Sensemaking in philanthropic foundations: developing a taxonomy and typology to understand identity and accountability

This article examines taxonomies and typologies as sensemaking processes to better understand identity and accountability in philanthropic foundations. While these organisations are established for public benefit purposes, public knowledge on them is limited, and concerns exist regarding their transparency, accountability and legitimacy. Challenges in the development of a taxonomy and typology as systematic processes of sensemaking are explored, providing nuanced insights into this organisational group’s identity and accountability. Publicly available data from two separate sources are examined as the basis for a taxonomy, and semi-structured interviews exploring accountability and identity provide the basis for a typology. This article highlights the importance of examining underlying commonalities as well as observable differences within a set of organisations, and exploring the interplay between the two. Collectively, findings from these sensemaking processes offer valuable insights into philanthropic foundations’ identity and accountability.