This report presents findings of a study carried out from October 2021 to March 2022 in five districts in Uganda. The focus of this study was to explore philanthropic practices by the private sector in Uganda. The study specifically sought to: i) Examine the characteristics of philanthropic private businesses in Uganda; ii) Ascertain the imperatives that underpin philanthropy of private businesses in Uganda; iii) Identify the channels and mechanisms used by private businesses for philanthropy; and iv) Identify factors that limit private business philanthropy to CSOs. The study focused on three types of organizations namely, private philanthropic businesses (18), Foundations owned by private businesses (6) and CSOs (20).
The study was carried out in five districts in Uganda, namely, Mbarara, Mbale, Jinja, Gulu and Kampala. Data was collected using pre-designed Key Informant Interview (KIIs) guides. The different organizations had a specific guide for businesses, foundations and CSOs. The data was collected through face-to-face interviews with the respondents. The main limitation of the study was the difficulty in identifying philanthropic businesses and foundations.This was due to the lack of a central repository of information on philanthropy and limited data on philanthropic businesses in Uganda. Once they were identified, the team had to contend with the other limitation which was the refusal to respond to the interview by businesses and foundations. The third limitation was the refusal by some respondents to provide responses to questions they deemed sensitive. Even where responses to these sensitive questions were provided, there was no verification and therefore the accuracy of the information could not be verified. This was alleviated by including checks in the tools. These checks include questions that validate responses given elsewhere in the tool.