Abstract
We examine the role of mediators in locally embedding the community foundation model of philanthropy to enable its global diffusion. We hold that mediators, as trusted agents within elite networks, promote and legitimate institutional innovation by tailoring the model to satisfy local requirements. They thereby limit resistance while creating future potentialities. Our novel addition to the community foundation literature stems from research n the transatlantic diffusion of the community foundation template from the United States to the United Kingdom focused on an in-depth case study of one of Europe’s largest community foundation, that serving Tyne & Wear and Northumberland in North East England. Our findings suggest that success in embedding the community foundation model depends on rendering it fit-for-context and fit-for-purpose. Mediators operating at both the macro and micro level matter because they have the cultural, social and symbolic capital needed to win acceptance for initially alien philanthropic principles, practices and structures.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 3 |
| Pages (from-to) | 959-982 |
| Number of pages | 24 |
| Journal | Non-Profit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly |
| Volume | 50 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| Early online date | 10 Feb 2021 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 19 Sept 2021 |
Funding
The authors wish to thank Co-Editor-in-Chief Susan Phillips and three reviewers for their many valuable suggestions that have greatly improved our paper. We also would like to thank George Hepburn and Rob Williamson, former and present CEOs, respectively, of the Community Foundation Tyne & Wear and Northumberland, for sharing with us with numerous historical insights and for granting access to the documents underpinning our study. The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Keywords
- community foundations, diffusion, elites, mediators, translation theory