Social Science Research Council

Philanthropic foundations are private institutions that reside uneasily in the public sphere, where they perform crucial functions—supporting social services large and small that state institutions cannot or will not provide, making possible arts and other cultural enrichment programs, even enacting ambitious programs of social reform. In short, they contribute significantly to the public good. Yet they are in some ways profoundly undemocratic institutions in their structure: they are privately controlled and therefore generally outside the typical accountability mechanisms that are an important hallmark of other types of organizations and institutions in democratic society. Their legitimacy thus cannot derive from conformity with democratic processes, but must rest on the performance of special roles or functions that are socially useful and broadly acceptable.

The SSRC, in collaboration with the Mattei Dogan Foundation and the Russell Sage Foundation, convened a workshop in 2004 at which an interdisciplinary group of scholars specializing in philanthropic organizations and the non-profit sector in the United States and Europe presemted new work on the complexity and multi-dimensionality of foundations’ public and private roles. These scholars joined policy makers and representatives of important European and American foundations in discussing the functions and legitimacy of philanthropic organizations in contemporary society.

Contributors