Research program
The research activities of the CEPS contribute to the growth of knowledge about the following general topics.
1. Philanthropy and social capital
In the Anglo-American understanding the term philanthropy means private actions for the common good. The term covers manifold actions and fields of activities: from a non-recurring donation via a voluntary engagement to the establishment of a foundation.
The CEPS deals with all kinds of philanthropy and analyses its nature within a social context. In particular, we want to analyse and record the social benefit of philanthropy. The theoretical background of our research in this field is the concept of social capital.
Social capital includes social networks, norms and trust. With the aid of social capital, collective social aims can be better achieved. Philanthropic activities are, in most instances, investments in social capital. This means that, beneficiary foundations
- enhance cooperation, knowledge accumulation, understanding and social development
- provide know-how, contacts, opportunities for interaction and financial resources
2. Governance and the legitimacy of foundations
Foundations are the expression of private and charitable engagements and, therefore, are an important element of the civil society and a bridge-builder between private activities and governmental programs. Foundations are in a special legal position, which is characterized by their independence from the influence of others. Specific requirements come along with this exceptional position. Foundations are under federal supervision. On the other hand, other internal supervision and control mechanisms are hardly regulated. The Swiss Foundation Code and the Swiss NPO-Code provide foundations with two useful advanced fundamentals for improved governance in foundations.
The CEPS will provide interdisciplinary articles about the application and the implementation of governance as well as the impact of governance on the management of the foundation. The CEPS aims for jurisprudential and sociological analyses. As an example, the foundation’s deed is the legitimacy of every foundation and could be viewed within a social framework.
Another deficit in research is the missing data regarding the foundation sector. There is a general lack of data about foundations in Switzerland as well as about their central organisational indicators such as employees, budgets, projects etc. This gap shall be closed with the research of the centre.
3. Foundations – strategies, performance and potentials
The activities of a foundation are determined by its mission. The implementation of this requirement presents the foundation board with far-reaching decision making problems because the determination of strategies as well as the measurement of their impact and the sustainability of projects is difficult due to a lack of standardised indicators.
Furthermore, beneficiary foundations often depend on intermediaries during the implementation process. Therefore, the quality management of the performance depends on more than the foundation alone.
The focus of research in this field is based on the question, how foundations can efficiently manage the process of acquisition, selection, supervision and evaluation of applications. Another important question is how foundations can measure and display the success of their activities. Both questions are joined to the analysis of successful promotional strategies. These strategies shall be recorded with the aid of case studies and qualitative-empirical instruments. Additionally, there is a lack of theoretical background about foundation management. The focus of our scientific analysis is first of all the beneficiary foundation. Other types of foundations and other nonprofit organisations shall be considered at a later date.
In particular, there is a lack of surveys in the field of strategic management, general management, leadership, financial management and asset management. Moreover, the influence of the foundation size on the management potential has yet to be analysed.
4. Corporate Citizenship
