University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2012 Israeli Environmental NGOs and Philanthropic Foundations: Donor Dependence, Organizational Characteristics, and Selection Mechanism Itay Greenspan University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Organizational Behavior and Theory Commons, Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies Commons, and the Social Work Commons Recommended Citation Greenspan, Itay, "Israeli Environmental NGOs and Philanthropic Foundations: Donor Dependence, Organizational Characteristics, and Selection Mechanism" (2012). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 514. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/514 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/514 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Israeli Environmental NGOs and Philanthropic Foundations: Donor Dependence, Organizational Characteristics, and Selection Mechanism Abstract This study explores the external environment within which Israeli environmental nongovernmental organizations (ENGOs) operate, with particular attention to their relationships with, and dependence on, philanthropic foundations. A growing body of literature has been devoted in recent years to the importance of foundation philanthropy in support of ENGOs. Much of this literature focused on outcomes, but did not pay much attention to the processes leading up to such outcomes. In particular, little is known about the selection mechanisms involved in establishing links between donors and grantees. In Israel, where the empirical work of this dissertation took place, the environmental movement has been growing in the past twenty years, and the number of ENGOs is on the rise. One of the reasons for this success is the inflow of money from foreign donors, especially Jewish American philanthropic foundations. Yet, a study of ENGOs' funding sources that focuses on the centrality of foundation funding is lacking. This study fills both the theoretical and empirical gaps by exploring the question of resource mobilization and donor dependence among Israeli ENGOs. In particular, it assess three issues: the level of dependence of Israeli ENGOs on foundation funding, the organizational characteristics that are associated with an ENGO's success in receiving foundation funding, and the barriers to establishing links with foundation donors. A mix method research design is used to address these questions. A quantitative analysis of cross-sectional survey data from a sample of Israeli ENGOs (n=100) is used to assess the association between organizational characteristics and foundation funding. Four key organizational characteristics were examined: demographics, organizational structure, strategies of operation, and ideational characteristics (i.e., environmental paradigms). In-depth qualitative interviews with ENGO representatives were used to understand the barriers to foundation funding faced by non-funded ENGOs. The analysis suggests significant association of foundation funding with ideational characteristics and strategies of operation, and only a partial significant association with organizational structures. Based on the findings, a typology of foundation-grantee relationships is proposed, creating a nuanced understanding of the non- funded ENGOS, which are often overlooked in existing studies of donor-grantee relationships. Results contribute to theoretical literature on foundation philanthropy, to the emerging literature on philanthropy in Israel, and the study of Israeli ENGOs. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Social Welfare First Advisor Femida Handy Keywords Israel, Nonproift organizations, Philanthropic Foundations, Philanthropy, Selection Subject Categories Organizational Behavior and Theory | Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies | Social Work This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/514 ISRAELI ENVIRONMENTAL NGOS AND PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATIONS: DONOR DEPENDENCE, ORGANIZATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS, AND SELECTION MECHANISM Itay Greenspan A DISSERTATION in Social Welfare Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2012 Supervisor of Dissertation ______________ Femida Handy, PhD Professor, School of Social Policy and Practice Graduate Group Chairperson _________________ Susan B. Sorenson, PhD Professor, School of Social Policy and Practice Dissertation Committee Ram A. Cnaan, PhD Professor, School of Social Policy and Practice Elihu Katz, PhD Distinguished Trustee Professor of Communication ISRAELI ENVIRONMENTAL NGOS AND PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATIONS: DONOR DEPENDENCE, ORGANIZATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS, AND SELECTION MECHANISM COPYRIGHT 2012 Itay Greenspan This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-ny-sa/2.0/ To my loved ones who stood by me: Hila, Nadav, Roni With appreciation iii ACKNOWLEDGMENT This dissertation could not have been accomplished without the time, advice, encouragement, and support of many people. First and foremost, I benefited tremendously from the patient guidance and invaluable feedback provided by my dissertation committee members: Dr. Femida Handy, Dr. Ram Cnaan and Dr. Elihu Katz. Dr. Cnaan was always available to give his time and excellent advice, and has endlessly supported and encouraged me through the struggles and hurdles of my work. I was deeply honored to have Dr. Katz join my dissertation committee. Dr. Katz’s comments and suggestions were accurate, critical, and invaluable, and always so patiently and generously bestowed. I owe special and dear thanks to my advisor, committee chair, and most of all my academic mentor, Dr. Femida Handy, for the hours of joint discussion, encouragement, and inspiration. Dr. Handy was the one who initially encouraged me to pursue my doctorate degree and has since been available for guiding me, discussing ideas, mentoring me in so many ways, and always suggesting practical solutions. I am fortunate to have my experience shaped to such a great extent by her contribution and enthusiasm for my work, and by her tremendous experience, vision and foresight. In addition, I received welcome scholarly advice on statistical issues from Drs. Paul Allison, Toorjo Ghose, and Ezekiel Dixon-Román, and I thank them for their insightful suggestions. I am also grateful for the support from Dean Richard Gelles and Dr. Zvi Gellis of the School of Social Policy and Practice at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Tally Katz-Gerro from the University of Haifa, Dr. Daniel Orenstein from the Technion, Dr. Hillel Schmid from the Hebrew University, Dr. Hagai Katz from Ben Gurion University, and Dr. Haya Itzhaki from Bar Ilan University. Dr. Agnes Meinhard from Ryerson University has been a mentor, a colleague, and a friend for many years now. Thank you to all. I highly appreciate the collaboration, welcoming, and generosity of Dr. Alon Tal from the Ben Gurion University in the Negev. Dr. Tal invited me to participate in his research team, trusted my contribution to the data collection process, and ultimately made this dissertation possible. I wish also to acknowledge the other research team members: Liat Oshry-Frenkel, Shira Zchut-Leon, and Shira Akov for the many hours of correspondence and joint work. Thank you also goes to all survey participants, and especially to interviewees who shared with me their perspectives and iv experiences during the face-to-face and phone interviews. Their work in the field is most inspiring and important. I was also lucky to share my doctoral journey with peers and colleagues: Arpita Chatterjee, Brian Coleman, Casey Bohrman, Charlene McGrew, Guy Feldman, Jason Matejkowski, Jenny Oser, Joel Caplan, Lindsey McDougle, Maayan Schori, Marlene Walk, Mary Zhou, Orly Corem, Sara Wiesel Cullen, Sungkyu Lee, Vered Madar, and others at SP2. Participants and expert reviewers of the ARNOVA Doctoral Fellowship were a source of ideas and vision too. Isabelle Sun deserves a special thank you for her appreciated editorial assistance. I also wish to acknowledge the financial support for my research from the Center for the Study of Philanthropy in Israel (Hebrew University in Jerusalem), the Israeli Center for Third Sector Research (Ben Gurion University), and the School of Social Policy and Practice and the Department of Jewish Studies (University of Pennsylvania). I wholeheartedly appreciate the support of my family – my siblings Oren and Gali, and my parents Dina and Yoram. Although many miles away, they were always available to encourage and support me and my family throughout the challenging years of pursuing this degree. I can say without doubt that without their generosity and love, I would not have been able to accomplish this work. Lastly, and most importantly, I thank my devoted and supportive immediate family: my dear spouse Hila and my little ones, Nadav and Roni, who supported me in every way imaginable and who are everything to me. Hila has been my shoulder, my partner for intellectual discussions, my best supporter in moments of despair, and the one who believed in me most. I will forever be grateful for their unwavering support, and I dedicate