Philanthropy
Philanthropy is the voluntary provision of money, goods and time to the common good. The Netherlands has a wide range of social generosity - from one-off small gifts to large donations, inheritances, foundations and voluntary work. This social generosity supports a rich variety of social initiatives.
Macroeconomic overview
In Giving in the Netherlands, we research the contributions of households, individuals, foundations, companies and lotteries to charitable organisations in a variety of areas. By the way, the Dutch do not stop at giving money or goods; they also do voluntary work in many social areas.
Giving in the Netherlands contributes to the visibility of social initiatives in the Netherlands. This is important to legitimise an independent and fast-growing sector of philanthropy.
Project coordination is in the hands of Dr. Stephanie Koolen-Maas(s.a.maas@vu.nl).
All sources and social fields
Giving in the Netherlands answers the following questions, among others: From which sources do voluntary contributions to charitable organizations originate? What is the value of contributions from Dutch households, individuals, foundations, companies and lotteries? Which social areas receive how much support and in which ways? How have the level and mode of philanthropic contributions changed in recent years? Who gives to which social areas? Giving in the Netherlands distinguishes eight social and charitable causes: (1) religion, (2) health including medical research, (3) international aid, (4) environment, nature and animal protection, (5) education and research, (6) culture, (7) sports and recreation and (8) social and community causes.
Giving in the Netherlands is indispensable for:
- anyone with a scientific, professional or personal interest in philanthropy and social engagement;
- anyone working for social initiatives;
- volunteers and voluntary organisations;
- directors, staff and boards of organisations and institutions in all social fields that focus on fundraising;
- policymakers and advisers in (local) government;
- companies that support social initiatives.
Publications
The Centre for Philanthropic Studies publishes the results of its research every two years in the book 'Giving in the Netherlands'. The book is intended for all those with a policy or academic interest in the rapidly growing philanthropic sector. Fourteen editions of the book have now been published. In addition, data from the Giving in the Netherlands survey are used for other national and international scientific and social publications.
Giving in the Netherlands is published in Dutch, but we have summaries available in English. The most recent estimates about the year 2022 can be found here. Interested in summeries of other years? Please contact the Center for Philanthropic Studies.
Data Giving in the Netherlands - households
For the survey research on the giving behaviour of households and individuals in the form of money, goods and time (volunteering), the same respondents were interviewed as much as possible from 2002 onwards. This allows researchers to better identify changes in the giving behaviour of households. These measurements have a so-called longitudinal design and are referred to as the "Giving in the Netherlands Panel Study" (GINPS). They ask about giving behaviour in the past calendar year, and the results of the measurements are published one year after collection each time. For example, the book "Geven in Nederland 2020" reported on giving behaviour in 2018 collected in 2019. All measurements are representative of the Dutch population after weighting on a number of socio-demographic characteristics.
The user manual of the Giving in the Netherlands Panel Survey contains information on sampling, data collection and variables in the different editions of the Giving in the Netherlands survey. A recent questionnaire is available here. At the Center, we work according to the principles of Open Science. If you are interested in using the GINPS data for academic research, please visit our OSF page. A publicly accessible dataset with data collected from 2002 to 2016 can be downloaded from the Open Science Framework website. This dataset contains data on giving behaviour, volunteering and a limited number of background characteristics.
More extensive data from the Giving In The Netherlands study are available to researchers and students in higher education under certain conditions. To do so, please complete this request form, and send it to René Bekkers. Please indicate clearly which variables you would like to use. The user manual indicates which variables are available for different years. Requests for more extensive data have a longer waiting period (of about 2 months).
Data Giving in the Netherlands - companies
The data for the survey research on the giving behaviour of companies in the form of donations, sponsorships and time/expertise were obtained through the Kantar Public (formerly TNS NIPO) continuous business survey using a weighted sample (by industry and size) from companies registered with the Chambers of Commerce. 78% of respondents in this survey are managers, business owners or finance directors. Respondents complete the questionnaire online. Note that respondents were asked to give the figures on their company's giving behaviour in the previous year. About 1,000 companies participated in each of the measurement moments.
A summary of the variables used in the company survey is available in Excel here.