Two Foundations, One Mission

Phoenix is one mission carried by two legal entities: the Colombian foundation, based in Rivera, Huila, and Fondation Phoenix Initiative France, based in Vielle-Aure. The French entity is an association under the loi de 1901, France's standard legal form for non-profit associations, and it was registered in the first quarter of 2025.

Since that registration, donations to the mission have been possible on two continents. This article explains, as plainly as we can, why the structure exists and what it changes for you as a donor. The legal detail will stay modest, because the structure itself is modest: it is plumbing, not architecture.

Why two entities at all

The work is in Colombia. The nursery's first seedling beds went in this quarter; the first paid training cohort of women from Rivera began at the same time; the hillside restoration, the workshops, the whole field program happens in and around one small Andean town. A Colombian foundation is the natural vehicle for that: it is the entity that operates locally and answers to Colombian law.

But a meaningful part of the people who want to support this work live in Europe. Without a European entity, their generosity has to cross an ocean before it even becomes a donation, with the friction and uncertainty that implies. A French association changes that: it gives European supporters a door on their own continent.

So the division of labor is simple. The Colombian foundation does the work on the ground. The French association exists so that supporting that work from Europe is straightforward and properly documented.

What this means practically for donors

• If you give in France: your donation is made to Fondation Phoenix Initiative France, a registered association loi 1901. Under current French rules, individual taxpayers can claim an income-tax reduction of 66% of the donation, within a limit of 20% of taxable income; companies can claim 60% within their own limits. We confirm what applies to your situation before any transfer.
• If you give from elsewhere in Europe or the Americas: tax treatment differs from country to country, and we will not pretend otherwise. Write to us; we will tell you honestly which entity is the right recipient for you and what documentation we can provide.
• In every case: the mission your donation funds is the same one, described by the same five pillars, run by the same team.

The mechanics of giving are also the same on both continents. You pledge on the site; the team replies by email with secure bank-transfer instructions; after your transfer, you receive your receipt. No card data passes through the site at any point.

The honest cost of doing this properly

Two entities mean two sets of obligations: accounting and legal filings in both countries, on both sides of the Atlantic. We carry those costs in a dedicated budget line, operations and compliance, which also covers things like hosting. We would rather name that cost than hide it, because it buys something real: an organization that is properly registered, properly audited in due course, and answerable in both of the places it asks for trust.

One mission

It would be easy for a two-entity structure to drift into being two organizations. The guard against that is not legal, it is practical: there is one program, one set of pillars, one field team, and one journal, this one, reporting on all of it. The French association does not run its own projects; it exists to connect European support to Colombian ground.

Two foundations, then, but in the sense that a bridge has two footings. What matters is what crosses.