The new venture philanthropy

Official URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-72535-8_22

This chapter explains how a relatively novel concept of venture philanthropy has emerged, evolved, and survived challenges-leading us to consider how it is likely to change the business of philanthropy in the foreseeable future. Venture philanthropy shifted the direction of donations from marginalized and low-income people toward ideas and initiatives with the potential to grow into profitable businesses. Therefore, its contributions are labeled investments rather than donations. This new type of philanthropy emerged in North America first and spread to Europe at the beginning of the 2000s. This chapter presents the size and important features of the European venture philanthropy market provided by the European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA) as of 2017. The chapter highlights that the most critical venture philanthropy innovations are the types of target investees (donee), the organizational structure and management, the relationship with the investee, and the impact measurement. The chapter also highlights the role of the organizational structure and management of a venture philanthropic organization and its relationship with the investee, which are similar to those of a venture capitalist and its investee. While the impact presents itself as a hard to measure element, it is essential for increasing the donations' efficiency. Since other philanthropic organizations are adopting these practices, this review of recent innovations is helpful to increase their efficiency.