Philanthropic Investment Research Articles

Enhancing Corporate Philanthropy Through Board Competency and Financial Health: Accelerating Progress Towards Sustainable

Objective: This study aims to examine the effect of board competency and financial health on corporate philanthropic activities in achieving SDGs. Theoretical Framework: The stakeholder theory stands out as providing a solid basis for understanding the context of philanthropic activities aimed at promoting Good Health and Well-Being (SDG 3), Quality Education (SDG4), Reduced Inequalities (SDG 10), and Climate Action (SDG13). Method: The population consists of 1,023 listed firms from 2018 – 2023. After excluding insufficient data on donation, the final sample consists of 391 firm-year observations. Results and Discussion: We found that board competency plays a significant role in the investment in philanthropic activities. Besides that, firms with higher profitability increase their investment in donations, and there is a tendency for firms to mask their solvency through donation activities to attract future investors. Research Implications: This research's practical and theoretical implications are discussed, providing insights into how the results can be applied or influence practices in philanthropy. Our study provides valuable insights for firms and stakeholders on the stability of the firms, which is crucial to determining the total philanthropic investment among firms. Originality/Value: This study is unique in that it examines the firm’s financial health concerning philanthropic charity donations.

3202: Global public and philanthropic investment in radiotherapy-related research between 2016-2020

3202: Global public and philanthropic investment in radiotherapy-related research between 2016-2020

On Utilizing Artificial Intelligence to Impact Healthcare in Low-Income Countries

Artificial intelligence (AI) is impacting the society with incredible innovations across the globe, as evidenced by recent media coverage. Integrating AI into healthcare holds promise for improving outcomes in low-income nations. Addressing the reliability, validity, and fairness of algorithms is essential to reduce bias. Global organizations such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the European Union promote ethical AI use, guiding its application in healthcare. Philanthropic investment in research is crucial to help develop guidelines that consider the unique needs of marginalized populations. Collaboration between governments, international bodies, researchers, and industry leaders is vital to ensure responsible AI adoption. By prioritizing the welfare of all populations, we can harness AI’s potential to enhance healthcare in low-income countries while mitigating risks.

Reducing Fear to Help Build Healthy Families: Investing in Non-Punitive Approaches to Helping People with Substance Use Disorder

BackgroundMany pregnant and parenting people with substance use disorders (SUD) refrain from seeking perinatal care or treatment for their SUD for fear of being treated poorly by health care providers and/or triggering a child welfare investigation. For those who do seek treatment, there are relatively few clinicians willing and able to prescribe medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) to pregnant people. Both stigma and lack of access to treatment put many pregnant and parenting people at risk. Drug-related deaths contribute significantly to U.S. maternal mortality rates, with people at especially high risk of drug overdose in the months following delivery.MethodsThe Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts (FORE) is a national philanthropy focused on finding and fostering solutions to the opioid crisis. We draw lessons from our grantees’ efforts to expand access to substance use treatment and recovery supports for pregnant and parenting people.ResultsTo build systems of care that ensure more pregnant people get timely perinatal care, we need to expand training for perinatal providers on how to provide OUD treatment, clarify child welfare reporting rules, and engage and support trusted organizations and community-based services.ConclusionsIn addition to changes to our systems of SUD treatment and recovery, we need greater philanthropic investment in efforts to combat the public health crisis of substance use and overdose among pregnant and parenting people. Private funders have the leeway to act quickly, take risks, and demonstrate the effectiveness of new approaches, building the case for investment of public resources in such initiatives.

Global funding for cancer research between 2016 and 2020: a content analysis of public and philanthropic investments.

Cancer is a leading cause of disease burden globally, with more than 19·3 million cases and 10 million deaths recorded in 2020. Research is crucial to understanding the determinants of cancer and the effects of interventions, and to improving outcomes. We aimed to analyse global patterns of public and philanthropic investment in cancer research. In this content analysis, we searched the UberResearch Dimensions database and Cancer Research UK data for human cancer research funding awards from public and philanthropic funders between Jan 1, 2016, and Dec 31, 2020. Included award types were project and programme grants, fellowships, pump priming, and pilot projects. Awards focused on operational delivery of cancer care were excluded. Awards were categorised by cancer type, cross-cutting research theme, and research phase. Funding amount was compared with global burden of specific cancers, measured by disability-adjusted life-years, years lived with disability, and mortality using data from the Global Burden of Disease study. We identified 66 388 awards with total investment of about US$24·5 billion in 2016-20. Investment decreased year-on-year, with the largest drop observed between 2019 and 2020. Pre-clinical research received 73·5% of the funding across the 5 years ($18 billion), phase 1-4 clinical trials received 7·4% ($1·8 billion), public health research received 9·4% ($2·3 billion), and cross-disciplinary research received 5·0% ($1·2 billion). General cancer research received the largest investment ($7·1 billion, 29·2% of the total funding). The most highly funded cancer types were breast cancer ($2·7 billion [11·2%]), haematological cancer ($2·3 billion [9·4%]), and brain cancer ($1·3 billion [5·5%]). Analysis by cross-cutting theme revealed that 41·2% of investment ($9·6 billion) went to cancer biology research, 19·6% ($4·6 billion) to drug treatment research, and 12·1% ($2·8 billion) to immuno-oncology. 1·4% of the total funding ($0·3 billion) was spent on surgery research, 2·8% ($0·7 billion) was spent on radiotherapy research, and 0·5% ($0·1 billion) was spent on global health studies. Cancer research funding must be aligned with the global burden of cancer with more equitable funding for cancer research in low-income and middle-income countries (which account for 80% of cancer burden), both to support research relevant to these settings, and build research capacity within these countries. There is an urgent need to prioritise investment in surgery and radiotherapy research given their primacy in the treatment of many solid tumours. None.

Near and dear: How the politicians' home bias influences corporate philanthropy in China

AbstractBuilding on institutional theory, we examine the effect of politicians' hometown favouritism on a firm's philanthropic engagement in China. We propose that firms headquartered in the politicians' hometowns tend to reduce their philanthropic investment because identification with their hometown activates the politicians' tendency to extend political legitimacy to hometown firms. Analysing a large sample of publicly listed Chinese firms for 2003–2015, we demonstrate that hometown firms evade their social responsibility by taking advantage of the incumbent provincial political leader's “home bias”. We also find that such a “home bias” effect exists when the political leader comes into power and disappears after the leader leaves office. Further analyses show that the firms' political dependency strengthens the “home bias” effect, so that firms in sensitive industries, with greater financial resources and private ownership, are more likely to evade their social engagement by taking advantage of the politicians' hometown favouritism. Our study highlights the critical role of hometown connections in corporate social responsibility in the Chinese relationship‐based business system. It also advances a normative institutional assessment of hometown‐based favouritism by highlighting its distinct dynamics and impacts on focal firms' social decision‐making.

Diaspora engagement in tourism crisis recovery: the case of Indonesia

Diseño/metodología/enfoqueEste estudio se basó en el paradigma de constructivismo social y empleó un enfoque cualitativo. Se realizaron cuatro grupos focales (n = 25) y diez entrevistas individuales con emigrantes indonesios en Estados Unidos. Se utilizó el análisis temático para identificar los temas principales.PropósitoLa dispersión de grupos humanos que abandonan su lugar de origen, también denominado, diáspora o emigrantes, representan un grupo único y, sin embargo, a menudo ignorado en la gestión del turismo. Sus fuertes lazos con su tierra natal a menudo dan como resultado una relación con una comunidad extendida, la cual es valiosa para su tierra natal durante tiempos difíciles. Este estudio examinó el rol de los emigrantes indonesios en Estados Unidos para revivir el turismo en Indonesia durante las primeras etapas de la pandemia de COVID-19 y su motivación detrás de esos esfuerzos.ResultadosLos hallazgos muestran que el rol de la diáspora provino de dos amplias categorías: 1) activismo social, como transferencia de información, transferencia de habilidades y conocimientos, y 2) activismo económico, incluidas actividades filantrópicas, inversión y remesas, y viajes de regreso a casa. Tanto los motivos altruistas como los de intercambio social son las causas de esta relación. Los hallazgos ejemplifican la “diplomacia de la diáspora” que puede ser aprovechada como capital social para la recuperación del turismo en tierra natal después de una crisis.OriginalidadEste estudio ofrece un análisis profundo del rol de la diáspora en la recuperación del turismo. Este estudio destaca la importancia de los emigrantes como capital social para los destinos y ofrece información sobre el manejo de crisis turísticas mediante la incorporación de este interesante pero ignorado grupo.

The Tentative Promise of Social Return on Investment

Social return on investment (SROI), an evaluation method that compares monetized social value generated to costs invested, is in ascendance. Conceptually akin to cost–benefit analysis, it shares some of its challenges; however, these are heightened due to the expressed promise of using SROI to compare programs and inform philanthropic and public investment decisions. In this paper, I describe the landscape of SROI studies to date, including a review of a representative sample of SROI evaluations, which have been vetted by Social Value International. I also draw on the experience of an organization that has used SROI in earnest as a decision-making tool to provide an assessment of both the methods that underpin it and the ways in which it is applied. I conclude by offering some recommendations to consider to get the most value from this evaluation method while avoiding some potential pitfalls.

Buried Treasure? Local Foundations’ Knowledge Sharing in Jordan and Palestine

Promotion and study of knowledge sharing among philanthropic foundations globally, led by western institutions and scholars, pays minimal attention to knowledge sharing undertaken by national and local foundations in non-western regions and countries. Yet such settings are often sites of extensive international (largely western-led), philanthropic investment, where interfoundation knowledge sharing may be especially valuable. This article reports research on knowledge sharing in 12 nationally based foundations, working locally in youth development in Jordan and Palestine (West Bank). Findings from case studies and interview data reveal a range of internal knowledge-sharing activities, linked to individual foundations’ program development and incorporating beneficiary perspectives. These developments contrast significantly with the lack of external knowledge sharing and the absence of invitations to share knowledge with international foundations, active in these countries. The implications of these findings for foundation philanthropy theory and practice, and for knowledge-sharing scholarship are considered and a continuing research agenda proposed.

Shapeshifting to address complexity: Advancing a typology of network evolution and transformation

In practice, health and social services are delivered through purpose-oriented networks (PONs) that are often favored by government and philanthropic investment as an effective means for collectively solving complex social problems. Current theories examine the evolution of these groups by resting on the traditional organizational forms of market, hierarchy, and network, without a consideration of trajectories that show movement between organizational forms over time. This article utilizes the network itself as the unit of analysis within a larger network domain to examine the most common trajectories and changes in organizational forms over time. To date, little theory has been developed or applied to account for both endogenous characteristics and exogenous system-wide dynamics and their longitudinal effects on networks. As is appropriate in the early stages of developing new theories, this article addresses the foundational steps of first clarifying the phenomenon of interest with the creation of a typology of the ways in which networks evolve as organizational forms and suggesting future network-level and network domain research agendas.

Philanthropic Investment in Equity: Cultivating Grass Roots Leaders for the Equitable Revitalization of Marginalized Communities

Community development must include deeper investment to foster a pipeline of community leaders to support equitable redevelopment practice in marginalized communities under threat of gentrification in the city. We argue that philanthropy is critical to develop this pipeline, particularly in the era of the neoliberal city. The following case study analyzes efforts to develop place-based grass roots leadership in marginalized neighborhoods of Columbus, Ohio. The United Way of Central Ohio, through their Neighborhood Leadership Academy (NLA) program, has partnered with community organizations to develop multiple cohorts of grass roots neighborhood leaders over several years within three specific neighborhoods. Our case identifies how philanthropic investment into a grass roots leadership development model centered on equity has impacted policy outcomes, built bridging social capital and spurred successful activism. Our case illustrates a potential model for building social infrastructure through philanthropic investment to buttress potentially disruptive neighborhood change. In the era of the neoliberal city, neighborhoods can no longer rely upon federal funding, leaving redeveloping neighborhoods particularly vulnerable to market driven gentrification and displacement. In this void of resources, philanthropic efforts to support robust grass roots leadership is the last remaining defense against widespread displacement and the primary asset to support equitable development practices.

Data Curator in the Middle: Curating Data for a Diverse Community of Stakeholders


 The Prevention and Early Intervention Research Initiative is an archiving project to preserve the data and reports that were generated by twelve years of philanthropic and state investment into prevention and early intervention approaches in the children and youth sector in Ireland and Northern Ireland. The investment resulted in an extensive collection of evaluation data and reports, which collectively provide an evidence base for continued investment into PEI programmes that are shown to be effective. In 2016, the Prevention and Early Intervention Research Initiative (PEI-RI) was established to preserve the outputs from these evaluations in the national data archives, as a publicly available evidence base. The political and social significance of this collection is manifest in the range of stakeholder groups that the project is engaging with, including the community and not-for-profit organisations that operated the PEI programmes, the research teams from academic institutions that evaluated these programmes, and representatives from government departments that co-funded many of these programmes with Atlantic.
 This paper tells the story of the PEI-RI archiving project, describing the steps we’ve taken since 2016 to preserve and promote the PEI data. During the course of the project we realised that it would not be enough to provide access to the data alone, as "[g]enerating and collating the evidence is of no use if it never reaches the commissioners and professionals who need it" (What Works Network, 2014, pp. 6). In the second phase of our project we are creating a range of resources for practitioner and decision maker audiences which provide a pathway to the data using the archival infrastructure.
 The project provides a case study of curating a digital collection that is intended for multiple stakeholders with different expectations of the archived material. The PEI-RI data curator is located in the middle of a triad of data creators, data consumers and data archives, and is tasked with balancing the interests, expectations and limitations of each.

Social license needs business strategy

Mining executives rank social license as the top business risk facing the sector and companies use the term “social license” ubiquitously. However, long-standing questions related to the concept remain unanswered and traditional approaches to achieving social license, such as philanthropic investment and corporate social responsibility, can prove ineffective. To achieve measurable outcomes that deliver socio-economic value business strategy is required. The work Canadian company Erdene Resource Development has done to support its exploration projects in a remote region of Mongolia offers an example of a different approach to social license. The company's objective is to find points of intersection between company and communities of interest and then work collaboratively with stakeholders to address areas of mutual interest. Anchored by business strategy to create shared value, this approach supports community development and social license.

Mapping and Analysis of Sustainability-Oriented Partnerships in Non-Profit Organizations: The Case of Saudi Arabia

The growing alignment between Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs) and cooperation development actors has contributed to creating new partnerships to be harnessed in addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (e.g., SDG 17). This study aimed to map the key characteristics of engagements between NPOs and other actors. An analytical framework was designed to map the partnerships in terms of four main areas, namely, drivers, motivations, the partnership’s characteristics, and outcomes. Charitable associations were selected as a representative type of NPO. The study analyzed 459 partnerships established by charities in the Riyadh region during 2016–2018. The findings showed that the associations engaged in partnerships mainly to enhance their financial stability. Cross-sector partnerships were observed in 63.4% of the cases, principally with the private sector. The results also indicated that 89.7% of the partnerships could be called “transactional partnerships” in cases of both philanthropic and social investment partnerships. It could be concluded that the mapping framework provides useful information for policy-makers concerned with how charitable associations engaged with the other actors, as well as the existing policy gaps to be implemented for sustainability.

Lack of Strategic Funding and Long-Term Job Security Threaten to Have Profound Effects on Cardiovascular Researcher Retention in Australia

BackgroundCardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in Australia. Investment in research solutions has been demonstrated to yield health and a 9.8-fold return economic benefit. The sector, however, is severely challenged with success rates of traditional peer-reviewed funding in decline. Here, we aimed to understand the perceived challenges faced by the cardiovascular workforce in Australia prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsWe used an online survey distributed across Australian cardiovascular societies/councils, universities and research institutes over a period of 6 months during 2019, with 548 completed responses. Inclusion criteria included being an Australian resident or an Australian citizen who lived overseas, and a current or past student or employee in the field of cardiovascular research.ResultsThe mean age of respondents was 42±13 years, 47% were male, 85% had a full-time position, and 40% were a group leader or laboratory head. Twenty-three per cent (23%) had permanent employment, and 82% of full-time workers regularly worked >40 hours/week. Sixty-eight per cent (68%) said they had previously considered leaving the cardiovascular research sector. If their position could not be funded in the next few years, a staggering 91% of respondents would leave the sector. Compared to PhD- and age-matched men, women were less likely to be a laboratory head and to feel they had a long-term career path as a cardiovascular researcher, while more women were unsure about future employment and had considered leaving the sector (all p<0.05). Greater job security (76%) and government and philanthropic investment in cardiovascular research (72%) were highlighted by responders as the main changes to current practices that would encourage them to stay.ConclusionStrategic solutions, such as diversification of career pathways and funding sources, and moving from a competitive to a collaborative culture, need to be a priority to decrease reliance on government funding and allow cardiovascular researchers to thrive.

“The Magic of Philanthropy”: The Gates Foundation’s Reframing of Education Reform Debate

AbstractThe Gates Foundation invokes a third way in education reform debate by appealing not to government regulation or market competition but to philanthropic investment as a catalyst for improving educational equity. While the foundation praises this investment as transcending the conventional polarities of debate, I argue that this praise assigns a familiar form of blame toward public education and educators, for it declares philanthropists the only reformers whose commitments to educational civil rights remain uncompromised by political-economic self-interest. In light of this analysis, I qualify the deliberative potential of praise as a rhetoric of education reform.

The Ethics of Entrepreneurial Philanthropy

A salient if under researched feature of the new age of global inequalities is the rise to prominence of entrepreneurial philanthropy, the pursuit of transformational social goals through philanthropic investment in projects animated by entrepreneurial principles. Super-wealthy entrepreneurs in this way extend their suzerainty from the domain of the economic to the domains of the social and political. We explore the ethics and ethical implications of entrepreneurialphilanthropy through systematic comparison with what we call customaryphilanthropy, which preferences support for established institutions and social practices. We analyse the ethical statements made at interview by 24 elite UK philanthropists, 12 customary and 12 entrepreneurial, to reveal the co-existence of two ethically charged narratives of elite philanthropic motivations, each instrumental in maintaining the established socio-economic order. We conclude that entrepreneurial philanthropy, as an ostensibly efficacious instrument of social justice, is ethically flawed by its unremitting impulse toward ideological purity.

The case for philanthropic investment to increase colorectal cancer screening rates: A novel paradigm to address a public health challenge.

BackgroundColorectal cancer (CRC) remains a leading cause of cancer‐related death despite being highly preventable. Efforts to increase participation in CRC screening have not met national goals. We developed a novel approach: building a business case for philanthropic investment in CRC screening.MethodsA taskforce representing the public health community, professional societies, charitable foundations, academia, and industry was assembled to: (a) quantify the impact of improving CRC screening rates; (b) identify barriers to screening; (c) estimate the “activation cost” to overcome barriers and screen one additional person; (d) develop a holistic business case that is attractive to philanthropists; and (e) launch a demonstration project.ResultsWe estimated that of 50 600 CRC deaths annually in the US, 55% occur in 50‐ to 85‐year‐olds and are potentially addressable by improvements in CRC screening. Barriers to screening were identified in all patient journey phases, including lack of awareness or insurance and logistical challenges in the pre‐physician phase. The cost to activate one person to undergo screening was $25‐175. This translated into a cost of $6000‐36 000 per CRC death averted by philanthropic investment. Based on this work, the Colorectal Cancer Alliance launched the effort “March Forth” to prevent 100 000 CRC deaths in the US over 10 years, with the first pilot in Philadelphia.ConclusionsA holistic business plan can attract philanthropy to promote CRC screening. A simple message of “You can save a life from CRC with a $25 000 donation” can motivate demonstration projects in regions with high CRC rates and low screening participation.

Global public and philanthropic investment in childhood cancer research: systematic analysis of research funding, 2008-16.

Childhood cancers caused an estimated 75 000 deaths in children aged 0-14 years in 2018, of which 90% were in low-income and middle-income countries, and yet this group is missing from global health agendas. We examined global patterns in public and philanthropic funding for childhood cancer research-a proxy for global research activity-to address the critical gaps in knowledge. We used data from the Dimensions database to systematically search for and analyse 3414 grants from 115 funders across 35 countries between 2008 and 2016, organised by funding source, recipient, tumour type, research focus, and pipeline categories, to investigate trends over time. During this period, global funding for childhood cancer research was US$2 billion, of which $772 million (37·9%) was for general childhood cancer, $449 million (22·0%) was for leukaemias, and $330 million (16·2%) was for CNS tumours. $1·6 billion (77·7%) of funding was awarded from, and to, institutions based in the USA. Preclinical research received $1·2 billion (59·3%), and around $525 million (25·7%) included support for clinical trials, but only $113 million (5·5%) supported health-care delivery research. Overall, funding was inadequate and geographically inequitable, and new commitments to funding have declined since 2011.

Faizal &amp; Shabana Foundation: a venture philanthropic approach to education

Learning outcomes Learning outcomes are as follows: understand venture philanthropy in India; discuss in what ways venture philanthropy is different from charity; identify the aims of venture philanthropy and the strategy adopted to achieve those objectives; analyze the role of the unique structuring of a venture philanthropy working in tandem with the government to achieve its objectives; identify the nature and source of dilemmas of disengagement from a project by the venture philanthropist; and understand the role of antecedents and outcomes on how a firm views its social impact initiative (in the Indian context). Case overview/synopsis The Faizal and Shabana Foundation (F&amp;SF) made one of the largest philanthropic investments in Kerala, India for the redevelopment of Government Vocational Higher Secondary School for Girls, Nadakkavu. The foundation applied a strategic approach to their philanthropic investment making it a unique case of venture philanthropy. The uniqueness of this case lies in the fact that, this is one among those rare cases where venture philanthropy has been successfully implemented within a government educational context. This case highlights how a private philanthropic organization went about executing a project and faced several challenges of scaling up the redevelopment model to other government schools. The other salient aspect is that this case delves into the dilemma faced by a philanthropist of either using the existing model for scaling up or adopting a totally different model. Complexity academic level Undergraduate and postgraduate business management courses. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes. Subject code CSS: 11: Strategy.