UNIAPAC Foundation
Presentation, gouvernance, partnership
Presentation
The UNIAPAC Foundation, created in 2010, is a partner of UNIAPAC International. It has rapidly developed its activities with main priorities. Indeed, it brings to the fore, pools and implements innovative ideas pertaining to the purpose of the economy and business management, such as the implementation of social accountability anchored in the human aspect of business, through the fundamental needs of the men and women who are employed. Furthermore, the UNIAPAC Foundation supports and reinforces UNIAPAC’s worldwide network whilst bringing the network’s convictions and practices to the attention of major international institutions.
It also meets the training and transformation needs of the 45,000 business leaders around the world, in all sectors of the economy, who strive every day to create an economy that promotes Human Dignity and the Common Good.
Finally, the Foundation develops several research programs and is a key facilitator in UNIAPAC’s ongoing dialogue with all men and women of good will who are interested in ensuring the legitimate place of the human person in the economy.
Legal structure
Fonds de Dotation is the most efficient structure in terms of governments guaranty and taxes advantage. Fonds de Dotation benefits from Transnational Giving Europe founding system. Transnational Giving Europe is a network of prestigious philanthropic institutions collaborating internationally to foster charitable giving within Europe and covers 21 countries, offering to the citizens of these countries all the tax advantages of local donations to foundations.
THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The Board of Directors steers and validates the UNIAPAC Foundation’s strategic decisions, operational action plan and budget. It appoints the members of the Operational Committee and oversees its actions.
President: Bruno Bobone.
Board members: Sigrid Marz, Laurent Bataille, Philippe Mine, Pierre Deschamps, Luis Bameule, Rolando Medeiros, José Maria Simone, Sergio Cavalieri.
THE HONOURS COMMITTEE
The Honours Committee promotes the universal vision and reflection of the UNIAPAC Foundation.
Its members are internationally renowned individuals who work to promote an economy that serves mankind and the common good.
THE COMMITTEE OF FRIENDS
The Friends Committee is made up of the main donors and patrons of the UNIAPAC Foundation.
It supports the Board of Directors in defining the Foundation’s main strategic orientations.
THE OPERATIONAL COMMITTEE
The Operational Committee is composed of a Delegate General, Rodrigo Whitelaw and a Projects Coordinator, François-Joseph Pitiot.
It ensures the operational management and promotion of the UNIAPAC Foundation.
Partnerships
Partners impacting international programmes
International Labour Organization
Uniapac and the International Labour Organization have been working closely together since the ’30s. Since 2013, the UNIAPAC Foundation has been submitting the views of Uniapac associations to the International Labour Organization working group on the new United Nations Millennium Development Goals.
Its committed contributions to negotiations ensured that “decent work for all” was included as one of the goals in the UN’s post-2015 agenda, thus asserting that one of the keys to fair and sustainable development is the opportunity for every individual to perform productive and decently remunerated work, combined with security and social protection for workers and their family.
Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development
Constant dialogue with the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development ensures that the UNIAPAC Foundation participates in discussions on the financial system, the inclusive economy, the economic crisis, governance and ethics.
This dialogue provides a voice for the views and the actions of Christian business leaders in response to encyclicals on the subject of the economy and business, and thus conveys the reality and outlook of an enterprise contributing to the Common Good.
UNESCO
The UNIAPAC Foundation is an accredited member of UNESCO and works closely with this institution on different issues. The Foundation represents UNIAPAC within the International Catholic Centre for Cooperation for UNESCO (CCIC). It helps finance the CCIC and participates in think tanks and actions pertaining to migration, interfaith dialogue, access to water, combating poverty and climate change.
ECOSOC
UNIAPAC is currently in the process of obtaining consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations, one of the six principal organs of the UN placed under the aegis of the UN General Assembly, with a consultative role concerning questions of international economic and social cooperation. By obtaining consultative status, UNIAPAC intends to make a concrete contribution to the work of ECOSOC or its subsidiary bodies, through its various projects and activities.
OECD
The Foundation has been maintaining for several years a close partnership with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), especially with its Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC). The Foundation has participated actively in various OECD seminars, conferences and other events.
Meaningful alliances
CEME
The UNIAPAC Foundation has a cooperation agreement with the Centre for Enterprise, Markets and Ethics at the University of Oxford, coordinating research work that interfaces theology, economics and ethical business. This agreement provides for mobilising financial resources for research and for the organisation of seminars, researcher exchanges and teaching and training programmes.
Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice
The Foundation is engaged in reflection on questions pertaining to the economy and society with this institution, which strives to promote the Social Doctrine of the Church.
Konrad Adenauer Foundation
Our Foundation reflects jointly with this Think Tank, which is close to the German CDU (seminar entitled “Investing for the Common Good” in Paris in 2013).
Ecophilos Foundation
Together with this foundation, we share a vision of a business culture that dovetails with ethics.
Impact Campus
Impact Campus is part of the Groupe SOS, a group of associations, a leader in social entrepreneurship in Europe, and a major player in the social economy. It brings together 650 associations, social businesses, establishments and services that fight, act and innovate for the benefit of people in vulnerable situations, future generations and local communities. Together, the Foundation and Impact Campus have developed UNIAPAC’s Digital Academy.
World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is a non-profit foundation that brings together multinational business leaders, bankers, senior politicians and influential intellectuals from all over the world. The UNIAPAC Foundation has been an active participant in this forum for many years.
The UNIAPAC Foundation is also a member of the “Faith in Action” Advisory Board. “Faith in Action” is a WEF report which aims to bring forward case studies on the impact of faith in the business world, cases where “faith actors” have collaborated with private actors. As an Advisory Board member, UNIAPAC will :
- Participate in board meetings to provide strategic guidance on the report’s objectives, themes, and key messages.
- Review and offer feedback on research findings, report content, case studies, and recommendations.
- Assist in the dissemination and promotion of the report’s findings.
- Collaborate with fellow board members to foster productive dialogue, exchange ideas, and generate innovative solutions.
COMECE
The Foundation has formed a meaningful alliance with the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE). It took part in the consultation and dialogue process begun in November 2017 by COMECE’s Commission for Social Affairs, and more recently in the publication of the book “Business and the Earth”, written by Edmond Grace S.J., Secretary for Ecology at the Jesuit European Social Centre (JESC).
“Business and the Earth”, postfaced by Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich S.J., Archbishop of Luxembourg and President of the COMECE, aims to promote the dialogue advocated by the encyclical Laudato si’ and to denounce the cynicism and obsession with short-term profit that plague the business world. The UNIAPAC Foundation sponsored, translated into French and Spanish and then presented this book to the COMECE in November 2021.
Ordo Socialis
The Foundation has an institutional and editorial partnership with this German association, which is aimed at disseminating the Church’s social thinking.
Zermatt Summit
The President of the UNIAPAC Foundation has spoken on several occasions at this annual summit designed to reflect on a more humane form of globalisation
The Capitaldon Endowment Fund
That supports research into, and the promotion and implementation of, new practices of governance and investment at the service of dynamic and responsible business development and job creation. In 5 years, CapitalDon has supported 15 of our research projects on ethics and finance, responsible leadership, and transforming company culture.
The Anber Foundation
A public interest foundation that has financed over 120 projects in the fields of education, health and work since it was created. Its support has enabled us to finance programmes in Africa on developing an economy at the service of Mankind in 2014 and ethical management in 2015.
FIUC - International Federation of Catholic Universities
To help decision-makers involved in management and strategic planning, the UNIAPAC Foundation, the International Federation of Catholic Universities (FIUC) and Nordic Foresight have jointly developed a Foresight Training Programme designed to introduce participants to the benefits of the foresight method, with a particular focus on horizon scanning, trend assessment and scenario planning. The Foundation also participates in several FIUC events.
ICMC
The International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) is a non-governmental organisation that serves and protects refugees, displaced people and migrants “regardless of faith, race, ethnicity or nationality”. ICMC and the UNIAPAC Foundation collaborate to contribute to the project “The future of work”, through various events at global, regional and national levels.
Religions for Peace
For the past two years, the Foundation has been working with Religions for Peace, an international movement of religious representatives dedicated to promoting peace. This relationship began on 5 May 2021, at the seminar “Leveraging Public-Private Partnerships for Multi-Religious Action for Peace”. The Foundation and Religions for Peace have since met on a number of occasions, including the co-organisation of a major virtual interfaith prayer on 21 June 2022, where they brought together religious representatives from a wide range of faiths to promote interfaith collaboration in the service of humanity.