From Philanthropy to Partnerships &amp;lt;br/&amp;gt;—Testing a Theoretical Framework of Entrepreneurial Philanthropy Alignment

Jos Rath,Theo Schuyt

doi:10.4236/jssm.2015.83044

Abstract

Entrepreneurial philanthropy gives the impression of being a paradox because personal gains and societal benefits are generally seen as opposing forces, which particularly will become clear when philanthropreneurs emerge in the non-profit sector. It is suggested this charitable giving with venture bent might affect an alignment of both worlds. What will happen: a culture clash or a smooth transition? On what issues a partnership is easy to reach, and what are causes for concern? To answer these questions, a literature study has been carried out to construct a preliminary “theoretical framework of entrepreneurial philanthropy alignment”. In this paper a framework has been tested among seven Dutch senior executives of non-profit organisations and five philanthropreneurs. A series of semi-structured interviews were held to explore the variables that could determine the degree of their alignment. These variables were grouped in three domains: 1) Leadership, the linking path; 2) Strategy, the guiding path; and 3) Culture, the driving path. The outcome gave insights to modify and upgrade the theoretical framework, and provided support to study alignment maturity more extensively in a subsequent survey.

Highlights

The level of dynamic turmoil in civil society forces non-profit organisations to respond in an appropriate and timely fashion to the concept of entrepreneurial philanthropy
The collection and content analysis of all interview data for this paper provided a structured multiple informant design which accentuate the central tenets of validation of a theoretical framework of entrepreneurial philanthropy alignment and was used concomitantly as a guide to select the most relevant variables for the development of the operations research model
The results presented in Appendix C demonstrate the Mean of each variable and indicates the contextualisation of the issue within the concept of entrepreneurial philanthropy alignment

Summary

Introduction

The level of dynamic turmoil in civil society forces non-profit organisations to respond in an appropriate and timely fashion to the concept of entrepreneurial philanthropy. (2015) From Philanthropy to Partnerships—Testing a Theoretical Framework of Entrepreneurial Philanthropy Alignment. Non-profits which are open to partner with philanthropreneurs seem to develop innovative systems to exploit the power of market forces for greater goods, but there is a critical examination of its funding method persisting [2]. Social change might happen when non-profits go outside their walls and find innovative ways to enlist the help of philanthropreneurs. The article aims to expand the existing knowledge about which are important domains and variables that might influences alignment between non-profits and philanthropreneurs, a “theoretical framework of entrepreneurial philanthropy alignment” was tested for the first time. The results were used to adjust and improve this preliminary theoretical framework

Enterprising Non-Profit Organisations

A Theoretical Framework of Entrepreneurial Philanthropy Alignment

Test Method

Results

Discussion and Future