Elite donors are a crucial and sought-after source of funding for many nonprofit organisations, but there is a dearth of substantive empirical studies presenting primary data on such donors’ motivations, experiences and perspectives. There are challenges for social scientists in conducting interviews with elites, notably: gaining access to elite donors; developing sufficient rapport to discuss a topic that involves money and morals; and making sense of data without being dazzled by striking surface differences between elites and non-elites. These barriers have resulted in a long-standing over-reliance on secondary sources and on interviews with proxies such as foundation staff and wealth advisers. This paper reviews the small body of work that presents findings from interviews with elite donors and draws on my experience of conducting interviews with 46 wealthy UK donors, in order to critically analyse the implementation of this research design. This paper adds to the literature by extending understanding of elite donors’ reasons for agreeing to be interviewed and contributes to advancing third sector research by highlighting strategies to overcome challenges in conducting elite interviews in order to gain a less mediated understanding of the contexts, cultures and subjectivities of their focus of study.

In the present study, we examine the determinants associated with variations in the level of funding allocations among 112 grant-making philanthropic institutions in Israel. Drawing upon the hypotheses developed in Creative Philanthropy and the New Philanthropy approaches, we test the extent that social, economic, and organizational performance affects the level of funding allocations. Evidence indicates that (a) the level of resources raises the level of funding allocations to economic performance but not social performance; (b) a higher number of institutional stakeholders from the public sector, local authorities, and private organizations, eligible for support, raises the level of funding allocations to social performance; and (c) a higher number of volunteers in the workforce increases economic performance. The results assess assumptions promoted in the New Philanthropy approach, suggesting that philanthropic institutions in Israel develop a clear focus on professional management and a wise rather than “romantic” approach to philanthropy and altruism.

This paper examines the extent to which communication strategies may influence willingness to volunteer. Research on persuasive advertising and the “arousal: cost-reward” model serve as theoretical foundations. The results of two experiments indicate that advertisement-induced (ad-induced) emotional arousal, message framing, and manipulations of self-efficacy perceptions can impact willingness to volunteer. Analysis detected a significant interaction between perceived self-efficacy and message framing. In the low (high) self-efficacy condition gain frames (loss frames) were more persuasive. When gender-related differences were considered, analysis revealed that ad-induced emotional arousal and manipulations of self-efficacy had their impact solely on men’s willingness to volunteer. Based on the results of the empirical analyses, implications for management and starting points for future research are presented.

The paper investigates processes and consequences of ‘philanthropic kinning’, that is the use of kinship and family idioms in constructing and maintaining personal relations between donors and recipients in philanthropy. Usual studies collapse the occurrence of kinship metaphors in philanthropy either as evidence of ‘prosociality’ (e.g. trust, care or love) or more frequently as evidence of ‘paternalism’ (power and domination of donors over recipients, and their objectification). This paper claims that introducing kinship and parenting studies into researching philanthropy would greatly refine our understanding of donor–recipient relations. In the framework of a qualitative case study of a philanthropic ‘godparenthood’ programme organised in Hungary supporting ethnic Hungarian communities in Romania, this paper looks at the roles, responsibilities and obligations various forms of philanthropic kinship offer for the participants; and relations of power unfolding in helping interactions. With such concerns, this paper complements earlier research on hybridisation of philanthropy, through its sectoral entanglements with kinship and family. Also, it contributes to research on inequalities in philanthropy, by showing how philanthropic kinning may recreate, modify or reshape donor–recipient power relations in diverse ways.

This paper examines the effects of aggregate government payments to nonprofit organizations on aggregate private philanthropy. Four behavioral models of private philanthropic giving are proposed to formulate four hypotheses about those effects: no net effect (null hypothesis), crowding in (positive effect), crowding out (negative effect), and “philanthropic flight” or displacement (negative effect across different subsectors). These hypotheses were tested against the evidence from 40 countries collected as a part of a larger research project aimed to document the scale and finances of the nonprofit sector. The data show that, on the balance, government payments to nonprofit institutions (NPIs) have a positive effect on aggregate philanthropic donations to nonprofits, as stipulated by the crowding in hypothesis, but a field level analysis revealed evidence of “philanthropic flight” or displacement from “service” to “expressive” activities by government payments to “service” NPIs. Due to the limitations of the data, these results indicate empirical plausibility of the hypothesized effects rather than their incidence. The findings demonstrate the complexity of the relationship between government funding and philanthropic donations to nonprofits, which depends on the goals of the actors (donors and recipients) and institutional settings mediating the transaction costs of difference sources of nonprofit support.

In the United Kingdom, there has been a resurgence of interest in philanthropy amongst the media, policymakers, and scholars alike. In this context, the analysis of new and innovative forms of philanthropy is paramount. This paper focuses on an innovation in the philanthropic form: the community foundation. The success of community foundations in the United States provided the impetus for the establishment of community foundations in the UK in the 1980s. This paper examines how the community foundation form has been adapted to the UK and the factors which have influenced the development and roles of British community foundations. It is argued that this study is both timely and important for three reasons. First, the analysis of new structures through which people give furthers our understanding of Britain’s culture of giving. Second, the paper examines the role of community-based philanthropy in the civil renewal of Britain’s communities. Finally, the study makes an important contribution to efforts to promote the community foundation form worldwide as it highlights the challenges of transferring philanthropic forms from one context to another.

We examine if the presence of minority individuals in the community affects the decision to give to charities by majority individuals. We focus on two giving decisions by the majority population. The first is giving to any charitable organization; the second is giving to organizations geared to international causes. We also examine these two decisions when the sample is split into religious and non-religious individuals. We find that the larger the proportion of minorities in a given community, the less likely that members of the majority group give to charity in general—supporting the idea that heterogeneous communities deter outreach—but the more likely they are to give to international causes, giving credence to Allport’s ‘contact’ hypothesis.

This paper explores cross-country variations in charitable giving and investigates the association of welfare state policies with private philanthropy. Hypotheses are drawn from crowding-out theory and considerations about the influence of a country’s mixed economy of welfare. We add to the on-going discussion concerning the crowding-out hypothesis with empirical evidence by looking at specific charitable subsectors people donate to across countries. Using Eurobarometer survey data that include 23 countries, we find no evidence for a crowding-out effect, but rather a crosswise crowding-in effect of private donations. Moreover, giving behaviour differs between non-profit regimes.

Scholars have long been interested in what influences philanthropic behavior. However, little is known about the effects of length of residency on charitable gifts to local and non-local organizations. Using 2010 survey data from 470 older individuals, we examine whether donors’ geographic relocations influence philanthropic behavior and whether these moves are a bigger challenge for some types of nonprofits than others. We find variations in giving to specific types of nonprofits based on residency duration. The giving patterns we uncover add depth to our understanding of philanthropic behavior and inform nonprofit managers seeking to better understand older adults’ giving to local and non-local religious, human services, arts, and education nonprofits.

Many charities rely on donations to support their work addressing some of the world’s most pressing problems. We conducted a meta-review to determine what interventions work to increase charitable donations. We found 21 systematic reviews incorporating 1339 primary studies and over 2,139,938 participants. Our meta-meta-analysis estimated the average effect of an intervention on charitable donation size and incidence: r = 0.08 (95% CI [0.03, 0.12]). Due to limitations in the included systematic reviews, we are not certain this estimate reflects the true overall effect size. The most robust evidence found suggests charities could increase donations by (1) emphasising individual beneficiaries, (2) increasing the visibility of donations, (3) describing the impact of the donation, and (4) enacting or promoting tax-deductibility of the charity. We make recommendations for improving primary research and reviews about charitable donations, and how to apply the meta-review findings to increase charitable donations.

In this exploratory study into the relationship between participation in charitable activity and self-reported measures of personal wellness, social exchange theory was used to model factors that operationalize socioeconomic variables as costs, religious orientation and charitable orientation as rewards, and wellness as profit. Structural equation modeling was applied to data from the 2004 General Social Survey, including the Module on Altruism, to measure the effects, both direct and indirect, and infer knowledge from the results. Results suggest the indication of a relationship between charitable behavior and personal wellness is valid. Specifically, those who are more charitable and those with an enhanced religious orientation exhibit greater wellness. Results also indicate that charitable orientation acts as a mediating variable between income, education, religiosity, and wellness.

Extant research has focused on the role of philanthropy in the socio-economic development of western countries, but little is known about the role of indigenous voluntary organisations in bridging social divides in the developing world. To help redress this imbalance, we present findings on the motivations, strategies, methods, and impact of five large philanthropically funded voluntary organizations in Pakistan. We ask how and why such organizations are formed and gain traction to provide valuable services for large numbers of poor people in a society riddled with inequalities. Although differing considerably in their relations to markets and philanthropy, we find that success in all cases followed from commitment to Islamic philanthropy and the ideal of social inclusion, social innovation, exploitation of social capital, and scaling-up. Our contribution is to demonstrate how in developing countries philanthropy and social entrepreneurship together can play a decisive role in realizing a more just society.

Public health and healthcare issues in China have historically attracted individuals and organizations to engage the health sector. The growth of health philanthropy in post-Mao China raises questions regarding the role of the state in the development of China’s health philanthropy. Through a historical overview of health philanthropy in China as well as an examination of the functions and effectiveness of health-related philanthropic actors in the contemporary era, this study has identified the state as a major factor in the development of China’s health philanthropy. Indeed, even though the post-Mao reform dynamics have expanded space for health-related charity organizations, the state continues to have commanding height in health philanthropy in terms of status, funding, services, and influence. The state dominance in turn negatively affects the registration, financing, and capacity building of private foundations and NGOs in this area. Whether the state will dominate health philanthropy in the future to a large extent hinges upon how much extra space it is willing to concede in order to accommodate the dynamics in China’s philanthropic sector.

Recognition of the multi-cultural nature of the Canadian population has led companies across a wide array of business domains to reach beyond their traditional bases of support to focus on hitherto untapped communities as potential markets for their goods and services. Competitive conditions within the voluntary sector have pushed nonprofits along this same path. However, no systematic Canadian research reports on the attitudes, social norms, benefits sought, expectations, opportunities, experiences, or behaviors of sub-communities in the voluntary sector. This paper examines philanthropic behavior by religion using data from the Statistics Canada 2000 National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating. The paper compares and contrasts the voluntary and philanthropic behaviors of the Canadian population across religious groups; compares and contrasts the motivations for and perceived impediments against such behaviors; and articulates and examines a model that traces the influence of religion on voluntary and philanthropic behavior in Canada’s multi-cultural society.

The article argues that in Denmark during the past 150 years, moral elites have been central in settling paradoxes within social policy by developing ‘classifications’ of citizens and sectors: who are deserving of help and what sector (public or third) should provide care. Contrary to widely held beliefs, historically, there is no logical or practical connection between ‘more deserving’ and ‘state support’. Theoretically, the article integrates elite scholarship and cultural sociology in developing a concept of moral elites’ power from—their sources of moral authority—and power to, the way that they have used their power to classify citizens and sectors. Empirically, the Danish moral elite and its involvement in social policy are analyzed based on secondary as well as primary historical sources. Findings: The development of the Danish moral elite has roots in the administrators of the nineteenth-century absolutist state: the clergy, medical doctors, and lawyers. Educational resources and state affiliation continue to be central to moral elite status. Economists have ascended to the top of the moral elite, while clergymen have dropped out. Three major classifications were developed during the period. ‘Help to self-help’ (late nineteenth century): deserving poor should receive help from private charity, while the public system should deter and discipline. ‘Rights’ (mid-twentieth century): the state should care for all, philanthropy mostly considered stigmatizing. ‘Workfare’ (late twentieth century to present): citizens are considered deserving as long as they are ‘active’, and sectors are considered equal in providing for citizens as long as they reach the economistic goal of activation.

This history of charitable collections in the East German dictatorship (the Protestant organized Bread for the World and the student-led Initiative: Hope for Nicaragua) analyzes the relationship between philanthropy, civil society, and democratic action. These collections, widely unknown outside of the former German Democratic Republic, indicate that independent associations could form to organize philanthropic collections for international causes in this dictatorship. These groups provided the basis for actions outside of state control by engaging East Germans in support of human rights and individual need internationally. As such, my work shows that philanthropy can both exist within a dictatorship and encourage democratic action.

This research focuses on understanding how giving circle (GC) member identities are associated with the identities of funding recipients. It examines whether GC members are more likely than non-members to give to people who are like them (bonding social capital) and/or to people who are not like them (bridging social capital). We draw on data from a survey of GC members and a comparison control group of non-GC members. Findings show GC members and those not in GCs are both more likely to give to a shared identity group—related to race, gender, and gender identity—leading to bonding social capital. However, GC members are more likely than those not in GCs to give to groups that do not share their identity, suggesting GCs also encourage bridging social capital. We assert both bonding and bridging social capital might lead to the democratization of philanthropy by expanding giving to historically marginalized groups.

Third-sector organizations provide essential services, but not all types of organizations operate equally well given different intensities of public problems. This article argues for maps that would help social service funding bodies. Those maps would include three elements: (1) a measure of service demanded by a community, (2) data on the full range of organizations able to supply those services, and (3) a chart that identifies those organizations that provide services at different intensities of need. By providing information about the supply of organizations in a community, with measures of demand for services, state funding bodies, foundations, and individual philanthropists can make informed decisions about where to allocate funds. An ideal map is illustrated by using the case of the Holy Cross Dispute (2001), whereby a host of voluntary sector organizations provided a voice for residents in this divided Belfast community. The result is a call for more intensive mapping exercises of voluntary sector social service provision.

Philanthropy seeks to address deep-rooted social issues and assume responsibility for the creation of public goods not provided by the public sector—and in this way help reduce inequality. Yet philanthropy has also been criticized for bypassing democratic mechanisms for the public determination of how to invest in society—and thus may perpetuate other inequities. In both cases, inequality, defined as asymmetries of resources and power, plays a critical role in public goods creation and in the legitimacy of a country’s philanthropic ecosystem. However, little empirical research examines the existence and role of inequality in country-level donation systems. To fill this gap, this study provides evidence of growing donation concentration in Chile’s philanthropic ecosystem, with a focus on the culture sector, characterizes it by mapping systematic differences in ecosystem perceptions by actor type, and identifies and tests statistically structural and organizational factors associated with these perceptions. Inequality in Chile’s donation system operates at multiple geographical, legal, and organizational levels, all of which are reflected in objective donation amounts and subjective ecosystem perceptions. We conclude that in Chile resource asymmetries and power imbalances hinder the fulfillment of philanthropy’s promise and call for further research to identify policies that address inequities in emerging philanthropic ecosystems in Chile, Latin America, and beyond.

This study investigated individual charitable giving in Ghana. Given that comprehensive data on individual giving in Africa is limited, this study’s theory-based approach used quantitative and qualitative methods to identify demographic and psychographic factors influencing the donation of money, time, and other resources towards assisting individuals, organisations, and charitable causes. With a sample size of 741 participants, the study identified gender, household size, age, financial constraints, social norms, egoism, religion, and trust as influential factors shaping giving behaviour among Ghanaians. The study’s outcomes have theoretical significance and suggest that individuals previously unwilling or lacking the capacity to give can become generous in the appropriate social and environmental context. The findings hold significance for nurturing a culture of philanthropy and developing culturally relevant and impactful giving campaigns and policies in Africa.