According to an internationally agreed definition, a non-governmental and non-profit making body having an endowment fund of its own, and managed by its own trustees or directors to serve the common welfare.
Foundations are the main institutions in the western world through which private funds and other resources are made available to the community. Their legal status and social significance is very different from one country to another. In England and Wales "charities' are the nearest equivalent of the 'foundations' of other countries. Foundations are important institutions in the United States, Germany, Netherlands, the Scandinavian countries and also in Spain and Italy, much less in France and other European States. In some countries they are regulated by statute law, in others by judge-made or customary law. In some States no foundation may be set up without a previous public authorisation.