Philanthropic Foundations and Social Welfare

Abstract

This dissertation project investigates philanthropic foundations as organizational form in the social welfare field with a special focus on its institutional embedding in different European welfare systems. To do so, it draws on literature from political economy that provides different regime type classifications: Three especially fruitful approaches can be found in the »Varieties of Capitalism« (VoC) approach based on Hall and Soskice (7889), the »Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism« by Esping-Andersen (9::8), and – specifically with regard to the third sector – the »Social Origins Theory« as originally described by Salamon and Anheier (9::<). The existing welfare regime literature clusters countries according to certain main drivers and identifies differences in welfare state systems. This dissertation asks, can we learn something on the organizational level about the embedding of philanthropic foundations in the field of social welfare? Foundation literature is dominated by an anglophile perspective which mainly focuses on grant-making foundations. However, these represent only one type of foundation; other varieties exist alongside them. Operating foundations are widely neglected in social science research but play an important role, especially in the history of social welfare provision in European countries. In particular, one type of operating foundation, the carrier foundation, mainly functions as a service provider in the field and thus plays a significant role in any understanding of the foundation landscape in the social welfare field. This investigation is based on the comparative insights from three country cases of Germany, Sweden and the UK (England). Guided by propositions from the theoretical research, comparative explorative case studies based on interview data and secondary sources give insights into the field and the embedding of philanthropic social welfare foundations in the three different welfare state systems. Investigating the range of foundations in social welfare permits a differentiated view of the different types of foundations. Each has different levels of independence from external constraints and are embedded to different degrees according to the propositions from welfare regime theory. These differences hold further implications for the investigation of foundations as a special organizational form.