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s for the charity and the society that benefits from its efforts

Therefore it is important that any research that seeks to understand social capital in the charity context considers the idea of reciprocity. As a core element of Putman's (2000) social capital concept the presence of reciprocity in the relationship between charities and their stakeholders is good indicator that these connections possess the mutually beneficial form of social capital rather than the self interest based kind espoused by Bourdieu (1986). It is also crucial for its cultivation.

Such identification is difficult to do without understanding whether the stakeholders in the relationship view the partnership as reciprocal and if they do, identifying the needs of stakeholders, considering them and supporting them where possible, to enable this reciprocity and therefore social capital to be strengthened (Putman 1996; 2000). Without an understanding of these key elements any subsequent studies looking at how to cultivate this social capital become difficult.

Social capital as an outcome for charity public relations
In the previous section a case was put forward that charities, perhaps more so that other organisations, should invest in building social capital as central to their survival and embedded in their strategic plans (King 2004). Scholars agree that social capital can be cultivated by both individuals, businesses and organisations such as charities, and central to such activity should be investment in relationships with stakeholders (Cohen and Prusak, 2001; Coleman 1998 and Gittel and Vidal, 1998)

Developing on from this is the idea that social capital investment is best handled by the public relations (PR) function of an organisation (Willis 2011; Ihlen 2009; Luoma-aho 2009).To truly understand this concept one must look back at Bourdieu (1986) and Putman's ( 2000) contributions to social capital theory, as writers considering the application of social capital to PR are divided into those who view it from the self-centred perspective espoused by Bourdieu (Edwards 2006; Harris 2005; Ihlen 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2007, 2009) and those putting forward ideas based around the co-operation for mutual benefit theory supported by Putman (Putman, Feldstein and Cohen, 2003; Putman, Leonardi and Nanetti ,1993 and Luoma-aho 2009).

Ihlen (2007, 2009) is perhaps the strongest advocate of Bourdieu's thinking, suggesting that his theories can help organisations understand the business context in which they operate. Each organisation is seen as occupying a position in the business environment which is decided by the amount of power it possesses. This power is determined by the types of amounts of capital it has in relation to other organisations. So should an organisation want to change position, i.e., gain more power, and therefore success, it can do so by acquiring, holding on to and converting capital. For Ihlen (2009) PR is a tool that can help navigate this environment and capitalise on opportunities as it 'assists organisational actors in various fields in pursuing their interests' (p.69).

Such thinking aligns well with the functional approach to PR i.e. the techniques and production of strategic organisational messages and where PR is viewed as an instrument that can be used to accompl