ERNOP

1. From the ERNOP board

2. ERNOP project manager

3. Member news

4. 2010 Global Philanthropy and Remittances Index

5. 2011: The European year of volunteering

6. Acquiring Funding for Research on Philanthropy throughout Europe

7. Altruism and social solidarity

8. From counting the trees to picturing the ecosystem: research about foundations in Europe

 

 

Since the third annual ERNOP meeting in February 2010 in Budapest, our research network has been transformed into a real “European Organization for European researchers in philanthropy”. We now have a board, a factsheet, membership fees and we are well-informed by the ERNOP newsletter every two months. We have left the status of “starter” and we have turned into an organization. There is a marketing slogan I would like to copy in this respect: we stand for a “Serious ERNOP, taken seriously”.

 

So, with this in mind, these past months the ERNOP board has worked on what every organization needs: a policy and a structure. We had conference calls, we developed strategy documents and formulated time paths. While doing so, we were strongly supported by our executive director dr. Pamala Wiepking and our project manager Marit Moll. On behalf of the ERNOP board it is a pleasure to present the policy goals for the next 5 year stage of ERNOP.

 

 

Well, we are not overly ambitious, but we are ambitious! Fortunately, we have made a division of labor among our board members to reach as much targets as possible. An important first step is to establish ERNOP as an independent legal entity, which enables ERNOP-members to submit research-proposals, to get granted and to raise funds for ERNOP. In the autumn newsletter we hope to inform you about the progress on this topic. Also acquiring structural funding has high priority: we are using our contacts in Brussels and we are in consultation with our commercial partners as well. We will inform you as soon we can.

 

Let me finish on a personal note: our project manager Marit is expecting her first baby at the end of August. We hope everything will go well. When nice people get children, the world becomes a little bit of a nicer place to stay. Marit, we wish you all the best!

 

 

I am happy to introduce myself to you in this newsletter item. My name is Marit Moll, Sociologist by training, an experienced social policy researcher (on the topic of volunteering among others) and project manager. Since January 1^st of this year I work as a freelancer, taking on projects as they come along.

 

I have started the job of ERNOPs project manager in May and since then I have been in contact with many of you. My main tasks were to set up or streamline the practical aspects of the ERNOP organization, as the board has been working on the strategy and foundation of the organization. I have been happy to contribute to the growth and strengthening of ERNOP and I hope that the organization will continue to thrive.

 

But, as Theo indicated in the item above, I am about to go away on pregnancy leave. So this newsletter will be my final act as ERNOPs project manager for now. I might return in December, but that all depends on circumstances. In the mean time the project managers tasks will be carried out by Barry Hoolwerf and Brigitte Schouten of the VU University. You can reach them via the email address projectmanager@ernop.eu.

 

It has been a pleasure to email with you and I hope that one day we will meet in person. Saying hello and goodbye in the same newsletter item, some might say that is efficiency to the extreme!!

This paper is concerned with the question of how donors select charitable beneficiaries, and the extent to which assessments of need are a factor in giving decisions. The study is based on interviews with 60 committed donors, representing a spread of gender, age and income levels.

 

There is a widespread belief that charities exist primarily to help needy people and that the desire to meet needs is a key criterion in the selection of charitable beneficiaries. However, this study finds that people do not give to the most urgent needs, but rather they support causes that mean something to them. In particular, the study finds four non-needs-based criteria that commonly influence donors’ decision-making:

 

Given the voluntary nature of charitable activity, these are not surprising conclusions. Giving and philanthropy have always been supply-led rather than demand-driven: the freedom to distribute as much as one wants, to whom one chooses, is what distinguishes giving from paying tax. Yet the methods used to encourage donations tend to assume that philanthropy depends on objective assessments of need rather than on donors’ enthusiasms. The tendency to overestimate the extent to which people act as rational agents results in fundraising literature that often focuses on the dimensions and urgency of the problem for which funding is sought. The assumption underlying this approach is that donations are distributed in relation to evidence of neediness, when in fact much giving could be described as ‘taste-based’ rather than ‘needs-based’.

 

Theoretical models of decision-making are used to demonstrate that donors are restricted not only by the amount of money they have available to give away but also by limitations in their ability to gather information, cognitively process the merits of alternative recipients, and dedicate time to this decision-making process. The findings confirm that donors find it difficult to make decisions about charitable recipients, and that they use a range of strategies to assist their decision-making, including:

 

The paper concludes that a better understanding of donors’ rationalities is necessary for both policy-makers and fundraising practitioners, in order to avoid making erroneous assumptions about the meaning and motivation behind giving decisions.

 

Download the full article for free athttp://www.kent.ac.uk/sspssr/cphsj/documents/How%20Donors%20Choose%20Charities%2018%20June%202010.pdf

 

 

This book offers an analysis of common features and major differences in volunteering landscape of EU countries based on a study of country reports realized within the SPES led research work “Volunteering across Europe. Organisations, promotion, participation”. The essay has the objective to focus on key features of volunteering activities in EU countries as described in the country reports, especially with regard to areas of activities and available objective data. The essay provides an insight into distinctive “European” features of voluntary action, based on comparative analysis.

 

 

 

This special issue seeks to explore, encourage debate, and help shape understanding on the multiple ways in which philanthropic action (perceived in its broadest sense and including charitable giving and action) engages with, supports, and/or challenges public management and policy. Reflecting the international and interdisciplinary nature of PMR, we encourage a pluralist approach. We welcome submissions that address all national contexts as well as cross-national comparisons. Papers can be empirically based – using quantitative, qualitative, or mixed method approaches – or theoretical. Areas for consideration might include:

 

The guest editors of this special issue are Dr Tobias Jung (Centre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropy, University of Edinburgh Business School and Cass Business School, UK) and Prof Jenny Harrow (Centre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropy, Cass Business School, UK). Please contact Tobias.Jung.1@city.ac.uk for any questions regarding this special issue.

 

The deadline for submissions is 4^th March 2011, and authors should submit their articles online at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/rpxm. All submissions should meet the PMR author guidelines available at http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/journal.asp?issn=1471-9037&linktype=44.

 

 

In 2009, participants from CSOs across Europe took part in ‘The European Programme in Civil Society Leadership’ (EPICS). Based on its previous success, we are proud to announce the launch of the 2011 programme. Top-level leaders in European Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) identified a growing need among Civil Society leaders to challenge their own basic assumptions, develop their formal knowledge and expand their personal networks in the sector. EPICS has been designed to examine relevant strategic and managerial issues that CSO leaders and managers are facing today. With a firm base on frontline research and by incorporating practical experience, EPICS seeks to strengthen and enhance the strategic and analytical capacity of European Civil Society Organizations.

It is important to develop an understanding of the differences and similarities that exist among European CSOs. The EPICS initiative aims to foster joint perspectives as well as create a European identity among CSO decision and policy makers. Therefore, EPICS is offered by the following academic institutions:

 

We believe that EPICS 2011 will build on participant’s prior learning and experience. Moreover it aims at providing a challenging environment and helping to build professional contacts and potential future strategic partners across Europe.

We would be pleased if you would spread this information among potentially interested persons. More programme details are available at www.epics.info, in the adjoining EPICS folder or through the Academic Directors of the EPICS Programme: Gemma Donnelly-Cox, Michael Meyer or Filip Wijkström.

 

 

The second issue of Voluntary Sector Review, ERNOP’s official academic journal, will be published in July 2010. It contains the following mix of European, US and UK oriented papers.

 

 

 

ERNOP’s membership package includes an offer of a 33% discount on the 2010 journal subscription for individual ERNOP members, who will pay 40 Euros (rather than the full price of 60 Euros). Request the discount by indicating that you are an individual ERNOP member when ordering via http://www.portlandpress.com/pcs/journals/journal.cfm?product=VSR.

VSR is offering a free online trial of the journal to institutions for the whole of 2010. Institutional ERNOP members can sign up for this free trial by sending an email with your name and the address of your institution to tpp-vsr-trial@bristol.ac.uk.

 

The editors encourage all ERNOP members and associates to submit papers to the new journal, on philanthropy and other topics, from UK, European or wider perspectives including, especially, illuminating comparative analyses. To submit a paper, please see the notes for contributors on www.policypress.co.uk/PDFs/General/VSR Notes for contributors_FINAL 120110.pdf

 

 

On April 11th – 13th 2011 the 15^th edition of the IRSPM Conference will take place in Dublin Ireland, during which the conference panel ‘Philanthropy, public services, policy: working together or falling out?’ will be organised by Prof Jenny Harrow, Dr Tobias Jung, Prof Stephen P Osborne, Prof Susan Phillips, Dr Brid Quinn, Prof Chris Tapscott and Prof Mary Tschirhart. Please contact Tobias.Jung.1@city.ac.uk for any questions regarding this panel. To submit an abstract and for further information about the conference, please visit http://www.irspm2011.com/.

 

 

 

The Research Center PHaSI, with a grant of the Fondazione Roma Mediterraneo, is running a virtual exhibition titled Religions and Philanthropy in the Mediterranean: artifacts, symbols and material culture. The aim of the project is to create of a virtual museum where artworks, buildings, documents and objects are shown about the philanthropic tradition in the framework of the main monotheistic religion as well as of cultural and religious minorities in the Mediterranean. The project is based on an international networks of scholars, institutions, researchers, and experts from many of the Mediterranean countries. The virtual museum is expected to be opened late November 2010.

 

 

The Centre for Philanthropy Studies (CEPS) at the University of Basel has started a new research project on awards that are offered by foundations. The project is focused on the question; What criteria influence the importance of foundations awards in the target field and in the public in general. The aim is to reveal the core components of a successful award, including the components of the prize aspects of announcement, selection and the prize ceremony. A preliminary search has revealed more than 200 existing foundation awards in Switzerland. The project is supported by the Sophie und Karl Binding Foundation and Velux Foundation. First results will be available on the CEPS-website this autumn.

 

 

GIVING 1/09. Published on March 2010 - “Community Philanthropy”
The issue - co-edited with the Center for Leadership and Public Value, University of Cape Town, South Africa – reflected on community philanthropy in practice with a view to surfacing current issues and themes. The issue highlights systems of community philanthropy, conceptual underpinnings and increasing rigour in contextualizing community philanthropy, and innovative works occurring within the sector with practical and widespread applications.

 

GIVING 2/09. Expected for September 2010 - “The territory as leverage of social aims and projects”
The issue is the result of a special project elaborated by The Research Center PHaSI concerning the city of Bologna and the surrounding area that aims to identify a main series of indexes that allow the analysis of those values, whether tangible or intangible, necessary for assessing the real needs of individuals and families in a given territory. In this issue will be published essays and studies of best practices and several articles written by experts of international renown.

 

 

A new study into Charitable Giving and Fundraising in a Tax Regime has been started by Dr. Friedrich Heinemann and Sarah Borgloh of ZEW and Prof. Berthold U. Wigger of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. The study has been commissioned by the German Research Foundation (DFG) in Bonn.

 

 

 

Hudson Institute's Center for Global Prosperity as published its fifth annual Index of Global Philanthropy and Remittances, a comprehensive guide to global philanthropy and remittances from developed to developing countries. The Index can be downloaded for free from www.global-prosperity.org.

 

Five years ago, when the first Index was published, the foreign aid establishment downplayed the importance of private giving. Now, almost every major international economic institution -from the U.S. State Department to the IMF and the World Bank- recognizes that private development aid is critical to prosperity in the developing world.

 

The 2010 Index includes:

 

Pamala Wiepking and several other ERNOP members have provided the Hudson Institute’s Index 2010 with figures on European philanthropy, partly based on the ERNOP publication “The State of Giving Research”. Pamala has visited the Hudson Institute in March 2010 and agreed upon facilitating collaboration between the Hudson Institute and ERNOP members, hopefully resulting in the inclusion of more (complete) figures on European Philanthropy in the 2011 Index. Because of the interest of the Hudson Institute in European Philanthropy, they have invited all ERNOP members attending the ARNOVA conference 2011 in Arlington to visit the Hudson Institute in Washington. More details on the collaboration and the visit to the Hudson Institute will follow later this year.

 

 

The European Council has adopted the decision to designate 2011 as he "European Year of Volunteering". According to the Council, volunteering has a great, but so far under-exploited, potential for the social and economic development of Europe. Dedicating 2011 to the topic of volunteering will help Member States, regional and local communities and civil society achieve the following objectives:
1. Work towards an enabling and facilitating environment for volunteering in the EU;
2. Empower volunteer organisations and improve the quality of volunteering;
3. Reward and recognise volunteering activities; and
4. Raise awareness of the value and importance of volunteering.

Each Member State has been asked to designate a National Coordinating Body (NVB) that will be responsible for the planning, coordination and organisation of events. Activities will focus on communication and awareness-raising measures, such as conferences, seminars, exchange of experience and publications. The ownership of the European Year shall remain with the volunteers and the volunteer organisations, and many activities and celebrations will be organised from the bottom-up. The budget allocated for the European Year of Volunteering 2011 is EUR 8 million. An additional amount of EUR 3 million has also been allocated for preparatory actions during 2010.

 

For more information about the program and activities in your country, check http://ec.europa.eu/citizenship/focus/focus840_en.htm.

 

The Centre for Philanthropy Studies (CEPS) at the University of Basel is the official research partner of the Swiss national committee for the European Year of Volunteering 2011. During this year, the CEPS will support the Swiss national committee with data and facts on volunteering and will participate in several events. Furthermore, a qualitative study on volunteering is planned to be conducted in 2011. The CEPS is strongly interested in contacts with other research centre’s that will be involved in the European Year of Volunteering. Please contact Georg Schnurbein at georg.vonschnurbein@unibas.ch.

 

 

Both from a scientific and policy perspective, this is the time to acquire funding for research on philanthropy throughout Europe. In many social science disciplines, attention for philanthropy as a topic is growing. The number of journal articles published on philanthropy is growing faster than ever, and more and more articles appear in high-impact journals. From a policy perspective the economic downturn increases the relevance of philanthropy. Governments seek budget cuts that create a need for philanthropic funding of public goods that is greater than ever.

 

How can you take advantage of these opportunities? And how does ERNOP help you? First of all, we encourage all ERNOP members to write grant proposals. At the ERNOP website and in the newsletter you find upcoming competitions and deadlines. We gather this information from the funding bodies that we currently know about. These are primarily the European Research Council (ERC), the European Foundation Center (EFC), the European Science Foundation (ESF) and the Eighth Framework Programme of the European Union (FP8).

 

 

In addition to these grant opportunities from EU bodies, national and even local bodies in your country may also offer grants for international collaboration. For instance, the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research offers grants for collaboration with and research visits of scholars from France and Germany. Cities like Amsterdam and Paris also fund international exchange programs. Please examine the grant programs of national organizations for possibilities of funding for international exchange, collaboration and conference organization that help ERNOP. Send the information you have to the ERNOP secretary at projectmanager@ernop.eu so that we can publish it on www.ernop.eu.

 

A second role for ERNOP is assisting you in developing your research proposals, you can email research@ernop.eu if you would like to receive assistance or if you would like to give assistance. The assistance starts in the first phase of putting together a team of researchers with whom you can work productively. You can announce your interest in participating in a working group to write a research proposal, and search the ERNOP network to find colleagues that could help. Also you find some general guidelines for writing proposals, on topics such as making an assessment of the chances of success before you start to work; getting support from your own university; insights in success and failure factors. In ERNOP we also share experiences from previous applications. By sharing insights gained throughout the grant writing process you contribute to the success of other ERNOP members. And as a member you can benefit from the experiences of your colleagues.

 

 

Over the last three years, the American Sociological Association (ASA) has been building a section on altruism and social solidarity. This section has recently become in formation, and would like to invite all people interested to join. The section will organize a session at the ASA meeting in Chicago, August 2011, which you might find of interest. It is called “Current Perspectives on Altruism and Social Solidarity”, and the presenters include Paul Schervish (Boston College) and Christian Smith (Notre Dame University, Science of Generosity Project). For more information on the section and the session at the ASA conference you can contact Vincent Jeffries, California State University, Northridge (vcjeff@earthlink.net).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. From counting the trees to picturing the ecosystem: research about foundations in Europe -  a report from EFC week by Marta Rey Garcia (June 3, 2010)