Social Science Research Council

In 1998, the Social Science Research Council established the Program on Philanthropy and the Nonprofit Sector (PPNPS) to focus new theoretical attention on philanthropic and nonprofit institutions, to strengthen the contribution of the social sciences to our understandings of philanthropy and the nonprofit sector, and to enrich the presence of this sector in the development of innovative research programs across the social science disciplines. In addition, the Council believes that efforts to strengthen the nonprofit sector become more effective when they can draw on a robust and well-articulated universe of theory to inform the public about the work of the nonprofit sector and its importance for American society.

To achieve these aims, the Program sponsored an annual dissertation fellowship competition for five years and supported research and research planning activities administered through the Committee on Philanthropy and the Nonprofit Sector. Both components of the committee's work aimed to provide greater visibility, direction, and intellectual momentum to the study of foundations, religious entities, advocacy groups and other nonprofits in a wide range of fields.

Through workshops and conferences, the Program encouraged the development of new conceptual and methodological frameworks for the study of these institutions from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, and including such thematic foci as their role in society and their interaction with the broader political and economic settings in which they work, as well as the altruistic behaviors associated with giving, volunteer work and self-sacrifice.

In March 2005, the Program held a capstone conference that marked the conclusion of its several years of fellowships and research planning, funded by Atlantic Philanthropies. The conference explored two parallel themes regarding the role of philanthropic organizations in contemporary society, each of which will result in a volume.

The first theme, Philanthropic Projections of Power: Sending Institutional Logics Abroad, aims to capture ways in which philanthropic organizations reflect the institutional logics of the societies from which they originate. This relationship may be a reflection of a foundation’s explicit programmatic goals or it may be the result of tacit understandings within the organization. Philanthropic organizations (foundations, nongovernmental organizations, religious charities) reflect the institutional logics of the societies from which they originate. Such logics shape both the donor organization’s explicit programmatic goals and the tacit understandings that define the methods through which it seeks to advance those goals.

The second theme focuses on the role of nonprofit organizations and voluntary associations in the development of nation-states, with a particular focus on the American welfare state, Politics and Partnerships: Associations and Nonprofit Organizations in American Governance. The distinctive place of associations in American politics has long been recognized, captured in Tocqueville’s analysis of private organizations as sites of political socialization and civic engagement. Yet this argument typically portrays private organizations as alternatives to, or bulwarks against, the expansion of state power. Consequently, analysts have not grappled as directly with the central place of associations and nonprofit organizations in the development of American political institutions. Systems of governance have co-evolved with capacities for private organization, shaping trajectories of state-building and, in the present moment, the possibilities for reorganizing public social provision. This distinctively heterogeneous system of governance has set the terms for its own transformation and a dramatic reorganizing of the delivery of public goods over the past 25 years. As welfare states retreat and a market logic increasingly shapes the delivery of public goods, funding from philanthropic organizations and other private sources is playing an increasingly large role in issues of social welfare. However, this transformation is considerably more complex than simple epithets like ‘the privatization of public goods’ or ‘public-private partnerships’ portray.