Foundations’ governance for strategic philanthropy: the second national survery

Foundations are “institutional donors” that are endowed with large financial assets that their trustees (board members) allocate through annual philanthropic budgets by means of one or more grants made to associations, cooperatives, universities, research centers, schools, other operative foundations, and other entities or through one or more projects that the endowed foundation carries out with its organizational resources. Because of foundations’ growth and success in creating social value, scholars, politicians, and practitioners have come to expect them to play the unique role of social merchant banks in fostering the positive impact of non-profit organizations on societies. Regulators like the European Commission (2005) and the U.S. Senate Finance Committee (2004) have argued for effective non-profit governance in order to achieve these objectives, thus making the governance of non-profit organizations a hot research topic.