Endowments Forum recommends the importance of the family charter and its role in the success of endowments with a family character
The Endowment Practices Forum 2024, organized by the Asharqia Chamber on Sunday, November 24, 2024, under the patronage and honor of His Royal Highness Prince Saud bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz, Prince of the Eastern Province, Honorary Chairman of the Endowments Committee of the Asharqia Chamber, and in strategic partnership with the General Authority for Endowments, stressed the importance of the family charter and its role in the success of the family endowment. During it, the scientific committee of the forum recommended the establishment of a specialized center for family endowments, to provide advisory and administrative support, while accelerating the procedures and services associated with them, as well as the importance of applying tax and zakat exemptions and various fees for family endowments to encourage their establishment and sustainability. It called for the need to find government incentives and incentive awards to enhance the spread of family endowments and stimulate innovation in their management. The committee also recommended enhancing governance and transparency and taking care of qualifying and training current and future members of the boards of supervisors to ensure the application of the best governance practices, while obligating the boards of supervisors to issue periodic reports that reflect the performance of the endowment and the level of Transparency. The committee also recommended the importance of creating a supportive and clear legal framework, by issuing regulatory legislation that supports the establishment and management of family endowments, while providing legal protection for their sustainability, encouraging investment in innovative initiatives, and urging family endowments towards innovative investments that contribute to achieving developmental and societal goals, in addition to enhancing cooperation with government agencies, and providing facilities to enable family endowments to work together with government institutions to implement large-scale initiatives that serve society in a sustainable manner. During the forum, many endowment initiatives were announced, such as the (Riya) endowment initiative, the idea of which is to endow a clear percentage of the company's profits in a flexible and controlled model, while avoiding its connection to the company's business, the initiative to establish the world's first endowment marketing and management company to serve endowments inside and outside the Kingdom, which was launched in cooperation with the Endowments Authority, the small endowment initiative, or what is called (micro endowment), which encourages those with small and medium incomes to establish their endowment portfolios, as well as the initiative of the guide to institutionalizing endowments and controlling relations between them and other entities, which is an initiative of the Council of Civil Institutions, and finally the initiative of the Family Business Association (Tharaa), which is the first civil association in the Kingdom specializing in the field of supporting commercial families. The forum witnessed the holding of about (6) sessions that included the presentation of about (18) working papers, presented by a group of specialists and owners of endowment experiences, and addressed many aspects related to the concept of family endowments and their governance, and the roles played by the bodies supervising endowments for their success and sustainability and maximizing their role and future in the national economic scene, as well as the possibilities for the sustainability of family endowments, and the impact of establishing family endowments on family companies. The forum was accompanied by an exhibition for many endowment bodies during which they presented their endowment products and experiences, amidst the attendance of many government officials, businessmen and women, and experts from specialists and those interested in the field of endowments. The forum aimed to shed light on the mechanisms driving the development and investment of family endowments, the importance of the family charter and its role in the success of the family endowment, highlighting the latest regulatory procedures in establishing endowments and the relationship between family companies and endowments, encouraging the endowment sector to be creative and present best practices in relevant topics to advance the endowment sector, introducing family endowments and urging their establishment by mentioning the possibilities for their success and sustainability, and pointing out the most prominent successful family endowments locally and globally.
