Introducing Michele Fugiel Gartner: PFC-PhiLab's Post-Doctoral Fellow in Philanthropy and Public Policy

Introducing Michele Fugiel Gartner: PFC-PhiLab’s Post-Doctoral Fellow in Philanthropy and Public Policy

Sara Krynitzki

Interviews

4 mins read

May 17, 2023

In February, PFC was thrilled to welcome Michele Fugiel Gartner to the team as the PFC-PhiLab Post-Doctoral Fellow in Philanthropy and Public Policy. To help shed light on the work Michele is leading, we asked Michele to share with our network, in her own words, more about the project, her role, and plans.

What is the PFC-Phi Lab Post-doctoral fellowship?

It’s an academic/practice partnership seeking to advance understanding of Canada’s philanthropic foundations. The fellowship advances research in a Canadian setting in order to have jurisdictional-grounded insights creating a more fine-grained view of the sector. The fellowship is hosted by the Canadian Philanthropy Partnership Research Network (PhiLab), a Canadian research network on philanthropy, supported by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and located at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM).

The research is being conducted with PFC, meaning the fellowship is connected with practice and informed by current trends impacting philanthropic foundations. The fellowship contributes to the research mandates of both partners and seeks to generate an evolved, more precise narrative of the Canadian philanthropic sector.

What work are you doing in this role?

With the project hosted by PhiLab and sitting within PFC, this research has two aims: first, to develop a more holistic picture of Canadian philanthropic foundations for the public and policymakers, and second, to understand the current operations of Canada’s philanthropic foundations. These aims can provide more robust reflection for practitioners, new understanding for policymakers, and evidence for future academic research.

Advancing these aims, this research asks two questions: What does current research reveal about how Canadian philanthropic foundations developed and their current purposes, roles, and approaches? What purpose, approaches, and roles do Canadian philanthropic foundations use to enact their mandates to support Canadian civil society? The research outputs include an environmental scan of existing literature and a thematic report drawn from semi-structured interviews/survey of CEOs of Canadian philanthropic foundations.

What impact do you think the work will have?

I’m very excited about the opportunity to draw together academic and practice-based research to advance understanding of Canadian foundations. Over the past ten years, there have been more strategic efforts to understand Canada’s philanthropic landscape. Nevertheless, there remain gaps in how the Canadian philanthropic sector is understood. Much of the existing data and analysis can be brought together to tell a more holistic story for PFC stakeholders, which could lead to a better understanding of the main drivers of the sector and its evolution. Additionally, in light of the recent regulatory changes, there is an opportunity to consider how these changes and the global events of the past several years are impacting Canadian philanthropic foundations. I hope the research generates reflection and provokes conversation on what we know about philanthropy, what we don’t, and how we can improve our work.

I understand that from PFC’s perspective, the goal is to use the results from this work to inform the evolution of PFC’s policy agenda, PFC’s bi-annual sector snapshot research report, and priorities for PFC’s next strategic plan.

Anything else you think the PFC network might be interested to learn?

The fellowship builds upon my previous foundation practitioner experience and my doctoral research where I explored the foundation professional, through CEO experiences of their roles within UK family foundations. In my research, I seek ways to draw academic and practice conversations more closely together, and this fellowship is a perfect example of how that can happen. I’m grateful to be able to contribute to the Canadian philanthropic sector and I look forward to speaking with many of you through the course of this research.

Also – I’m currently based in the UK, but will be moving back to Calgary in the fall. My family and I are very much looking forward to returning to Canada!