Civil society is a society of citizens, their initiatives, groups and organizations that have their own structure, governance and non-profit status. Non-profit organizations are part of a wider civil society and welfare system of modern states. Philanthropy is a voluntary individual act or group grant with the goal of investing in the general good.. By the end of the 20th century philanthropy has progressed and non-profit organizations are increasingly involved in areas such as healthcare, education, etc. The concept of organized philanthropy is also a foundation. The Foundation is a property intended for itself, that is to say the earnings it earns, to permanently serve for some general purpose purposes. The foundation development points to an understanding that the state can not care for all the social, cultural and educational needs of society. The most developed foundations are in the United States and Germany and in more and more countries are dominated by education foundations. Scholarships, along with other forms of assistance, mainly provide financial support to students and that means that they also meet the social goals. This paper deals with the notion of the non-profit sector, philanthropy and foundation, shows the historical development of the foundation and the foundations in the United States and Germany, more details are presented about the foundations and positive examples of foundations in the field of education and scholarship in the Republic of Croatia. ,