Philanthropy By Any Other Name

Posted on August 23, 2022 by Aja Pirtle

Dr. David King poses for a professional shot. — Dr. David King is the director of the Lake Institute on Faith & Giving and associate professor of philanthropic studies.

In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Juliet utters the famous line, “What’s in a name? … a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Sometimes I wonder if that is true for philanthropy as well. Making sense of philanthropy is not easy. First, it can be a difficult word to pronounce and spell! Second, it can be difficult to define and discuss. I am learning that some of our most critical work may be in listening, opening up conversation, and helping make sense of what we mean when we turn to the topic of philanthropy.

I have just returned from sabbatical where I spent part of 2022 at the University of Edinburgh as a U.S. Fulbright scholar to Scotland. The purpose of the Fulbright program is to promote cultural exchange through building mutual understanding between nations, advancing knowledge across communities, and improving lives around the world. For me, that meant studying faith and philanthropy in comparative perspective. And in conversations, my first task was most often to explain what I meant by philanthropy and make the case for why anyone would study it.

Philanthropy in Context

Understanding context is extremely important. Across the United Kingdom there is a long history of philanthropy, but it is often still viewed through the lineage of a Victorian past under the auspices of the wealthy or the patronage of the royal family. With the rise of the welfare state in the early twentieth century, there was the hope that the U.K. could eliminate the need for any reliance on charity and philanthropy. Yet, in recent decades, with a decline in government funding, public leaders have called on the need for private giving as well as the need for voluntary agencies to play a key role in providing services and sustaining local communities. While the U.K. is observing similar trends to the U.S., with relatively flat growth in giving and a decline in the number of givers, its philanthropic footprint remains much smaller. When residents of the United Kingdom engaged with me in conversations on philanthropy, it was often out of a sense of curiosity, contradiction, or critical reflection.

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The first professional doctorate for philanthropy and social impact leaders from all sectors is now accepting applications

Posted on August 4, 2022 by Gilbert Flores

Professor Cindy M. Lott will direct the new Professional Doctorate of Philanthropic Leadership at Lilly Family School of Philanthropy

Accomplished professionals who want to make social change and have experience leading philanthropic, business, government, or other organizations can further hone their leadership and applied research skills to address complex, real-world problems by earning their professional doctorate in philanthropic leadership.

The Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI is opening applications today for its new online Professional Doctorate in Philanthropic Leadership (PhilD), the first professional, doctoral-level leadership degree in the field. The new degree program offers seasoned leaders a world-class educational experience tailored to elevate their professional roles as innovative senior executives and thought leaders within philanthropy and in cross-sectoral initiatives, both domestically and internationally.

Amir Pasic is the Eugene R. Tempel Dean of the IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

“Our new Professional Doctorate in Philanthropic Leadership is a deliberate investment in the philanthropic sector’s leadership capacity and civil society to make social change. It will equip accomplished, thoughtful individuals to deepen and accelerate impact in philanthropy, the nonprofit sector, and beyond,” said Amir Pasic, the Eugene R. Tempel Dean of the school. “Today’s leaders are under growing pressure to integrate and apply knowledge with a deeper understanding of the context that shapes their world and the world that philanthropy seeks to affect.

“The PhilD program’s creation is in response to ongoing demand for an accessible way for leaders in the field to apply research-based knowledge to the issues they deal with daily, while also achieving a doctoral-level credential designed especially for them,” Pasic said. “We have already received many expressions of interest in the PhilD from prospective students. We look forward to welcoming the innovative leaders who will comprise our inaugural cohort.”

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Imagining a More Abundant Community

Posted on July 26, 2022 by Gilbert Flores

by Elise Erikson Barrett

Last month, I had the opportunity to represent Lake Institute (wearing my graduate student intern hat) and participate in a convening that was held here in Indianapolis, focused on faith-informed models of “neighborhood economics” that have the potential to help move economic structures and relationships in more life-giving directions. (To engage more with the conversations and work of this collective, you can start here.)

Economic structures are complex, increasingly so in this era of technologically-mediated finance capitalism–and simplistic ideological responses are more likely to trigger defensiveness than to solve problems. Thus, for me, the most helpful aspect of this conference was this: people of hope gathering to engage with the realities of our economic contexts, often at the level of neighborhoods and local communities, and imagining creative and highly practical ways that our existing economic structures, tools, and products could be leveraged in service of justice and care.

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What’s the science of philanthropy and why does it need an initiative?

Posted on July 14, 2022 by Amir Pasic

The Science of Philanthropy Initiative (SPI) is an initiative encouraging experimental (field and lab) research on charitable giving.

Whether it’s about asking or giving, effective professionals and volunteers rely on rules of thumb and well-worn conventions to get the job done. Experience, after all, has been a trusted teacher for eons. What can science add that is so special?

First, science uncovers general patterns that span more experiences than any one person or institution can have. Experiments are the gold standard of science, and John List has used them to demonstrate that matches work to increase the likelihood of a gift and its size. Does the proportion of the match matter? Will a 2-to-1 or even 3-to-1 match yield better results than a 1-1 match?

If you are curious, you can attend the Science of Philanthropy Initiative Conference this September 21 and 22 and ask John List, who is not only a prominent member of the University of Chicago Economics Faculty but also Visiting Hartsook Chair in Fundraising at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

John List is pictured in a classroom setting. — John List is the Kenneth C. Griffin Distinguished Service Professor in Economics at the University of Chicago.

Joining John in organizing the conference are his colleague Christopher Clapp from the University of Chicago, Luigi Butera from Copenhagen Business School, Sarah Konrath, Mark Ottoni-Wilhem, Richard Steinberg, and myself from the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. There will be three terrific keynote speakers, beginning with Cecilia Conrad, of Lever for Change and the MacArthur Foundation, who is a leading practitioner but also an award-winning researcher in her own right. Daniel Hungerman an economist from Notre Dame, is an expert on philanthropy and religion. Finally, Azim Shariff from the University of British Columbia is a social psychologist who researches how morality intersects with religion, cultural attitudes, and economics. They will be joined by scholars sharing their latest research and practitioners keen to engage in systematic approaches to the practices they have implemented in the field.

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Digital for Good: A Global Study on Emerging Ways of Giving

Posted on July 8, 2022 by Gilbert Flores

Collaboration between the government and the philanthropic sector as well as the introduction of innovative tools and strategies continued to enhance the philanthropic landscape in Singapore and South Korea during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Philanthropic organizations in Singapore and South Korea have different philanthropic environments. In Singapore, the highly favorable environment (at an overall score of 4.52), active public engagement, and strategic governmental support have successfully promoted philanthropic values. In South Korea, a moderately favorable philanthropic environment (at an overall score of 3.94), along with a strong cultural and religious heritage of philanthropic giving have promoted giving and volunteering, especially in the last decades.

The global outbreak of COVID-19 has significantly affected the philanthropic landscape and philanthropic giving increased in 2020 to fight against the pandemic in both countries. Findings from the 2022 Global Philanthropy Environment Index show that in both Singapore and South Korea, philanthropic organizations have implemented innovative strategies and technological solutions and worked closely with government agencies and other stakeholders in order to fund and deliver services effectively during the pandemic. The Digital for Good: A Global Study on Emerging Ways of Giving project explores some of the emerging vehicles of philanthropy that have become more prominent in recent years, such as crowdfunding, contactless giving, online giving, and online volunteering.

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