Arjen de Wit is an Assistant Professor at the department of Sociology at VU Amsterdam, where he mainly studies social productivity, nonprofit revenues, volunteering, and philanthropy. At the moment he is also a Visiting Researcher at the University of Oxford, and Instituut Gak Fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIAS). 

Arjen teaches Sociology courses at both the Bachelor and the Master level. While he is trained as a quantitative researcher and has ample experience with analysing longitudinal survey data, Arjen increasingly applies interpretative and computational methods.  

Besides a researcher and teacher, Arjen is a skilled writer, journalist and moderator. He develops rigorous research with maximum societal impact in co-creation with researchers, professionals and experts by experience. As co-founder of the Center for Grantmaking Research, he actively contributes to debates on the future of philanthropy and civil society. His work on volunteering and social productivity (‘maatschappelijke productiviteit’) has been featured in national and international media.

A ‘socially productive’ activity can be defined as any contribution of time – either paid or unpaid – that contributes to a social or public good. In his research on social productivity, Arjen studies, amongst others, the effects of volunteering for the well-being of the volunteer, and the value of unpaid activities for people on social assistance benefits. Of particular interest are new forms of social productivity, including online activities and informal helping. This research aims to contribute to public discussions about the value of paid and unpaid work in a post-capitalist society. 

Arjen is also involved in a research project on the effects of unrestricted income on the work of charities. While most income from philanthropic funders and governments are earmarked, there is increasing interest among funders to give more flexible funding. By studying the effects of unrestricted funding, this research contributes to actionable knowledge for charities and philanthropic funders on the benefits and downsides of unrestricted funding in different contexts. 

Some of his research in 1 minute:

As a writer, Arjen performs at festivals and fairs with unique stories on request. See arjendewit.nl (web) and @verhalenopverzoek (Instagram). Together with Margriet Krijtenburg he published the children's book 'The Father of Europe' (Paraiges 2018) in which a Syrian refugee girl travels in time to meet Robert Schuman, the founding father of the European Union. In 2024 he published his novel/chapbook Het meisje met de hoepels.

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