A number of Dutch charitable funds have been forced to cut pay-outs this year and rethink their investment strategies because of the economic crisis, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Tuesday.

For example, the Bernard van Leer Foundation, set up by the founder of the Van Leer packaging empire, is to cut its spending from €24m last year to €18m. It lost 30% of its value last year.
And the 1818 Fund, which supports social and cultural projects in The Hague, is reducing its spending by €1m to €9.5m, the paper says.
Earlier this year it emerged that the VSB fund, which has much of its assets invested in Fortis shares, had been forced to half its donations to €26m.