Internationalisation of British fundraising charities: a two-phase empirical study

A two-phase mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative) study was undertaken to identify and then to confirm the main dimensions and the principal antecedents of the internationalisation behaviour of a sample of British charities known to engage in foreign operations. Specifically the investigation examined the factors that explained charities' decisions to enter foreign countries, the motivations and practical methods involved and the time periods elapsing between first and subsequent entry. Outcomes were compared against theories of internationalisation developed by previous studies completed in the commercial domain. The approaches to internationalisation adopted by 15 organisations were established, and the generalisability of these approaches tested via a mail survey that elicited 238 responses. Least squares, Cox time and logistic regression analyses were completed to determine the factors that significantly influenced the extents and timings of the sample members' international activities. It emerged that some but not all of the considerations that have been found to affect the internationalisation of commercial firms also impacted on the patterns of internationalisation pursued by many of the sample organisations, especially managerial inclinations and participation in networks. However, psychic distance was seemingly irrelevant to charities' internationalisation decisions. Rather, a construct termed for present purposes as 'philanthropic imperative' constituted a crucial determinant of behaviour. The results imply that charities' levels of involvement in networks should be encouraged and that charity support organisations need to develop their institutional networking facilities. Also, charity managers should question whether the most favoured mode of entry to foreign countries (i.e. the ad hoc project partnership (PP)) is necessarily the most effective. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.