AGAPE Europe 2026

AGAPE Europe — A Gathering of Academics and Philanthropy Experts in Europe

Venice, October 8-9, 2026

AGAPE Europe is ERNOP’s biannual gathering for the directors and chairs of European philanthropy research centres and senior representatives from philanthropic organisations. It brings together institutional leaders for two days of structured exchange — on the challenges of advancing research on philanthropy, the state of the field, and the relationship between research and practice.

Day 1 — Academic gathering

Reserved for ERNOP institutional members, the first day focuses on the shared challenges of leading a philanthropy research centre: developing shared knowledge, understanding the ecosystem of European research on philanthropy. Academics exchange on funding models, team development, PhD training, teaching, publishing, and institutional positioning. Sessions are designed for honest peer exchange, not presentations.

Day 2 — Research meets practice

The second day brings together researchers and senior philanthropy professionals for dialogue on the pressing challenges facing the field. These conversations feed directly into ERNOP’s Safe Spaces for Philanthropy programme of the Research Conference 2027. Previous sessions led to two associated publication series: the Dialogue Paper Series (Journal of Philanthropy) and the Policy and Practice Paper Series (Voluntary Sector Review) and moved the conversations far beyond the rooms in which they were initiated.

Format and attendance

AGAPE takes place biannually and is aimed at institutional members only — typically around 50 participants across both days. Day 1 is open to representatives of ERNOP institutional member centres. Day 2 also welcomes senior representatives from European philanthropic organisations.

AGAPE 2026

AGAPE Europe 2026 will take place in Venice on October 8-9 2026, in collaboration with Assifero and hosted by The Human Safety Net. AGAPE Europe will address the urgencies of our field today: geopolitical tensions, societal polarisation, shrinking civic space, and growing scrutiny of philanthropy’s legitimacy and role in society. Day 1 invites researchers to map the European philanthropy research field — who we are, what we know, and where the gaps are. Day 2 brings researchers and practitioners together to identify the challenges most worth tackling jointly, feeding directly into the Safe Spaces 2027 agenda. Alberto Alemanno will provide the closing speech titled: Playing around or playing its part? Philanthropy’s potential, pitfalls, and practice in strengthening democratic life and public accountability

Alberto Alemanno is a legal scholar and public interest advocate whose work focuses on democracy, citizen agency, lobbying, accountability, and institutional reform. He is Jean Monnet Professor of EU Law and Policy at HEC Paris, Democracy Fellow at Harvard University, and founder of The Good Lobby.

For more information contact Barry Hoolwerf, ERNOP Executive Director: b.hoolwerf @ ernop.eu