The Louvre Endowment Fund

The Louvre Endowment Fund: contributing to the financing of strategic museum projects

The mission of the Louvre Endowment Fund is to finance the museum’s long-term investments through aid from individual donors, foundations and corporations.

Created in 2009, the Louvre Endowment Fund is a pioneering initiative in the French museum sector. It is based on the efficient model of major American institutions with a proven track record of endowment fund financing, which was transposed into French law in 2008.

Related documents (available opposite, in French): the provisions of the French law on the modernization of the economy, dated August 4, 2008, governing endowment funds and the implementing decree dated February 11, 2009.

Strengthened by a strong initial contribution from the intergovernmental agreement between France and the United Arab Emirates on the Louvre Abu Dhabi project, the Louvre Endowment Fund is already a key financing and development tool for the museum, dedicated to major strategic projects that will shape the Louvre of tomorrow.

The Louvre Endowment Fund gives donors the opportunity to make a sustainable contribution to museum projects that will ensure its long-term development.

Helping the Louvre build the future

As an extension of the “Grand Louvre” renovations, undertaken from 1981 to 1999, the Louvre continues to launch new projects, some of which will soon be underway. Through this action, rooms devoted to the exceptional collection of eighteenth-century decorative arts will be reopened and the Islamic Arts will be exhibited in the new rooms of the Cour Visconti, genuine architectural feats fostering dialogue between civilizations.  

To sustain the momentum of these major projects that render the Louvre a museum in tune with the times, the museum has already identified the strategic projects that will receive support from the Endowment Fund over the next twenty years. The purpose of these projects is to perpetuate the excellence and international outreach of the Louvre, and to seek out new audiences, particularly the disadvantaged public, by taking a genuine approach to intergenerational solidarity.

The renovation of the Tuileries Garden and the Cour du Sphinx, the redesign of the reception areas beneath the pyramid, as well as the creation of a national center for heritage preservation, research and restoration will make it possible to offer future generations the best reception, exhibition and preservation infrastructures.

Find out more about the projects backed by the Louvre Endowment Fund in the dedicated section.

Long-term partnership with the Musée du Louvre

The Louvre gives individual donors, corporations and foundations the opportunity to support these projects through the Endowment Fund. Donations and bequests to the endowment fund are a key source of continued support to the Musée du Louvre.

Special recognition is given to donors who, by forging long-term partnerships with the Musée du Louvre, choose to put their donation towards sustainability. Endowment Fund donors receive advantageous tax benefits and special benefits based on the amount of their donation. 

The Louvre is open to feedback from its donors who would like to suggest or support through the Endowment Fund research programs and restoration work, scientific publications and educational projects that are important to them.

Find out more about donating to the Endowment Fund in the dedicated section.