The different faces of European philanthropy
ERNOP Conference 2017 didn’t disappoint! The research papers combined high academic rigor with interesting and pragmatic research questions facing European and global philanthropy. The Changing Face of Philanthropy in an era of hybridity and alternative forms of organizing, aimed to highlight the evolving nature of European philanthropy while addressing a broader question of how it contributes to contemporary social challenges. Participants were a good mix of philanthropy practitioners, academics and civil society representatives. Forty six papers presented during a two day event, (including mine which I co-authored with Heather Grady and Karina Grosheva: Philanthropy’s contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals in emerging countries. Lessons learnt and experiences from the SDG Philanthropy Platform) covered corporate philanthropy, volunteering, global governance, new forms of social finance, and tax regulations and exposed a vibrant European thought leadership. Networking and meeting peers was super easy because of the relatively intimate size of the group, about 70 people in the beautiful Copenhagen Business School.
The three key notes were thought provoking and presented timely questions for European foundations.
Prof. Helmut Anheier, from Hertie School of Governance, in a brilliant presentation entitled The Face of European Philanthropy made a strong argument that European philanthropy should invest in own identity, considering its characteristics and aspirations. European philanthropy consists mainly of small and local foundations with annual budgets of less than 50 thousand Euro a year. Therefore, focus on measuring impact and strategic philanthropy may not be relevant. Instead, European philanthropy strongly embedded in local grass root communities is a social glue, offering engagement in various “caring” activities. Despite being small, European foundations hold critically important attributes: their independence from market and politics. This position gives them a power to formulate their own ambitions and projects. Considering that current European complex social problems require innovative approaches and creative solutions, philanthropy can potentially be a powerful ally in this endevour. For example, the migration crisis is exposing Europe to redefine its boundaries of solidarity. European Foundation Centre addressed this very issue during its annual conference earlier this summer. While it was encouraging to follow the discussions which focused on collaboration and pooling resources, the massive size of the challenge itself shows the necessity of engagement from all parts of European societies backed by bold political leadership.
Prof. Sarah Smith, an Economist from University of Bristol presented an interesting study of charitable behavior using a model of peer to peer giving, P2P. The P2P giving model is about individuals who fundraise for charitable causes using social interactions. As such, it differs from traditional crowdfunding which is about fundraising for specific projects but without the social links. The model has been recently transformed thanks to emergence of online platforms such as Just Giving and others. I am sure that those who read this post have donated small amounts of money to friends who are challenged to run, bike and walk to fundraise for a variety of causes such as cancer, violence, poverty to name a few. I gave over 100 USD to three friends this year from high school, university and work. We stay connected thanks to Facebook, and that’s how my friends mobilized me. Prof. Smith's research demonstrated that people’s decision to give depends on who is the fundraiser and not the cause itself! Moreover, the study further showed that our giving is also determined by who else gives and how much, easily monitored through the technology platforms ( I remember that I even used FB to announce my own givings ! ) P2P accounted for a third of all online donations in the UK last year where 32% of the population declared that they funded a cause this way. The approach has its challenges well known to charities like Cancer UK or London Marathon who use it widely, namely that engaging these thousands of fundraisers poses a huge logistical task. However the research also concluded that there was no crowding out by number of these campaigns, so the more events the more people give.
Both research studies have an important implication for the Sustainable Development Goals. To reach the goals by 2030, we need a massive global mobilization of people, ideas and money. Philanthropy, with rapidly diversifying models of giving and organizing, can be a powerful force to engage people at retail level to use the SDGs for common purposes, drive awareness and the progress. However more research and experimentation needs to be undertaken to understand which approaches are viable and how the public policy can support them.
As Flemming Besenbacher, Chairman of the Carlberg Foundation reminded that philanthropy in Denmark since inception in 19th century has historically redefined the boundaries of the modern welfare state by bringing to social light and political discussions those who were most in need, such as single mothers back in the beginning of 20th C. Today, European philanthropy is serving not only the continent but also the world thru, for example investing in science and innovation.
The ERNOP conference is an important contribution of philanthropy towards a debate aiming to solve challenges facing today’s European society and economy. The growing diversity of philanthropy requires a deeper research to better understand the motivations of people to give and engage and how it links with creating the social glue around modern issues of European identity which cross the boundaries of state and traditional institutions.
This blog was initially published on sdgfunders.org