The art of giving: Founders between commitment in civil society and symbolic recognition

The Social Sciences haven't paid much attention to foundations so far, but recently they gained interest in this topic in debates on civil society. Th e ongoing discussion on a sphere detached from both, market and state provi des for the particular basis of claims for strengthening civil society. The article analyzes foundations as a crucial dimension of civil society's ins titutional infrastructure. Firstly, in a historical and systematic perspect ive, I outline the process, in which foundations were constituted as autono mous, secularized institutions; secondly, against this background I analyze founders' pratcices being a special form of interaction that allows to des cribe the social role of the founder as a passenger between altruism and th e need for recognition.