Charity begins at home: Family firms and patterns of community involvement

Research on philanthropy has made major advances in recent years; however, one issue remains largely unaddressed: the relationship between intraorganizational family-based relatedness and firm philanthropic involvement. The authors seek to remedy this gap by offering and testing the proposition that family firms are more likely to pursue philanthropic involvements. Using a recent typology of family firms, the authors report on the community involvement activities of more than 300 small community hardware stores. Given the small, informal nature of operation and community activity, the authors explore not only their philanthropic activity but also broader community involvement in such areas as business, youth, religious, and service organizations. An interesting trend emerges;firms reporting greater levels of family involvement report greater levels of community involvement than firms identifying themselves as nonfamily enterprises. The authors conclude by reflecting an what this finding suggests for future philanthropy research.