About us

The Rosalie Rendu Endowment Fund

Established in 2012 at the initiative of the Company of the Daughters of Charity, the mission of the Rosalie Rendu Endowment Fund is to support the humanitarian and development projects of the sisters in mission throughout the world.

Confronted with the multitude of needs, the Daughters of Charity decided to create this Endowment Fund, a legal structure empowered to appeal to the generosity of the public, to solicit donations from a wider public, private donors or patron foundations.

The Rosalie Rendu Endowment Fund (FDRR) is a structure that acts in the general interest and as such is eligible for patronage (statutes and authorisation from the Prefecture). It acts for the benefit of the greatest number, does not engage in any lucrative activity, and does not offer any consideration beyond what is permitted by the sponsorship regime. The Endowment Fund is a legal entity under French law. It is a secular entity.

Today, the Company of the Daughters of Charity is an international Community present in 96 countries and on 5 continents, and is composed of nearly 14,000 Sisters of Saint Vincent de Paul.

The Daughters of Charity also work at the United Nations to influence policies that affect people in need, suffering injustice or exclusion.

Faithful to the charisma of Saint Vincent de Paul, the Daughters of Charity place themselves at the service of those who are vulnerable and impoverished. Within the framework of their missions and in a community of fraternal life, they devote their lives to caring for, accompanying and helping people who have been abandoned, by staying close to each one of them.

Their mission is mutual aid, collaboration with different peoples by respecting other cultures and other religions.

The local anchoring of project sponsors in the countries enables them to identify needs and provide adapted, sustainable and replicable solutions. The realities on the ground are experienced, shared and lived by the Daughters of Charity themselves. They are sometimes the only ones to respond to needs that states do not take care of.

The projects are rooted in a reality of life and experience in the field that ensures the viability and sustainability of the actions being undertaken.

In their efforts to work for the integration of the most underprivileged, they do not only seek to assist in immediate needs by punctually providing food, lodging or clothing.

They also deploy strategies to enable them to get out of poverty and dependency while helping to change the social system in which the supported populations live.

The Rosalie Rendu Endowment Fund is inspired by the life of Sister Rosalie Rendu (Jeanne-Marie Rendu 1786-1856), who became very popular through her extraordinary devotion in Paris, devastated and upset by the health crisis (succession of Cholera epidemics from 1832 onwards) and the social and political conflicts of the 19th century (riots of July 1830 and February 1848).

Like Sister Rosalie Rendu, the sisters' commitment has no limits despite the difficult conditions in which they work. They are themselves often exposed in risk areas to persecution, religious fundamentalism, natural disasters, epidemics and exploitation by powerful private businesses

As in the Mouffetard district where Sister Rosalie Rendu worked, there is no shortage of hardships: unequal sharing of wealth, social and political conflicts, lack of state, lack of hygiene, poverty, solitude.