Edmond de Rothschild Fondations

The Edmond de Rothschild Foundations is an international philanthropic organisation launched in 2005 to regroup a number of historic legacies instituted by heirs of the Rothschild banking family (Paris and Naples branches), as well as some of the family's contemporary philanthropic initiatives. Named in honour of the philanthropist Baron Edmond James de Rothschild (1845–1934) and led today by his direct descendants, the network operates in the areas of the arts, health, entrepreneurship, and the sharing of best practices in philanthropy.

Throughout its history, the Rothschild family has engaged in charitable and patronage activities to benefit causes spanning from healthcare, scientific research, Jewish welfare, social housing and the arts. James Mayer de Rothschild (1792-1868), son of Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744-1812) of Frankfurt, established the family's Paris branch. Together with his wife Betty de Rothschild (1805-1886), he was a celebrated donor who supported literature, fine arts, and music. Through their charitable initiatives, medical aid was brought to members of the Jewish community through the Hôpital Israélite de Paris founded in 1852. Their son, Edmond James de Rothschild (1845-1934), a prolific art collector who made possible the Musée du Louvre's groundbreaking acquisition of the Boscoreale Treasure of ancient Roman silver in 1896. His historic bequest of old master prints and drawings to the Louvre in 1934 led to the creation of the Edmond de Rothschild Collection and paved the way for the establishment of the museum's Département des Arts Graphiques.

The early 20th century witnessed a greater institutionalisation of the philanthropic aims of the Paris Rothschild family. Edmond James de Rothschild, together with his brothers Alphonse (1827-1905) and Gustave (1829-1911), founded the Compagnie du Logement - Fondation Rothschild in 1904; within a decade, they had provided over 1,100 affordable-housing flats in Paris, setting an example for similar social housing initiatives by private philanthropists and, ultimately, the French government. In 1909, Edmond James de Rothschild assumed the presidency of the Fondation Ophtalmologique Adolphe de Rothschild.This Parisian hospital had been established four years earlier by the testament of Adelheid von Rothschild's uncle, Adolphe Carl von Rothschild (1823-1900) of the family's Vienna branch. The institution was fostered under the early guidance of his widow, Julie von Rothschild (1830-1907). As the couple left no children, their legacy was entrusted to their French nephew, Edmond James de Rothschild. In 1927, Emond James de Rothschild created with the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Jean Baptiste Perrin the Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique, the precursor of today's Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), France's leading research institution. Maurice de Rothschild, son of Edmond James de Rothschild, supported scientific expeditions, especially in Africa, offering numerous zoological specimens to France's National Museum of Natural History. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Ballets Russes in Paris and donated Renaissance ornaments to the collections of the Musée du Louvre. In the following generation, Edmond Adolphe de Rothschild (1926-1997) gave furniture, tapestries, and paintings to the Château de Versailles and the  Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

In France, Edmond de Rothschild supported the children's welfare association Œuvre pour la protection des enfants juifs (OPEJ), originally founded to aid children of Jewish victims of the Vichy-era deportations. He became its president in 1969, offering OPEJ the Château de Maubuisson north of Paris (Val d'Oise). Under his guidance, the OPEJ was opened to all children regardless of faith or family background in 1981. Nadine de Rothschild continued this work after her husband's death.

In order to transform these long-standing legacies into a single network and transition from traditional giving to strategic philanthropy, Benjamin and Ariane de Rothschild launched the newly-instituted Edmond de Rothschild Foundations in 2005. Since 2005, venture philanthropy has been applied in all new programs and partnerships undertaken by the Edmond de Rothschild Foundations based on the theory of change methodology to support the arts, health, entrepreneurship, and research-based philanthropic innovation.