The Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundation created by the law of 16 July 1996 and recognized as a public utility by the decree of 18 April 1997 is a legal entity under private law whose mission is to promote knowledge, conservation, identification, the preservation and enhancement of national heritage and in particular heritage not protected as historical monuments.
The traditional missions of the Heritage Foundation
The Heritage foundation provides financial support to heritage, protected and unprotected as historical monuments, through 5 types of shares :
- Fundraising for the protection of heritage property belonging to public persons, associations or private persons;
- Corporate sponsorship thanks to the support of large companies, or local SMEs in particular within clubs of patrons;
- The award of aid the Foundation’s own funds or through partnerships with public authorities;
- The issue of a label, after consulting the architect of Les Bâtiments de France, allowing, under certain conditions, private owners of unprotected heritage under historic monuments to deduct from their total income the maintenance and repair expenses of their heritage buildings;
- Valuing and defending heritage, in particular thanks to the support of members.
It is administered by a board of directors composed of its 12 founding members, 2 representatives of Parliament, 3 representatives of local authorities, 2 qualified personalities appointed by the State and 3 representatives of its members. The Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Ecological Transition and the Ministry of the Interior each appoint a Government Commissioner who attends the Foundation’s Board of Directors.
The Heritage foundation has 22 delegations in the former metropolitan and overseas regions (Antilles-Guyana and Indian Ocean) and relies on 608 volunteers and 74 employees.
To carry out its missions, the Foundation has resources from private and public funds. These consist of grants from regions, departments, public institutions of inter-communal and common cooperation and the allocation by the State of a fraction of the proceeds of vacant successions. If we take into account the payment by the State of a fraction of the levy on the sums wagered by the players as part of the «lottery of the heritage», marketed by La Française des Jeux as part of the «Mission patrimoine en péril» (see below), the share of public funding in the Foundation’s total budget is 52.7%.
These funds are used mainly to contribute the proceeds of public subscriptions and support private owners with modest resources and who cannot benefit from tax deductions related to the label.
Heritage Mission at Risk
In September 2017, the President of the Republic entrusted Stéphane Bern with a mission to identify local heritage at risk and reflect on innovative financing to restore it.
As part of this mission, theArticle 90 of Law No. 2017-1775 of 28 December 2017 on amending finances for 2017 affects to the Heritage foundation a fraction of the State levy on sums wagered in metropolitan France and the overseas departments on the draw and scratch games organized by the Française des Jeux (FDJ) and dedicated to heritage, known as ' wealth lottery ".
For example, the Heritage Foundation created a fund to support the restoration, rehabilitation and conversion of protected and unprotected heritage as historic monuments, fuelled by the “heritage lottery”. This fund is also funded by the contribution of patrons, sponsors, donations or grants from public or private individuals. The Ministry of Culture (Regional Directorates for Cultural Affairs) grants a preferential subsidy rate to those of the selected buildings protected as historic monuments.
An agreement on the use of revenue was signed on February 13, 2018 between the Minister of Culture and the President of the Heritage foundation.
For the first edition, €22.1 million was raised for the benefit of the Heritage Foundation, to support 18 emblematic buildings (1 per region) and 249 «mesh» buildings.
In 2019, in order to take into account the proposals of the «flash» mission of the National Assembly, it was decided to select only 121 projects (18 emblematic and 103 «mesh»). €24.5 million was paid to the Heritage Foundation for this second edition.
For the third edition, 119 buildings were selected (18 emblematic monuments and 101 «mesh»).
A selection committee, chaired by Stéphane Bern and attended by Heritage foundation, the Ministère de la Culture et la Française des Jeux, retains the buildings, protected or not as historic monuments, taking into account their danger situation, the maturity of the restoration project and their impact on the territory. The selected buildings are representative of the diversity of heritage (cultural, castral, industrial, rural, residential, etc.).
Partager la page