Philanthropic Organizations

Before we initiate the discussion about philanthropic organizations, we must be quite clear about the meaning of the word ‘philanthropy’. Below are some of the common definitions of philanthropy.

Philanthropy can be defined as a charitable promotion of human welfare. To get a clearer picture of this, you can log on to the website http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=philanthropy.

Philanthropy can even encompass the task of donating or granting monetary help to several charitable organizations for generous causes.

It can even be said to be an effective method, which can directly bring in some change in society. Moreover, in this effort, there is no employment of any type of bureaucratic mechanisms of the government. A person practicing philanthropy is referred to as a philanthropist. Philanthropy is even suggested to be a chief source of monetary income for several causes such as artistic, religious, musical and humanitarian causes. For further reference, you can log on to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philanthropy.

Philanthropic organizations are charitable fundraisers or service projects, which are sponsored by some kind of group or union. To have a better understanding one can click on http://www.uta.edu/stuact/greek/terminology.php.

However, philanthropy is, at times, elaborated in several ways. The basis of the word “philanthropy” traces back to Greek history. Accordingly, the word denotes love for mankind. In recent times, philanthropy embraces the idea of voluntary donation done by either an organization or an individual, both in respect of a good cause. Philanthropy, thus, directs towards the monetary aid presented by foundations to several non-profit associations.

In addition to this, ‘philanthropy’ also commonly refers to community services. For a clearer view of the entire concept, you can click on http://depts.washington.edu/ovpsl/.

Philanthropy can be regarded as an endeavor to promote human welfare. Such types of activities find their origin in Greek history, as the activities have their roots in one of the Greek-letter organizations. A look through http://www.eiu.edu/~panhel/greekglossary.html will give you a clearer idea on this concept.

Going on a much wider scale, philanthropic organizations perform community services by raising funds for non-profit organizations. Such types of services are rendered by a sorority or a fraternity or, at times, by both. Seton Hall University Greek students, who carry out several sorts of such projects every year, put up a good example of these types of tasks. The link below shall help you to make a much clearer idea of the entire concept and the types of work done by the students http://law.shu.edu/administration/student_services/student_activities.htm.

Through all the above statements it is fairly clear, that philanthropy is the other word for community service, which chiefly works for local or national charitable organizations by performing the task of fundraising. In other places, philanthropy has been described as the quality and effort of promoting human welfare. For better knowledge related to the meaning of community welfare, non-profit organization and philanthropy you can surely log on to the link given below http://envision.ca/templates/profile.asp?ID=56.

Illustrating the concept of voluntary donation, the contribution can be a part of personal wealth as well. Done for a good cause, philanthropic activities are directed towards non-profit organizations. Several volunteers get involved in such activities, which involve a combination of funding as well as expertise. For a more clear understanding of the concept you can log on to http://www.pfc.ca/cms_en/page1112.cfm?presto_language=0 and http://wps.prenhall.com/wps/media/objects/213/218150/glossary.html . To find out more about philanthropic activities, you can log on to http://www.adpi-at-slu.com/Terms_Symbols_Insignias.html and http://www.volunteercenter.org/AboutUs/index.php/np_consulting.htm. Giving something or doing some kind of benevolent actions, without any expectation of getting acknowledgement or any kind of reward best explains the intentions of philanthropic activities.

As mentioned before, philanthropic services are chiefly undertaken by sorority, which involve service projects or fundraising activities. The link below can be of great help once you try to get a clear view of the idea. For better search results you can log on to http://studentdevelopment.brenau.edu/greek/gg.html.

Venture philanthropy is a section of philanthropy, which takes in some of the foremost practices of the venture capital world, to invest heavily in charitable or non-profit organizations. The contributions are moreover, directed to construct their capacity effectively.

The numerous definitions below have aptly elaborated on the concept of philanthropy. Thus, the very discussion can help to project a clear picture of the types of work and activities done by a philanthropic organization. The activities, moreover, themselves disclose the mission and goal of the entity. We can therefore, sketch out the tasks taken up by a philanthropic foundation.

What is a Philanthropic Organization?

A Philanthropic organization can be defined as a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization, the assets of which are offered by donors and managed by its own officials. The monetary income of the organization is utilized for socially useful purposes. These organizations are, at times, referred to as community foundation, endowment, and charitable trust.

Community Foundation

Moving on to a related field in the sector of philanthropy, the concept of community foundation is worth mentioning. A community foundation is chiefly an independent philanthropic organization, which operates in a particular geographical area. Closely associated with philanthropic organization, community foundations conduct similar functions. The foundations usually draw tax-deductible donations for its funds to form a capital base for its organization. The community foundation, through its trust, tends to support several charitable purposes.

A community Foundation acts as a vehicle for people to support them in every single way and by all means, making a lasting difference in their community. Therefore, the core purpose of the organization is directed to serve needs and philanthropic aims of donors, who in turn, aspire to bring a difference in the society. The donors are however, the chief providers of funds, which are widely used for the betterment of the society.

Community foundations, moreover, project how these community philanthropy practices add to social unity within communities. This on the other hand, illustrates that working jointly on a collective basis can help to accomplish any task, which can never be achieved by working alone. To add to this, collective working can even build trust between divided communities.

Community Foundations generally use a name, mission statement and a plan, which expresses its intentions and the related benefits it can cause towards the region. It works for the upliftment of the community. As the entire set up of the community foundation rests on the values of sovereignty as well as pluralism, these organizations are usually non-political, and non-partisan. Moreover, they even present a platform for discussion to spread ideas and as a place to devise and test solutions to community issues. In addition to all this, these organizations thrive on the active participation of people and groups who help to expand the base of these organizations. Since they chiefly stress on active participation, these entities focus on the proliferation of local leadership and dynamic individual involvement. Individual involvement moreover, includes vision, confidence as well as communicative skills of an individual which can assist in meeting common goals.

Types of Philanthropic Foundation

The philanthropic sector primarily consists of two divisions, private and public.

Private Foundations

• A private foundation is generally a nongovernmental, nonprofit organization, which contains a principal fund or endowment. The fund is, however, managed and controlled by the trustees of the organization. The main function of the organization is to provide charitable funds for educational, religious, or many other causes meant for the betterment of the public. In short, they primarily offer grants to other nonprofit organizations. Additionally, there are many types of private foundations such as Independent or Family Foundations, Company-Sponsored or Corporate Foundations, and Operating Foundations.

• An Independent or Family Foundations get grants from individuals and even families.

• A Company-Sponsored or Corporate Foundation gets funds from the parent companies, even though they are separate legal entities.

• An Operating Foundation operates its own programs and services, and usually does not present any type of funds to other organizations.

Public Foundation

A public foundation is a nongovernmental, nonprofit organization too. Here, the funds usually come from numerous sources. Besides, these organizations are on a constant bid to seek money from diverse sources, which is quite essential in order to continue with the charitable work they are involved in. These foundations run on the supervision and management of its own trustees and directors. They too offer grants to several nonprofit organizations. However, these organizations operate grants programs helping different organizations as well as individuals.

There are several sorts of public foundations including Community Foundations, Women's Funds, and many other public charitable centers. Community foundations have been aptly discussed in the above paragraphs. As far the Women’s Fund is concerned, these entities are chiefly focused to availing funds for issues related to women. Some other types of public foundations encompass fundraising services meant to serve diverse population groups and specific fields.

Thus, from this we can clearly understand that philanthropic organizations are generally focused on helping several other non-profit or charitable institutions in their work by granting them enough funds required for their task.