Sense and sensibility in the contemporary generous society: Economics and social media communication of the biggest grant-making foundations

Purpose - The aim of the paper is to contribute to the debate on grant-making foundations, deepening the concepts of sense and sensibility as pillars of social media communication and as drivers of significant economic results. Design/methodology/approach - This paper uses desk research to investigate the 100 biggest grant-making foundations. Databases, websites, and social networks helped to return an image of grant-making foundations, especially with regard to their communication and profile. Then a cluster analysis of the performance of the 100 biggest grant-making foundations in the world emphasises revenue diversification, contributions, and grant-making ratios as key results of multiple stakeholder engagement, profiling foundations with different sense and sensibility. Findings – Sense and sensibility are pillars of grant-making foundations and are measurable thanks to ratios. Social media communication via social networks enhance and spread sense and sensibility; build a bridge between foundations and their stakeholders (fundraising and grant); and allow more transparency, especially in projects post-selections and e-ranking of best projects and charity. Limitations – The paper focuses not only on measurable outcomes but also on the social media communication process. In addition, the sample must be considered. Indeed, it consists of the 100 biggest foundations worldwide, belonging for the most part to the US, which is also more advanced in the use of social media. Other issues could stem from rules governing the operations of grant-making foundations in different countries. Implications - The paper provides an overview of the activity of grant-making foundations, for both operations and social media communications, that may help public and nonprofit managers better understand how grant-making foundations make grants, the goals they reach, their main source of revenue, and how essential stakeholders’ engagement is in order to enable nonprofit sustainability. Contribution – The study represents an attempt to measure sense and sensibility of grant-making foundations and to describe their use of social media communication in order to better understand these economic players, which are crucial partners of communities and nonprofit organisations in fulfilling human needs.