Clear data instead of perso­nal network only

“Phil­an­thropy is indis­pensable for society in many count­ries. Yet it is often trea­ted as irrele­vant at the policy level.” — a provo­ca­tive thesis put forward at this year’s confe­rence of the Euro­pean Rese­arch Network on Phil­an­thropy (ERNOP).

The confe­rence panel on “Coll­ec­ting Data on Phil­an­thropy” discus­sed ways in which phil­an­thropy can receive more atten­tion in the policy arena. For exam­ple, a regu­la­tory frame­work for more effec­tive phil­an­thropy could be streng­the­ned and colla­bo­ra­tion between nonpro­fit orga­niza­ti­ons (NPOs) and govern­ment could be fostered.

The need for data

The ERNOP confe­rence is a scien­ti­fic confe­rence where rese­ar­chers from all over Europe present their rese­arch. To describe the phil­an­thro­pic sector, we need data. This allows us to better under­stand how diffe­rent actors behave and to provide evidence for their important contri­bu­tion to society. Concre­tely, such data, for exam­ple, includes the speci­fic number of NPOs in a coun­try or infor­ma­tion on their assets or giving volume.

Such figu­res and data provide a solid argu­men­ta­tive basis for phil­an­thropy and its contri­bu­tion to the common good of a society. This could create more atten­tion to the socie­tal rele­vance of phil­an­thropy on the policy level. During the confe­rence, howe­ver, rese­ar­chers show that the data on the social signi­fi­cance of phil­an­thro­pic actors in many Euro­pean count­ries is thin.

When the cat bites its own tail

There are many reasons why the data situa­tion is weak. On the one hand, the under­stan­ding of what is meant by phil­an­thropy and which actors are part of it varies from coun­try to coun­try. Legal requi­re­ments regar­ding which actors have to regis­ter in the commer­cial regis­ter, for exam­ple, are very libe­ral in many count­ries. And the fact that the phil­an­thropy sector recei­ves little poli­ti­cal atten­tion does not help to mobi­lize govern­ment resour­ces to coll­ect such data. The cat is biting its own tail, so to speak.

Howe­ver, during the confe­rence, rese­ar­chers from diffe­rent count­ries in Europe presen­ted emer­ging and growing data­ba­ses on phil­an­thro­pic acti­vi­ties. The data shows a clear growth of the sector — measu­red in the number of orga­niza­ti­ons and finan­cial figu­res — in the diffe­rent countries.

Hopeful and dry conclusion

And so the hopeful conclu­sion of the confe­rence panel “Data Coll­ec­tion on Phil­an­thropy” was that with the impro­ve­ment in data coll­ec­tion, the reco­gni­tion of the social value of phil­an­thropy at the policy level is expec­ted to become stron­ger. One of the rese­ar­chers concluded — some­what dryly and with amuse­ment — by saying that, with clear numbers, he now no longer had to rely exclu­si­vely on his perso­nal cont­acts with poli­ti­ci­ans to make clear the social signi­fi­cance of his field of research.ERNOP as a Euro­pean network of NPO rese­ar­chers contri­bu­tes signi­fi­cantly to the impro­ve­ment of the data situa­tion. In Switz­er­land, the CEPS contri­bu­tes with the NPO Data Lab to provide the public with data and statis­tics from the NPO sector, which the CEPS has been coll­ec­ting by agree­ment for seve­ral years.