ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts of the concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book investigates the questions of how and why philanthropic organizations succeed in solving complex social problems in novel ways. It asks for the kinds of outcomes that satisfy both prosocial organizational intentions and corresponding societal expectations, and presents successful examples of innovative philanthropic action and sought to explain them. The book reconstructs the characteristic interrelations between problem situations, strategies and structures that render this particular kind of organizational action comprehensible, possible and, sometimes, result in social impact. It portrays philanthropic organizations as niche strategists and demonstrates how the niche concept can be made fruitful for the understanding of those structures, which render possible the experimental development and continuous production of solutions in the first place. In the evolutionary perspective, philanthropic organizations need to connect to their environments in such a way as to be able to recognize relevant developments.
