Cross-sector collaboration by endowed foundations: Organizational identity matters

Collaboration between corporations, government and non-profit organizations is necessary for tackling complex social issues, but Dutch philanthropic endowed foundations hardly collaborate with these actors and therefore seem to miss opportunities for reaching more social results, even as their financial independence appears to provide unique possibilities for them to contribute. Organizational identity theory offers a new perspective to studying the collaborative behaviour of these foundations, zooming in on how financial independence figures in how philanthropic foundations understand who they are. This article explores how philanthropic foundations’ constructions of organizational identity relate to their financial independence and how these constructions are reflected in their understandings and decision-making regarding cross-sector collaboration. Via interviews with leaders of endowed foundations and experts, we found that, while the financially independent position of these foundations gives them freedom to operate and to opt for cross-sector collaboration, in practice, financial and founder-related features of their organizational identity can play a role in decision-making against collaboration.