Unpicking the intellectual fruit bowl of philanthropic foundations - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Unpicking the intellectual fruit bowl of philanthropic foundations Towards a typology? Tobias Jung tj3@st-andrews.ac.uk

• What are foundations? • How can we differentiate between foundations?

Big names

Long and colourful histories….

…wherever you go, whatever you do…

…but, seriously: ‘when you have seen one foundation, you have seen one foundations’

Searching for foundation(s)

What’s in a name?

In academia, a foundations is… • ‘a form of involvement in the public interest for the wealthy’ (Ming and Yushan 2010) • ‘a grantmaking institution that does not itself conduct direct charitable activities’ (O’Halloran et al. 2008) • ‘a permanent endowment, not committed to a particular institution or activity, that provides a grantmaking capacity’ (Prewitt 2006)

From the Minnesota Council on Foundations’ (2016) classification… • There are three basic types of grantmaking foundations: • Independent Foundations • Corporate Foundations • Community/Public Foundations • There is also a type of foundation that does not generally make grants, called an operating foundation.

…to that by Swiss Foundations (2016) Dachstiftung (‘umbrella foundation’, aimed at pooling smaller pockets of wealth) • Familienstiftung (‘family foundation’) • Förderstiftung (‘independent, endowed foundation’) • Gemeinnützige Stiftung (‘public benefit foundation’) • Kirchliche Stiftung (‘ecclesiastic foundation’) • Klassische Stiftung (‘traditional foundation’, non-differentiated and now dated term to refer to all • independent foundations) Öffentlichrechtliche Stiftung (‘public foundation’, set up through a legislative act and usually funded • through public, governmental, funds) Operative Stiftung (‘operating foundation’) • Personalvorsorgestiftung (PVS) (‘individual care foundation’, foundation acting like a pension scheme) • Privatrechtliche Stiftung (‘private foundation’, i.e. the opposite of the above Öffentlichrechtliche • Stiftung) Sammelstiftung (‘collective foundation’, foundation pooling resources for smaller companies that • cannot operate their own PVS) Spendenstiftung (foundation with a small endowment aimed at leveraging further resources through • fundraising) Unselbständige Stiftung (‘dependent foundations’, frequently those set up within the above • ‘Dachstiftung’) Unternehmensstiftung (‘corporate foundation’) • Verbrauchsstiftung (‘limited life foundation’) • Vergabestiftung (older term used to refer to Förderstiftung) •

‘The term foundation has no precise meaning.’ Council on Foundations, 2016

Prominent metaphors • Large body of money surrounded by people who want some (Macdonald) • Rich relatives (Weissert and Knott) • Puzzle (Prewitt) • Don Quixote in limousines (Whitacker) • Giraffes (Nielsen) • 800lb Gorilla (Moran) • Black boxes (Diaz)

Key themes • Legal structures and political contexts • Approaches and roles • Size and source of income • Organisational and governance characteristics • Industry and sector • Geographic origin and reach • -> Reflected in foundations’ own thematic networks

Taking a first step towards a typology…

Thank you Tobias Jung tj3@st-andrews.ac.uk