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Handbook on Corporate Foundations

Corporate and Civil Society Perspectives

  • Offers insights from disciplines such as business, management, philanthropy, civil society and sociology
  • Looks further into the organizational processes of corporate foundations, governance, operations, and analyzes impact of major aspects of organizational performance
  • Taps into a growing interest in developing a typology of foundations such as family foundations, community foundations, PtP-foundations and Corporate Foundations

Part of the book series: Nonprofit and Civil Society Studies (NCSS)

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Table of contents (16 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xii
  2. Introduction

    • Lonneke Roza, Steffen Bethmann, Lucas Meijs, Georg von Schnurbein
    Pages 1-13
  3. Correction to: Handbook on Corporate Foundations: Corporate and Civil Society Perspectives

    • Lonneke Roza, Steffen Bethmann, Lucas Meijs, Georg von Schnurbein
    Pages C1-C1
  4. Governance and Management

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 15-15
    2. Challenges in Corporate Foundation Governance

      • David Renz, Lonneke Roza, Frans-Joseph Simons
      Pages 17-37
    3. Families, Firms, and Philanthropy: Shareholder Foundation Responses to Competing Goals

      • Joel Bothello, Arthur Gautier, Anne-Claire Pache
      Pages 63-82
  5. Corporate Foundations in Various Institutional Contexts

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 83-83
    2. Corporate Foundations in Europe

      • Theresa Gehringer, Georg von Schnurbein
      Pages 85-106
    3. Corporate Foundations in the United States

      • Joannie Tremblay-Boire
      Pages 107-123
    4. Corporate Foundations in Russia: Overview of the Sector

      • Irina Krasnopolskaya
      Pages 149-166
    5. Corporate Foundations in Latin America

      • Marta Rey-Garcia, Michael D. Layton, Javier Martin-Cavanna
      Pages 167-190
  6. Stakeholder Perspectives on Corporate Foundations

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 191-191
    2. Nonprofit Organizations’ Views on Corporate Foundations

      • Sterre Swen, Lonneke Roza, Lucas Meijs, Alexander Maas
      Pages 271-285
    3. Discussion and Conclusion

      • Lonneke Roza, Steffen Bethmann, Lucas Meijs, Georg von Schnurbein
      Pages 287-303

About this book

Companies increasingly play a meaningful role in civil society and the philanthropic sector through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Corporate Philanthropy (CP). The most well studied form of allocating these resources is through outright contributions to operating external foundations and other nonprofit organizations. However, far less is known about the use of corporate foundations, separate and independent nonprofit entities aimed at channeling corporate giving to a social mission related to a company. 

Corporate foundations are often linked to the founding company through their name, funding, trustees, administration and potential employee involvement. As these foundations are growing in number, size and importance and becoming increasingly visible in the philanthropic sector, the urgency to understand their role and functioning becomes more important.

The primary aim of this volume is to deliver a holistic analysis of the current state-of-the-arton corporate foundations. For that reason, the book includes different perspectives on and use a hybrid concept of corporate foundations. The book includes three main parts. First, looking further into the organizational processes of corporate foundations, the book analyzes governance and operations as major aspects of organizational performance. Second, it sheds light on the role of corporate foundations in various institutional settings. Lastly, the book includes various stakeholder perspectives on corporate foundations, including corporate employees, beneficiaries, and their non-profit partners.

By reading the book, readers will build a comprehensive understanding of the role and functioning of corporate foundations, understand new avenues for research and, in case they are practitioners in the field, find practical advice rooted in academic research.

Editors and Affiliations

  • Rotterdam School of Management (RSM), Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Lonneke Roza, Lucas Meijs

  • Center for Philanthropy Studies (CEPS), University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

    Steffen Bethmann, Georg von Schnurbein

About the editors

​Lonneke Roza is Post Doctoral Researcher & Lecturer at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University. Her research focusses on (microfoundations of) Corporate Philanthropy/Corporate Citizenship. Her work is published in among others Journal of Business Ethics, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly and Voluntas. 

Steffen Bethmann (Phd University Heidelberg) is a Research Fellow of the Center for Philanthropy Studies of the University of Basel. He is also an organizational consultant and associated researcher of the Centro de Filantropía y Inversiones Sociales of the University Adolfo Ibañez in Santiago Chile. His area of expertise lay especially in strategies and governance of foundations as well as in the field of social innovation. 


Lucas Meijs is professor of Strategic Philanthropy and Volunteering at Rotterdam School of Management (RSM), Erasmus University Rotterdam (Netherlands). His currentresearch focuses on strategic philanthropy, volunteer/nonprofit management, corporate community involvement, and involved learning. He served two terms as first non-american co-editor in chief of Nonprofit and Voluntary Action Quarterly and was a member of the Raad voor Maatschappelijke Ontwikkeling – the official policy advisory body for the Dutch government and parliament.


Georg von Schnurbein is associate professor for foundation management at the Faculty of Business and Economics and founding director of the Center for Philanthropy Studies (CEPS) at the University of Basel. He serves in several functions in boards in the field of international research on philanthropy and has co-authored the latest edition of the Swiss Foundation Code and published in several impact journals such as Nonprofit & Voluntary Sector Quarterly and European Management Journal. His research interest is on nonprofit governance, financial health of nonprofits, and impact measurement.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Handbook on Corporate Foundations

  • Book Subtitle: Corporate and Civil Society Perspectives

  • Editors: Lonneke Roza, Steffen Bethmann, Lucas Meijs, Georg von Schnurbein

  • Series Title: Nonprofit and Civil Society Studies

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25759-0

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-25758-3Published: 24 October 2019

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-25761-3Published: 24 October 2020

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-25759-0Published: 11 October 2019

  • Series ISSN: 1568-2579

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XII, 303

  • Number of Illustrations: 5 b/w illustrations, 4 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Sociology, general, Corporate Social Responsibility, Non-Profit Organizations and Public Enterprises

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access