2018 Methodology

Developing the Global Philanthropy Environment Index

The Global Philanthropy Environment Index seeks to answer the following question: What are the regulatory, political, and sociocultural barriers and incentives to philanthropy in developing, emerging, and developed economies?

In responding to this question, the index:

Identifies the incentives and barriers to philanthropy in 79 economies included in the study; and
Fosters the exchange of knowledge and ideas among nonprofit experts, scholars, and leaders about enabling philanthropic practices and regulations, and significant global trends through dissemination of results.

Global Philanthropy Environment Index methodology

Ultimately, the index serves to inform the development of philanthropic environments across economies by providing rigorous, comparative international data that can raise awareness and understanding of the best strategies to create a more enabling environment for philanthropy globally.

To achieve these objectives, a standard expert questionnaire was used to collect each country expert’s assessment of the environment for philanthropy in a given economy. One or more experts for each of the 79 economies included in the study responded to the questionnaire.

Following this country-level data collection, 11 regional reviewers discussed scores and narratives with the country experts for their regions. The Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy research team then calculated the average values for each indicator and factor at the country, regional, and global levels and identified the key trends that emerged across regions since 2015. The highlights of the narratives collected are included in the full report.

Key improvements in the methodology

The number of indicators measured in the 2018 index has been expanded from seven fiscal and regulatory environment indicators to 10, including three new indicators that assess political and sociocultural environments. The results are grouped into five key factors that measure:

Ease of operating philanthropic organizations
Tax incentives
Cross-border flows
Political environment
Sociocultural environment

In addition to the three new indicator questions, the new questionnaire for country experts requests information that provides important context for understanding the environment for philanthropy in each country:

Legal forms of philanthropy
Important social causes supported by philanthropic organizations
Average time for registration of philanthropic organizations
Average costs of registration for philanthropic organizations
Current state of the philanthropic sector
Major recent events affecting the philanthropic landscape in the country
Future observable trends
Recommendations for improvement

The questionnaire was distributed online to facilitate the data collection process.

Experts and reviewers included individuals with different backgrounds and experience: academics, legal experts, nonprofit leaders, and researchers in regional or national research organizations.

Scoring was a multi-step process involving country experts, Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy researchers, regional reviewers discussing with country experts in each region to reach consensus on the scores, and final validation of the scores by the members of the Advisory Board.

Key changes in the report

The index includes 79 economies, including 22 of which were not included in the 2015 edition. The study produced 79 individual reports on countries and economies.

The index produced 11 regional reports, including the following regions.

Balkan Countries

Central Asia and South Caucasus

Eastern Asia

Eastern and Southern Europe

Latin America

Middle East and Northern Africa

Northern and Western Europe

Oceania

Southern and Southeastern Asia

Sub-Saharan Africa

United States and Canada

Each report presents an overview of the region and key findings about the current state of philanthropy in the region across the five key factors measured.

2018 Methodology

Developing the Global Philanthropy Environment Index

Key improvements in the methodology

Key changes in the report

Global Philanthropy Indices social media channels