The Practice of Philanthropy: The Facilitating Factors from a Cross-National Perspective

Abstract

The Palgrave Handbook of Global Philanthropy provides a broad and in-depth view into philanthropy across a large range of countries, mostly situated in Northern America, Europe and Asia. The authors of this volume describe in detail how philanthropy is organized in the countries under study and explain which factors unique for their country facilitate or inhibit the nonprofit sector and philanthropic giving. In this concluding chapter, we start by summarizing the general patterns of the nonprofit sector and philanthropic giving in the countries included in this edited volume. We present the typical characteristics and developments, illustrated with quotes from the different country chapters. We end this conclusion with the eight contextual factors that facilitate philanthropic giving, which we distilled from the factors identified as facilitating or inhibiting philanthropy in the countries under study. These eight factors can be used as instruments to shape a society with the best conditions for philanthropic giving.