilar, the newly elected chair of the European Foundation Centre, read a statement on behalf of conference participants that Europeans must work together to defend...

Like their counterparts in the United States, grant makers in Europe are also wrestling with how best to carry out their missions during a global recession.

At one session, grant makers from Belgium, Denmark, and elsewhere described their experiences as their assets have fallen.

Speakers explored options in the current economic climate, including mergers, spending all their assets to help meet immediate needs, and increased collaboration across borders.

Luc Tayart de Borms, managing director of the King Baudouin Foundation, in Brussels, said that his foundation — which plans to spend $47-million this year — has decided to spend that sum every year through 2011, but that he knows doing so could eventually dig into the fund’s endowment.

“We have set aside cash for three years of expenses, but we will have to also consider given scenarios, and work with them,” said Mr. Tayart.

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More than $100-million worth of grants probably don’t get made each year because of legal barriers that make it hard for foundations in one European country to award money in another one, according to a study released at the meeting.

Some 110,000 foundations operate in Europe, according to the study conducted by Helmut Anheier, academic director of the Centre for Social Investment, in Germany, who presented the findings, and others.

To make it easier for those foundations to make grants across borders, the European Foundation Centre, and other philanthropy advocates, have been pushing for a law that would remove most of the legal difficulties.

The process of drafting and adopting such a law has been fraught with concerns as to how it would be carried out, exactly how it would be phrased, and whether it would even be relevant. Of particular concern is how the differences in tax ...

A session on social entrepreneurship in the Arab world highlighted the work of the Synergos Institute’s work with its new Arab World Social Innovators Program.

George Khalaf, director of the Middle East and North Africa programs run by Synergos, reported on the program’s experiences since it was created in October 2007. It is the organization’s first formal foray into that region.

Since then, 22 “social innovators” from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, and the Palestinian territories have received money and management assistance to help them carry out and expand existing community-development and social-justice projects.

Mr. Khalaf said the 22 grant recipients were chosen from among 200 applicants, about half of whom were women. He said that he was disappointed that only four women received the money, but that he hoped women in the Arab world would benefit through the work of...

The terms “venture philanthropy” and “social entrepreneurship” continue to gain greater coinage in Europe, and one conference session presented case studies of such efforts in Estonia and Germany.

Artur Taevere, managing director of the Good Deed Foundation, in Tallinn, Estonia, discussed his organization’s effort to create “Youth for School,” a program that deploys outstanding college graduates to teach in schools in impoverished neighborhoods, much like Teach for America does in the United States.

“Why would some of the university graduates go to teach in some of Estonia’s worst schools?” he asked. “What is the incentive?”

In his group’s case, the Ministry of Education endorsed the idea, and the program has proved to be a good fit both with the young teachers and students.

But it hasn’t been easy, says Mr. Taevere. “We’ve had to focus on achieving very tangible results, and ...

One topic of discussion on the conference’s opening day was the planners’ choice of a gilded, opulent conference site set high above Rome on 15 acres of gardens. The European Foundation Centre says that the Hilton Rome Cavalieri was “chosen because it is one of the only hotels in Rome capable of hosting such a large conference.”

But many participants had misgivings about the issue, or had discussed it with fellow attendees. The choice of venue was somewhat ostentatious given the conference theme of ending poverty, said Haki H. Abazi, a program officer at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

Mr. Abazi is also a board member of the Trust for Civil Society in Central & Eastern Europe, in Sofia, Bulgaria, and said that when that organization searched for its next conference site, it chose an old factory in Bratislava, the Slovak Republic.

Meanwhile, Marilyn D. Clancy, senior consultant ...

Grant makers and philanthropists worldwide have a great deal to learn from each other, particularly from those in poor countries, said speakers at the annual conference of the European Foundation Centre here.

The theme of the conference, which has drawn some 700 participants from dozens of countries, is “Fighting Poverty: Creating Opportunities.”

The opening plenary, set in a state-of the-art hall in Rome’s Parco della Musica, featured a videotape of José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, who gave good wishes to the conference.

But the session’s most fiery talk by far was by Sibongile Mkhabela, who has served as chief executive of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, in South Africa, for the past 10 years.

“The world continues to be in a terrible state despite our efforts—are we making any progress?” she asked.

Ms. Mkhabela expressed “a heightened state of ...

While the economic recession is hurting nonprofit groups, they must respond by being more creative and working with businesses, government agencies, and one another, Bill Clinton told members of the Council on Foundations.

Mr. Clinton said his own charity, the William J. Clinton Foundation, is not immune from the downturn. Since September, $15-million in pledges have been unfulfilled due to the financial crisis. He added that thanks to cash reserves and trimming its operations budget, his organization has not had to cut back on AIDS projects in Africa or other charitable efforts.

Small nonprofit groups are also facing deficits, added the former president, saying he is helping the Methodist church he attends in Westchester, N.Y., raise money to run a food bank.

“This economy has hit this philanthropic sector pretty hard,” Mr. Clinton said. “I see this everywhere, large and small...

Several Obama administration officials spoke at the Council on Foundations meeting this week about their interest in working with foundations to fight the nation’s most urgent problems.

While the discussion at the event focused primarily on how foundations can influence the White House, Ralph Smith, chief executive of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, in Baltimore, and chairman of the council, wondered how a closer relationship with government would change philanthropy.

He said that foundations would need to be more agile, confident, and willing to work hand-in-hand with each other.

In terms of speed, he said grant making is usually akin “to giving birth.” The decision to make a contribution can be a “nine-month process” as a staff member makes a recommendation to a chief executive, he or she then deliberates with the board of directors, and finally a decision may be made.

In...

The U.S. Treasury Department wants to work with grant makers to revise its voluntary guidelines that seek to prevent charitable dollars from inadvertently flowing to terrorists, a department official said at the Council on Foundations meeting.

Michael Rosen, a policy adviser in the department’s Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes, said the office wants to work with foundations “to better refine the guidance.”

While saying that the Obama administration is still very concerned about the possibility of philanthropic money helping organizations like Hamas and other militant groups, he said the office’s guidelines can be “more responsive to your needs.”

Foundations have said the guidelines are too onerous and prevent some donors from making grants overseas.

Mr. Rosen also promoted the American Task Force on Palestine as a possible model to make grants in “high-risk ...