Research Project | Collaborating for the Common Good

• Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Heinrich Liechtenstein; HL@IESE.EDU
• Co-Principal Investigator: Ass.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Tarek el Sehity; Tarek.el-Sehity@sfu.ac.at

• Co-Investigator: Viktoria Asamer, MSc. viktoria.asamer@sfu.ac.at

Between October 2020 and June 2021, 30 semi-structured in-depth interviews (M = 47 minutes) were conducted with leading family members of philanthropically active families, the majority of whom were from the European DACH-region .

We used three coding systems to code 1,846 excerpts with five coders:

(1) Philanthropic topics were categorized according to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) system (comprising 17 goals), adding one thematic category “Religious institutions & faith”;
(2) Human values expressed in the interviews were coded based on Schwartz et al. (2012) 19 Basic Human Values framework; and
(3) categories were developed out of the interviews to code philanthropists’ criteria and conditions for collaboration with peers.

The objective of this study is to understand the feasibility of collaborative philanthropy. The following research questions are investigated:

• Research question 1: Is there an interest of philanthropists in Europe to collaborate with others on philanthropic projects?
• Research question 2: What philanthropic topics are these philanthropists engaged with?
• Research question 3: Do current philanthropic topics and activities differ systematically from the philanthropic topics in which they would like to collaborate, and, if so, in what ways?
• Research question 4: Which human values do philanthropists express and how do their expressed values correlate with their philanthropic topics?
• Research question 5: What are the ideal preconditions for starting philanthropic collaborations, according to philanthropists?

Theoretical Implications

Philanthropy is a widespread activity involving private giving for public purposes by individuals, corporations, and foundations (Barman, 2017). The concept of philanthropy, however, is essentially contested (Daly, 2012), and research on philanthropy is diverse and multifaceted (Mei & Wang, 2021). It includes theorizations of gift-giving, altruism, self-interest, or reciprocity, focusing on actors’ motivations for the scope and scale of philanthropy (Barman, 2017).

While discussing potential definitions of philanthropy, Wiepking (2020) states that “more global research is needed to inform a truly inclusive and comprehensive discussion of the global definition of philanthropy.” (p198) However, core to the definition of philanthropy is its voluntary nature and its non-profit orientation (Sulek, 2010), none of which are to be taken for granted and both of which bring about complex motivational dimensions not to be ignored in philanthropic collaborations.

Different forms and models of philanthropic collaborations have emerged over the last decade, most notably in the US, demonstrating the potential of philanthropic collaborations (Leland, 2017). The nature of collaborations suggests that philanthropy is becoming more strategic and intentional than reactive and “agile” (Phillips, 2018, p.165), thus the collaborative dimension calls for greater understanding.

The collaborative process is integrative and provides a platform and structure to form mutual understanding, trust, and shared preferences (Prentice et al., 2019). However, collaborations are processes which require specific antecedents to function properly and bring about the desired outcomes (Thomson & Perry, 2006). Most antecedents of voluntary private collaborations regard psychological dimensions such as the sharedness of goals and concerns, shared values, the perceived interdependence emerging from goals (resources to share / need for resources), and trust (Miller-Stevens & Taylor, 2020). In addition to the fundamental question of whether there is an interest in philanthropic collaborations, these psychological antecedents need to be addressed.

Practical Implications

1. Philanthropists in Central Europe are interested in meeting and exchanging ideas about philanthropy on different collaboration levels. Almost all interviewees expressed a clear interest in engaging on at least the most general knowledge level in a learning process without further commitments.

2. Philanthropic topics: collaborations may serve to increase impact through the pooling of resources in areas which are already part of one’s established philanthropic priorities, or “stable topics” (most visible in the case of “Quality Education”: 53%). On the other hand, new and strategically meaningful complementary topics may become accessible through philanthropic collaborations which would otherwise be too remote from one’s own philanthropic expertise.

3. After analyzing philanthropists’ human values together with their topics, four distinct philanthropic mindsets emerged that provide a first outline and orientation in the search for philanthropic collaboration with peers. These value-based differences in philanthropists’ mindsets may help in the early stages of organizing meetings to discuss collaborations. Clearly, these clusters do not offer more than a starting point and an initial orientation in the search for joint philanthropic enterprises. However, they may help when starting to navigate the “360 Degrees of Good” with peers to map out some first destinations and philanthropic topics. As one needs to remember: “There is no favorable wind for the sailor who doesn’t know where to go.” (Seneca)

4. Towards collaboration: The main factors identified as conducive to collaboration are commitment, like-mindedness, and shared purpose, followed by the leverage of resources and transparency. On the other hand, among the most cited hindering factors are differences in ideas, maintaining independence, social status, and group dynamics.

Anonymous donor via IESE Business School

70.000 EUR

September 2020 – July 2025

Liechtenstein, H., Repgen, R., & el Sehity, T. (2022). Collaborating for the Common Good:  Feasibility study for a values-based collaborative philanthropy among business families in Central Europe. IESE’s Study on Philanthropical Motivations of Family Business Owners/Mapping of Potential Co-Donors. Technical Report, IESE-Business School, Barcelona, Spain.