New research from PSSP (Philanthropy & Social Sciences Program) in France released this week explores the flexibility and collaboration between philanthropic actors in the French sector in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The research paper, titled ‘All United Against the Virus’, was co-authored by Nicolas Duvoux and Remi Guillem and looks specifically at the collaboration between Fondation de France, the Fondation AP-HP, and the Pasteur Institute. Between March and early summer 2020, these three partners coordinated expertise and human resources in order to deliver medical devices, Covid-19 medical research programmes and food distribution operations for many in need.

‘These three organisations merged their resources and publicly made a call for gifts together,’ said Duvoux. ‘It was a really bold move from their side.’

While there is a lot of research exploring the efficacy of public-private partnerships, there has not been as much of a focus on the output of partnerships between philanthropic organisations, and the ‘alliance’ formed between FdF, Foundation AP-HP, and the Pasteur Institute in France at the start of the first lockdown in spring 2020 presented a valuable opportunity for study.

The research paper from PSSP spends its time focusing on how this particular philanthropic partnership played out amid the health crisis of last spring – a context that is an ‘under-investigated field of research’ according to the report’s conclusion. However, insights from the study can inform collaboration among philanthropic organisations in future.

‘I’m sure this will have a rippling effect on the philanthropic future in France,’ said Duvoux, who also shared that many those responding to the Covid-19 crisis drew on their own memories of what was needed in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

It was a sense that ‘everyone was holding pieces of the same story,’ Duvoux said.

To read the full report, visit the PSSP website.