00:00In America, Charity is a dentist from Florida, bidding $50,000 on a signed guitar, not because
00:07he loves music, but because he would like to stop feeling like the villain in his own
00:12third divorce.
00:13It is loud, it is shiny, but in France, non.
00:17In France, Charity is a form.
00:20It is a quiet, bureaucratic ballet performed by you, an organization and a state that cannot
00:26help hovering nearby.
00:27You think you are just dropping a coin in a tin ? Non, you are participating in an Association
00:34Loi 1901, that's the French legal framework behind most non-profits.
00:41It does sound like science fiction, though.
00:43In the year 1901, citizens gathered in groups and the paperwork began to reproduce.
00:50Indeed, to understand the French urge to organize kindness, we must go back to July 1st, 1901.
00:57Before that, France, you see, had a complicated relationship with people forming groups.
01:04Not illegal to have friends, exactly.
01:07More like, friendship is allowed, but if it becomes organized friendship, we must check
01:14that you are not trying to resurrect the monarchy.
01:17The state would look out the window and go, Mon Dieu, there are three people on a bench.
01:23They are sharing ideas.
01:24Arrest the bench.
01:26So, the 1901 law arrives and says, basically, fine, you may gather, you may create an association,
01:35you may do pottery, charity, medieval sword dancing.
01:38But, if you want to function properly, open a bank account, rent a hall, receive certain
01:46funds, you will declare yourselves and you will write statutes.
01:51Today, there are roughly 1.3 million such active associations in France.
01:58And yes, most associations end up with a president and a treasurer.
02:03Not because the law forces those exact titles, but because reality does.
02:09Because at some point, someone has to sign something and someone has to explain why there
02:16is 17 euros missing from the cash box.
02:19And that person will be named Michel.
02:22So, who are you actually giving money to?
02:26France has a handful of charity legends.
02:29First, Les Restos du Coeur, founded in 1985 by Coluche.
02:35A comedian, a clown, a man who looked like he could start a bar fight with a baguette and
02:40win.
02:41He went on the radio and basically said, people are hungry.
02:45It is cold, we are doing something, who's in?
02:49And France, very Frenchly, replied, yes.
02:53But also, how will it be structured?
02:55Today, the Restos du Coeur deliver around 160 million meals a year in recent seasons.
03:03And then there is the famous yearly fundraising show, Les Enfoirés, which literally means the
03:10bastards.
03:10You watch it on TV.
03:12You cringe.
03:13You donate.
03:14It's very Pavlovian, you see.
03:16Number 2.
03:17Le Secours Catholique.
03:19Founded in 1946, the church's major organized charity network, very serious, very structured,
03:27very love thy neighbor, with the gentle implication that your neighbor may need to produce a document.
03:33Not because they don't love them, but because France cannot love anyone without first creating
03:40a dossier.
03:41Number 3.
03:42Le Secours Populaire.
03:44Founded in 1945, famously described as a child of the resistance.
03:49This one is solidarity with a capital S. It hands you groceries with the spiritual energy
03:57of here.
03:58Eat.
03:58Society is a thing.
04:00We build.
04:01Also, please sign here.
04:03Number 4.
04:04Médecins Sans Frontières, or MSF.
04:07Founded in 1971, the French doctors.
04:11Most doctors say, where does it hurt?
04:14MSF doctors sometimes arrive like, it hurts everywhere.
04:17There.
04:17The situation is a moral abscess.
04:20We brought gauze.
04:22And audacity.
04:23They didn't single-handedly invent the entire idea of humanitarian intervention.
04:29But, they absolutely helped popularize that very French argument.
04:35When people are dying, maybe the border is not the main character.
04:40Later, France would debate ideas like this under phrases like droit d'ingérence, which
04:46is extremely French, because it's both morally urgent and phrased like a legal pastry.
04:53Number 5.
04:54La Croix Rouge, French Red Cross.
04:57Founded in France in 1864, this is the grand old presence.
05:03You scrape your knee at a village festival.
05:06And all of a sudden, a person in a vest appears from behind a Renault like a woodland medic.
05:13They are ready for the apocalypse.
05:14They are also ready for a mild nosebleed, whichever comes first.
05:19They are the reason French events can serve wine next to a bouncy castle and still feel
05:25somehow supervised.
05:27Now, pay attention.
05:29This part is boring, but it can be financially important, so we will make it dramatic.
05:35Some associations get a special status, reconnu d'utilité publique, recognized as being
05:41of public utility.
05:43This is the state saying, we have inspected your governance, we have reviewed your seriousness,
05:50we have nodded grimly.
05:52You may now wear the sash.
05:54It is not the only way a charity can be legitimate, but it is one of the state's strongest gold
06:00stamps.
06:01And for the viewers thinking about retirement in France, this matters most when you are talking
06:08about big gifts and legacies.
06:10As in, if I leave money or even property to a charity, will that work smoothly?
06:18In France, the safest approach is that you check the organization's legal status.
06:24Because, otherwise, your estate might end up funding something obscure, like the fellowship
06:30of the sad snail.
06:32And your ears are like, why is there a statue?
06:36Why does it have a plaque?
06:38Why does it say Merci Michel?
06:40Why do the French give?
06:43Is it the goodness of our hearts?
06:45Well, yes.
06:47Also, we love a tax reduction.
06:49In France, charitable giving is partly altruism and partly the delicious feeling of paying less
06:55tax while looking like a saint.
06:58Here is the simple version.
07:00Give 100 euros to an eligible charity and you can, generally, reduce your tax by 66 euros.
07:07So it costs you 34 euros, which is an incredible deal emotionally.
07:13Because for 34 euros, you get to be a good person and keep the receipt as proof.
07:18Now, there is also the famous Coluche scheme.
07:21If you give to certain organizations helping people in real hardship, meals, shelter, essential
07:29care, the reduction can be 75% up to a limit, commonly 1,000 euros in that bracket.
07:38And then above that, it returns to the usual 66% rate.
07:42And yes, there are limits, there are always limits.
07:47But yeah, in a way, it's like the IRS, but with better bread.
07:50And if you are British, think HMRC, except the tax forms are trying to seduce you into
07:56learning new vocabulary.
07:58You want to integrate?
08:00You want to do a bénévolat, volunteering?
08:03Lovely idea.
08:04Just understand, volunteering in France is not merely helping.
08:10It is administration with snacks.
08:12You will walk into a room.
08:14You will be handed a plastic cup of something warm that tastes like effort.
08:19And then you will attend the AG, the Assemblée Générale, the annual general meeting.
08:27This is where time goes to lean on a wall and have a smoke.
08:30Three hours will pass.
08:32You will debate printer paper for flyers advertising an event that nobody will attend.
08:37This is the French social contract.
08:40We don't bond through small talk.
08:42We bond through shared procedural fatigue.
08:46Boredom is the glue that holds the Republic together.
08:50And finally, shopping.
08:52In France, we have Emmaüs, built around communities where people rebuild their lives by rebuilding
08:59your furniture.
09:01Emmaüs is where objects go when they die and then come back with a second career and a
09:07new hinge.
09:08You go in to buy a plate.
09:10You leave with a wardrobe the size of a small cathedral, a lamp shaped like regret and a chair
09:16that seems to have witnessed history.
09:18You don't shop at Emmaüs.
09:20You excavate.
09:22You emerge blinking into daylight and say, I have found a toaster.
09:27It appears functional.
09:28It may also be cursed.
09:30So, there you have it, charity in France.
09:33Coluche's clown army feeds people.
09:36The big solidarity networks support families.
09:40The red cross appears in the bushes if you look vaguely injured.
09:44Médecins Sans Frontières storms into global crisis with a medical kit and the confidence
09:49of a nation that invented philosophy and argument.
09:53And yes, the state helps encourage a lot of this through tax reductions.
09:58Because sometimes the most French way to support kindness is to make it fiscally efficient.
10:05So go on, give a coin, get your receipt, join the meeting, argue about the paper.
10:11It is the French way.
10:13As for me, I'm off to the red cross.
10:15I have a paper cut and I hear they already have a triage unit and a man called Michel ready
10:21to chair the committee.
10:23Thank you very much for watching, indeed.
10:26I love you all.
10:29Hey baby Châtagne.
10:31Baby.
10:32Baby.
10:34Yes, you are next to the heat, right there, while I was out in the cold to make this video.
10:43Oh, ok.
10:44I will let you have your nappy nappy nappy, yes, like a cat that you are.
10:49Oh, yes.
10:51So tiring.
10:52The life of a cat.
10:54Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk.
10:56Ok.
10:57Au revoir.
10:59Au revoir Châtaigne.
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