Who are the beneficiaries of a foundation and what is their role?

Beneficiaries are those natural or legal persons who, at any time during the existence of the foundation or upon its termination, receive or may receive an economic benefit from the foundation.
They are very important. They are determined by the donor. The beneficiaries are the persons who actually receive or may receive an economic benefit, unconditionally or subject to certain conditions or requirements, temporarily or permanently, in whole or in part, during the existence of the foundation or after its dissolution.
However, the beneficiaries do not have the status of members in a foundation, unlike, for example, in a company limited by shares.
Nevertheless, they are an essential part of the foundation’s oversight process. This internal supervision by the beneficiaries replaces the external supervision by the Foundation Supervisory Authority.
The group of beneficiaries entitled to control is broad and includes, in addition to beneficiaries and ultimate beneficiaries, prospective beneficiaries and current discretionary beneficiaries. However, the beneficiaries only have control rights, i.e. rights to information and disclosure, to the extent that these affect their rights. Specifically, the control rights of the beneficiaries include the right to inspect the foundation’s documents and the right to information, reporting and accounting.
However, the donor can also modify this statutory internal supervision by the beneficiaries in the statutes and limit the rights of the beneficiaries, for example by reserving a right of revocation (in which case the control rights are exclusively vested in the donor), by appointing a controlling body (in which case the control rights are limited to its core area) or by voluntarily placing the private foundation under the supervision of the Foundation Supervisory Authority, the so-called STIFA.