During the latter part of the 20th century there was a tremendous increase
in the number of civil society organizations in every part of the world.
There is not a corner of the globe that has not experienced an exponential
increase in the number and scope of organizations that exist within the third
sector. The growth in nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations has been
accompanied by a concomitant growth in the number of education and training
programs both preparing managers for a career in these organizations and
supporting current managers to lead them, through in-service education,
consulting, and creating support for project management. Civil society
organizations increasingly find it necessary to become active learning
environments in order to address the complexity of their work. In addition
to their organizations’ knowledge and competence, they search for external
expertise and knowledge from research, workshops, organizational development
consultancies, peer and individual mentoring, networking, and academic programs
in higher education. In the last few decades there has been a consistent growth
in both nonprofit sector-based organizations – offering education, training,
research and management support – and in academic programs offered most often
by universities. This overview surveys the status of education programs in
nonprofit organizations and universities and outlines the relevance, objectives,
and activities of the BENPHE project. It focuses on the following topics:
Academic Training for the Nonprofit Sector
In some European countries, foundations as well as NPOs have shown some skepticism toward academic research and teaching. This is the case in Italy where professional training is generally limited to transferring abilities related originally to successful practices in business and state bureaucracy to the nonprofit sector, clearly bypassing the issue of professional identification and legitimization of this specific field. As a result, there is a strong need to narrow the gap between the field and related disciplines, improving the flow of ideas between them and contributing to the long-term intellectual vitality of both sides through critical scholarship. Academic scholarship for managers of NPOs, social entrepreneurship, and philanthropic studies have much to contribute to the understanding of what society expects from philanthropic action and what such actions can realistically be expected to accomplish in larger societal commons.
In Europe as well as in the United States, the low esteem in which nonprofit scholarship is held has not helped "the new centres as they struggle for elbow room within the university’s brutally competitive institutional structure," according to Steve Heydemann of Georgetown University. He continues, "Scholars have to deal directly, and on uneven terms, with powerful, largely indifferent, and sometimes antagonistic internal university interests, especially university administration, and deans and host faculties of various traditional schools and departments." Nonprofit centers have had and still have a difficult time attracting long-term funding for endowed chairs or full-time academic positions within the universities, leaving them dependent on unsystematic short-term funding from private foundations. Concerning Europe, the few chairs in the field are based mainly in business schools which have a relevant role in developing programs based on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The process of institutionalization of the field is also limited by the fact that research in nonprofit organizations and philanthropy is often carried out by scholars who do not identify themselves within the field. In the discipline of history, for example, a large number of historians are interested in philanthropy only from the point of view of their academic perspective in social history, economic history, and the history of religions.
Research design for project implementation
In the definition of the research framework we also take into account the divide between the American tradition dominated by scientific philanthropy since the 19th century and the distinctive European traditions which are deeply rooted in the framework of different European civil societies: economie sociale in France and Spain, volunteering and social cooperatives in Italy, and charities in the UK. These are the historical bases for a differentiated isomorphism.
In most European countries and particularly in the countries dominated by a Catholic tradition, philanthropy does not have the connotation of scientific philanthropy but is frequently associated with the concept of "compassionate capitalism," or "scattered benevolence." Basically, philanthropy is not considered a vehicle of relational goods and reciprocity. The Janus-like aspect of the very limited evolution of scientific philanthropy in Europe is related in part to the fact that Catholic associations have for a long time been the main driver of the voluntary sector’s development. This is particularly the case in Spain, Italy, France, and, to some extent, Germany.
Yet, the situation is rapidly changing and philanthropy in the last few years has gained a new reputation and a new qualification as social investment. It has become increasingly associated with social entrepreneurship. Educational programs created at the university level enhance and strengthen this evolution as new professional roles are emerging in a framework with blurred boundaries between public and private sectors.
We are facing a rapid process of innovation from which a new conceptual and practical relationship between social entrepreneurship and philanthropic giving is being shaped through the emerging concept of social investment. It is within this emerging framework that the European gap between NPOs and philanthropy can be developed and can produce innovative effects on educational programs. This process is particularly evident in business schools that are shifting their programs from a focus on management to a strategic focus on leadership; moving from a strong concern for corporate social responsibility to a deeper conceptualization focused on the social responsibility of wealth. The effect is thus reshaping the old concept of philanthropy into the new operational pattern of social investment. Universities cannot avoid this challenge and should, in reasonable time, create new integrated higher educational programs and positively respond by overcoming – through innovative transdisciplinary and transatlantic programs – the limits imposed by the control of marketing in educational programs. They can do this by strengthening the effort to "enlarge the boundary zone."
BENPHE Project Goals and Activities
Accordingly, the goal of BENPHE and its related activities is to analyze an educational framework that can enhance collaboration between U.S. and European institutions in building integrated educational programs in NPOs, NGOs, and philanthropy. The foundation of this project is an existing strong relationship established at the master’s degree level between the Master in International Studies in Philanthropy and Social Entrepreneurship (MISP) at the University of Bologna (Italy) and the Master of Arts in Philanthropic Studies at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University in Indianapolis (United States).
Since 2000, the U.S. and European leaders of the project have developed consolidated experience in this field thanks to the joint masters program, which delivers dual degrees to three American students and three European students during each annual program. As a joint initiative of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University and the University of Bologna, this program is based on a transatlantic faculty, as European and American professors are called to teach the same courses or modules collaboratively. The joint venture is also based on the activity of research centers both in Indiana and in Bologna that produce original research and books to be used for the training of the students. The network also integrates other European and non-European universities and research centers. This partnership and related educational programs between the Center on Philanthropy and Bologna MISP have been recently analyzed as a case study in the Journal of the Institute of International Education in "Overcoming Obstacles in Developing an Indiana-Bologna Master’s Program Partnership," by Stephanie Leslie and Susan Buck Sutton. The innovative elements of the BENPHE project include: 1) the production of data collected through on-line surveys, interviews, exploration of websites, and analysis of evaluative materials; 2) reports on the growth of academic programs, seeking to understand the variations in program types adopted from place to place; 3) comparison at the macro level (contrast of contexts from the point of view of the institutional, educational, and socio-anthropological framework on the two continents); and 4) comparison at the micro level (identification of best practices in educational programs on both continents).
Research Design for Project Implementation
The research design for project implementation is based on the following components:
- An institutional survey, in the selected countries, of training courses
on management of NPOs, NGOs, and foundations. The criteria for the selection
of the educational programs will be (1) existence of an international
system of credits; (2) curriculum level; (3) solidity
of the faculty (performance of professors and researchers; (4) number of
students; and (5) placement of graduates).
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A second survey will consider the job opportunities and the
placement of the "best students" in the countries of the European BENPHE
partners (Sweden, Italy and Great Britain).
To ensure that both samples are representative, the link for the questionnaire
will be disseminated both via electronic and postal mail and will be addressed
to university centers as well as to the members of associations of nonprofit
academics and researchers (including the Association for Research on Nonprofit
Organizations and Voluntary Action, and the International Society for
Third-Sector Research).
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To ensure the qualitative analysis of the data and their impact, two joint conferences and two "local" team workshops will be organized. The first conference will be devoted to presenting and discussing the database, to defining the criteria of comparison within the two continents and between them by analyzing the best models in the U.S. and in Europe and defining the process of cross-fertilization, adaptation, and assimilation.
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The second conference will be devoted to the study of the curricula, the analysis of the system of credits, and the articulation of theoretical modules and practical work to create a framework for an undergraduate program.
In order to have a deeper impact and to promote the final aim of the project (to institutionalize a new field of research and a new academic subject), all results will be developed and made available on the World Wide Web.
Roles of BENPHE partners
The role of each BENPHE partner and, particularly, of the European Foundation Centre in Brussels is crucial to implement the links between academic institutions and external networks and agencies. The collaboration with Oxford Brookes University as well as with Ersta Sköndal University College will give the research team the opportunity to develop a clear division of responsibilities. The geographical areas to be covered by the inquiry and the corresponding research partners include: 1) France, Spain, Germany, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia and Eastern Europe (Poland, Bulgaria, Rumania and Hungary) by the MISP; 2) UK and Ireland by Oxford Brookes University, and 3) Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland by the Ersta Sköndal University College. Information collected through the on-line system will be subsequently verified through personal correspondence and review of materials available on the Internet. Data will also be collected through interviews and personal correspondence with directors of these programs.
At present, we have the U.S.-based programs well documented by Mirabella (
http://tltc.shu.edu/npo/) and a preliminary survey on European programs presented by the University of Bologna MISP at the Benchmark III Conference in March 2006 at Arizona State University in the United States.
The value of collaboration
The added value of multilateral, transatlantic collaboration on the project is the opportunity to implement the database for the U.S. while structuring and completing the inquiry in the European countries, as educational programs are still evolving. The flexibility of the framework can enhance the possibility of creating or strengthening common patterns and defining models that create common programs, based on a clear knowledge of the existing programs in each European country. By exploring the networking process within specific contexts, a side effect of BENPHE may be to assist in institutionalizing this emerging professional and scientific field within the European higher education system. This study can lead to the creation of joint programs – which include U.S. partnerships – among European universities and research centers supporting the educational programs.
It should be recognized that the comparison between the development of educational programs concerning NPOs and philanthropy in the U.S. and in Europe shows interesting similarities as well as structural asymmetries. Similarities and differences relate to the configuration of the field, the so called "third sector," rather than to a different approach to the educational programs.
Despite asymmetrical development of the nonprofit sector and, particularly, of philanthropic institutions in the U.S. and Europe, the main growth of university courses on the two continents occurred in almost the same period – the early 1990s – and have had significant growth since 2001. During this period, some European countries, such as Italy, France, Germany and Spain, changed their national laws about NPOs and philanthropic institutions, particularly affecting foundations. Indeed, in defining the framework for a comparison between the development of related educational programs in the U.S. and in Europe, it is worth noticing the parallels between the crisis of the welfare state in Europe and the fact that, in the U.S. since the late 1980s, the government has come under pressure to reduce direct provision of services to its citizens. This socioeconomic context framed the shift in focus in some educational programs from more "traditional" subjects to the nonprofit sector.
Focus on Europe
The peculiarity of Europe is that the growth of the sector – which is relevant for nonprofit organizations and for philanthropic institutions as well – and the related educational programs do not yet stand on a solid institutional base as in the United States since the beginning of the past century. Even though some European foundations are currently listed among the top ten foundations worldwide (these include the Wellcome Trust in the UK and the Cariplo Foundation and the Monte dei Paschi in Italy), the creation of foundations as grantmaking institutions in Italy, France, Germany and Spain is a relatively recent phenomenon. In the enlarged European Union, including Eastern European countries, the growth of the sector has been emphasized by its political and social context after 1989 with the increased development of civil society organizations. Actually, Eastern European countries were the first to understand the need for networking in order to strengthen the educational programs of nonprofit organizations, including programs at the university level. One should observe the different impact of networking on the development of educational programs in Eastern Europe compared with other European countries. Indeed, in Eastern Europe there is a prevailing development of elective courses (mainly in law and the management of NPOs) while in many other European countries the process of establishing university-based programs has been quite consistent. This difference is in part due to the creation, in western Europe, of a large number of centers focused on civil society. It is also related to the influence of European business schools.
Focus on the United States
Today, much of the curricula of nonprofit educational programs in the United States is focused upon management as technical skill development and upon knowledge of related federal laws and state regulations. Although this training is essential, it is equally important for educational programs to provide the knowledge of philanthropy and of the nonprofit sector within a global context. Formal graduate education programs in nonprofit management began in the l980s and proliferated rapidly in the l990s. Yet, Indiana’s Center on Philanthropy has tended not to focus exclusively on educating for professions in the west, but incorporating a global understanding of the history of philanthropy, nonprofit sector development, and civil society. The current collaborative masters program between the University of Bologna and Indiana University is an important example that draws from a rich history of a global understanding of education for NPO professions.
Most of the graduate nonprofit management programs in the United States are housed in schools of public affairs or administration. Management programs other than the MBA and MPA in which nonprofit management is taught are found mainly in social work, arts administration, health, and education schools. As in Europe, the most important cause for the growth in nonprofit management education in the United States is the growth in the third sector itself. This has been fueled by increased wealth, the historical role of religion, increased third-party government, and social activism, which helped produce positive legal frameworks responsible for the exponential growth of nonprofit organizations.
At the Benchmark III Conference in March 2006 at Arizona State University (which celebrated three decades of nonprofit and philanthropic studies education), there was a call to include more history, philosophy, and other liberal arts approaches in the higher education study of philanthropy and nonprofits. This approach would increase our understanding of what is needed in education for leadership in the nonprofit and philanthropic field. In our proposed BENPHE work, we will take a leadership role in basing the study of philanthropy and nonprofit leadership on a multidisciplinary approach with a strong focus on ethics within a global context.
Impact of the proposed project
In order to define the expected impact of the proposed project, it is important to focus on the asymmetries across the two continents as well as the configuration of the field from the point of view of disciplines. This is particularly challenging since the nonprofit and philanthropic sector is changing quickly as practice and theoretical issues are redefined.
The added value of the proposal lies also in the possibility of creating an undergraduate program which could produce a well-structured and integrated opportunity for educational programs on both sides of the Atlantic, with a larger partnership in several European and non-European countries. Special attention will be devoted to defining a system of credits among partnering institutions and to defining an administrative system to facilitate both the development of the dual diploma and the participation of students in the program (including language skill development, cultural knowledge, and tutorship).
The model to assess student achievement will be adapted from the existing joint master’s degree program collaboration between the Center on Philanthropy and the University of Bologna, which is based not only on a transatlantic permanent faculty but also on the collaboration of experts, programs officers, and executives from the world of foundations, NGOs, and NPOs. The main opportunity created by this project is to experiment with whether this model at a masters degree level can be adapted to an undergraduate program by enhancing the possibility for students to develop interaction with the world of nonprofit professions.
A critical consideration for the evaluation of the project is its impact in overcoming, in the United States and in Europe, what Steven Heydemann has stated recently about the disciplines: "The standing of philanthropy and the nonprofit sector in the social sciences and humanities remains uncertain as does the relation between the field and the disciplines."
This project, which will take the form of a feasibility study, will identify the disciplines that play a more relevant role in the development of educational programs concerning nonprofit organizations and philanthropy by enhancing a transdisciplinary approach to strengthening and introducing innovation to the field. At the same time the project will disseminate the results of the research outcomes in the framework of already-existing and well-established academic and professional national and international networks. The intention is to produce results that can be used as frameworks and blueprints for further educational program development on both continents. As a result, the main goal is to define the conditions that can reduce (in the structuring of an educational program at the undergraduate level) the risk of skepticism of practitioners about the quality of the university programs in teaching and research.
The data collected through the planned surveys will be made available on the web pages for the joint masters programs (
http://www.misp.it and
http://www.philanthropy.iupui.edu/partners.html#bologna). This will promote the results of our research and thus focus on possible challenges and strengths of a new undergraduate degree program for managers of NPOs, social entrepreneurship, and philanthropic studies. The institutional survey, the indication of some "best practices" in the organization, and the definition of a curriculum for an undergraduate degree in a transatlantic program will represent the basic foundation for a long-term project. The short-term outcome of the BENPHE project is represented by the possibility of enforcing and implementing the existing degrees by adapting the new programs to the needs of a sector in continual evolution.
Considering both these goals (short-term and long-term), the big challenge and groundwork for project evaluation is the possibility of understanding to what degree such a program may increase job opportunities for students after their graduation. This will aid BENPHE in responding both to the needs of the growing third sector and in giving students the appropriate tools, skills and knowledge to improve their professional lives as well as their abilities in performing research. The survey on the students is a relevant part of the project, providing us with core information both for enrichment of the current dual masters programs as well as for the establishment of an undergraduate degree as a coordinated educational offering of different programs at different degree levels.
The project’s evaluation, particularly its short-term goals, will be based on the experience and skills accumulated by the masters programs in the framework of the existing and well-established professional and academic networks. The final goal is a transatlantic undergraduate degree based on the study of existing educational programs across Europe and the consequent selection of best practices in a configuration that includes: (1) a permanent transatlantic faculty; (2) exchange of professors, researchers, and students – with appropriate fellowships and internships; and, (3) a joint degree. It will be characterized by enlarged European university participation and by the possibility of creating a common cultural framework; improving mutual understanding between the two continents, and by cross-fertilization of methodological and theoretical issues as well as of practices and experiences on both sides of the Atlantic.
