Virtual Institutions of Philanthropy

Reconstructing the ‘Business of Giving’ in the Information Age (working title)

First Year Report

PhD Candidate: Vivian Elric Honoré1st Supervisor: Pr Stephen Osborne

2nd Supervisor: Dr Neil Pollock

ESRC 1+3 Studentship / Centre of Charitable Giving and Philanthropy (C-GAP)University of Edinburgh Business School

Email: v.e.honore@sms.ed.ac.uk

Background:– Context and Aims– Rationale

Literature Review:–Typology of Philanthropy Institutions– Synthesis and research question

Research Design– Data Collection– Analysis– Schedule

Questions & Feedback– Close

Overview

BackgroundContext

ESRC Studentship / Research Priorities• Influencing Behaviour and Informing

Interventions CGAP Spoke 3 - Institutions of

Philanthropy• New forms, decision models, values,

and their pitfallsAims

Knowledge exchange between academic and practice communities of philanthropy / 3rd sector

A thesis!

• ‘an original work making a significant contribution to knowledge in understanding of the field of study

Rationale – What, if anything, is ‘new’?

‘Stereotypical’ Philanthropists, Andrew Carnegie and Tom Hunter

‘Stereotypical’ Institutions (i.e. Foundations, Trusts, Institutes etc)

Entrepreneurs then; Entrepreneurs now?

Corporations then; Corporations now?

Rationale – What, if anything, is ‘new’?

Understanding consequences of a changed environment, e.g.:

Quasi global (and cheap) communications Decentralised information systems ‘New’ socio-economic paradigms:

• The ‘Network Society’ (Castells, 1996)• The ‘Information Age’ (Benkler, 2006)

But, old questions:

Improved means to an unimproved end? (Thoreau, 1854)

Do ICTs favour centralised or decentralised structures and dynamics? (Leavitt and Whisler, 1958)

Is adaptation is crucial to organisational performance and survival (Burns & Stalker, 1961).

Literature ReviewHistoriography of Philanthropy:

Changes in structures and processes of philanthropic organisations

Defining ‘traditional’ or mainstream philanthropy Identification of ‘outliers’ and distinct forms

Basic typology: Traditional/Mainstream Philanthropy (e.g. Trusts):

• Transactional / Didactic• Donor-receiver model• Involves formalised grants / trusts giving

structures; large differentials

Collaborative/ Philanthropy (e.g. mutual aid, visiting societies etc – Prochaska, 1998): • Conversational / Dialectical• Collective / mutual model• Involves social lending / microfinance structures;

small differentials

Synthesis21st Century Philanthropy and ICTs:

Some recurring themes:

• Low uptake of ICTs in voluntary / philanthropic organisations (e.g. Burt & Taylor, 1999)

• Adopting ICTs as positive but disruptive (e.g. Bernholtz, 2009)

Research Question:

Does adopting networked ICTs improve the processes of philanthropic organisations or are they reformulating their practice?

Research Design- Data Collection

Two lines of enquiry are prompted by the research question:

Mapping the current organisations’ mode of philanthropy in relation to their degree of adoption of ICTs Enquiring on the process of adoption to determine what are the effects, if any, on the processes of the philanthropic organisation

Suggested data collection strategy:

Mixed-method, survey questionnaire (quantitative) and case study (qualitative)

Survey questionnaire based on Venkatraman’s (1990) model of conventional or transformational ICT usage and Gartner’s (2010) inventory of current ICTs

Case studies selected in order to provide comparison across modes of philanthropy and level of ICT usage

Additional case study of philanthropic organisation with no ICT usage to act as control

Comparison across 2 x 2 Matrix:

Building Theory:

Grounded Theory Method (Glaser and Strauss, 1967) Situational Analysis (Clarke, 200) Actor-Network Theory (ANT) (Latour, 1999)

Research DesignAnalysis

Questions &Feedback?

Thank You