The Role of Philanthropic Funding in Building Research Evidence to Support an Aging Population: A Case Study from Ireland

Abstract

This case study examines the role of philanthropic funding in building capacity for aging research in Ireland, and how this investment has addressed the lack of evidence to support planning for an aging population. The funding has supported a range of initiatives including the national longitudinal study on aging (TILDA), the creation of three professorships/chairs, and the establishment of four new research centers. Important potential outcomes are emerging across other domains including research-informed policy development and the generation of health benefits. The efforts of academic researchers to ensure that their findings are readily accessible to end users and to forge robust working relationships with all stakeholders have helped to enhance the use of research findings. Overall, philanthropy has played a pivotal role in building capacity, infrastructure, and expertise in academic settings in Ireland. Moreover, this work provides an excellent example of how such efforts can begin to inform effective planning and service provision.

Strategic philanthropy's investment in public systems: A framework for intervention

“…Investment requires a heightened role for knowledge, adherence to the principle of evidence in decision‐making, and the introduction of business skills and market‐based theory into the planning and organizational structures of value‐based organizations. Taken together, these developments can result in an ‘industry’ of specialized staff and professionals, honed in the discourse of research and evaluation (Cochrane & McGilloway, 2017).…”

“…A 2019 report produced by 20 foundations across the globe with a shared interest in developing more ‘system‐aware’ ways of working characterized system change as shifting the multiple conditions that hold problems in place: ‘this can include changing policy, practices, resource flows, relationship, power dynamics and mental models’ (Curtis et al., 2019, p. 7). Acknowledging that within the philanthropic sector, these practices were still in their infancy, the report recommended foundations invest in developing understanding of the ‘complexity of the specific systems they worked in: the various elements of the system, interconnections between those elements and visible and invisible dynamics at play within the system including resources, power and mindsets’ (Curtis et al., 2019, p. 11).…”