Send a check once a year; participate in food collections in the supermarket near you; make a transfer after a humanitarian tragedy: everyone expresses their solidarity in their own way by financially supporting one or more associations that are close to their hearts. But it is possible to go further by putting your savings at the service of a good deed, without necessarily giving up financial performance: this is the principle of solidarity finance.
Open a solidarity booklet
The simplest solution is to open a solidarity booklet. They are risk-free, yield between 1.20% and 3.50% and automatically pay part of the annual interest to an association among those offered by the bank. These products allow you to be generous without giving up your savings since it is not a question of donating your capital, but only the interest. The saver benefits from a tax advantage in the same way as for a direct donation.
Subscribe to a solidarity fund
Available as part of employee savings, life insurance or directly from banks, these funds devote between 5% and 10% of their assets to financing social and solidarity economy (ESS) structures. The remaining 90% to 95% are classically invested in stocks and bonds: solidarity funds therefore carry a capital risk, but also an objective of long-term capital gain. Money can, however, be invested in financial products that do not always respect solidarity, social or environmental objectives. Finally, solidarity funds as such do not provide a tax advantage. These are the tax envelopes in which they can be accommodated (life insurance, employee savings, etc.) which possibly present certain interesting characteristics from this point of view.
Invest directly in the capital of an ESS structure
A third option is available to the most committed savers, who subscribe directly to the capital of a solidarity structure, generally in the form of shares or shares. This time, the objective is not performance, but the provision of its resources to a company, for example, which can use them to fulfill its mission. This type of investment generally entitles you to a tax advantage.