Reasons for the establishment of a Foundation

The process through which the Foundation (FSG) was created was born in the Directorate of the Association (which approved the change in the General Assembly of July 2000), with the aim of endowing the entity with a new juridical and organisational form, which would make it more efficient and adapted to the contemporary reality of the Roma community, as well as to future challenges and opportunities.

This change was achieved in accordance with the foundational aims of the entity: the integral promotion of the Roma community through a recognition of its cultural identity. Some of the following reasons were put forward and considered in order to make this decision:

• Open the entity to other social agents. Create a wider social base, which represents and involves other sectors with a commitment towards the Roma community.
• Advance the intercultural model advocated by the organisation, leaving room for diverse perspectives and sensitivities in the government and the associative life of the entity.
• Provide the organisation with a more stable and solid structure, that allows it to undertake enterprises of greater scope and to face up to challenges and opportunities in better conditions and with better guarantees (for example, the Operative Programmes, international cooperation, the cultural field).
• Reduce the organisation's excessive dependence on public funding, opening it to new areas and lines of financing, which allow the entity to undertake projects and initiatives that alleviate such dependence.
• Turn the FSG into an entity that provides services and drives initiatives for the promotion and the development of other Roma and non-Roma organisations that work towards the same objectives.