Center on Philanthropy

Teaching and Learning

  • The Fund Raising School, a program of the Center on Philanthropy, offered three new courses. Leading for Results: A Workshop for New Nonprofit CEOs combines training in resource development, operations, and leadership so that new nonprofit CEOs are prepared to lead and succeed as capable executives of dynamic nonprofit organizations. The Dynamics of Women’s Giving course, a collaboration of The Fund Raising School and Women’s Philanthropy Institute at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, provides key insights into women’s philanthropy and women’s giving, allowing participants to be successful in engaging women as donors. The Faith and Fundraising course, a collaboration with the Lake Institute on Faith & Giving, examines the relationship between faith and fundraising—and gives participants practical tools for creating a culture of generosity within their faith communities.
  • The Center on Philanthropy expanded its partnerships with international higher education institutions through its involvement in the Benchmarking Nonprofit Organizations and Philanthropy Educational Programs project (BENPHE). The project is an analysis of graduate programs in nonprofit management, social entrepreneurship, and philanthropic studies. The outcomes will include a database, a comparison of educational programs, and a summary of best educational practices in transatlantic cooperation and internship placement in education for civil society. Other partners include the University of Bologna (Italy), Oxford Brookes University (UK), and Ersta Sköndal University College (Sweden).

Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

  • Jen Shang received the first Ph.D. in Philanthropic Studies after successfully defending her dissertation on fundraising methodologies. Dr. Shang will hold the Center on Philanthropy’s first post-doctorate position, funded by the Hewlett Foundation. She will conduct research and teach courses in fundraising and nonprofit marketing. Dr. Shang’s research examines motivations for giving and the factors that influence them. Among her goals are training fundraising professionals and nonprofit board members to understand donor behavior and educating donors about how to optimize their giving decisions. Three other students graduated and are expected to complete their requirements this summer.
  • The Center on Philanthropy expanded its research for Bank of America and released the Bank of America Study of High Net-Worth Philanthropy Portraits of Donors report. The study found that many different factors, such as net worth, family history, and the source of an individual’s wealth, come into play when a gift is made. The report and its archetypes of high net-worth donors received coverage from media outlets, including the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, the Chronicle of Philanthropy and Investment News.
  • In partnership with American Express, the Center on Philanthropy released the results of the American Express Charitable Gift Survey. It is the first nationally representative study to look at how and why people give online versus offline. The study also reveals for the first time how much Americans contribute at any one time in a single gift transaction, whether the gift is online or offline. The results show the extent to which nonprofit organizations depend on many small gifts to fund the work they do.
  • The Center on Philanthropy and United Way of America entered into a research and training partnership made possible by a $6 million grant from Lilly Endowment, Inc. The collaboration among three of the nation’s leading nonprofit sector organizations will help develop future United Way leaders across the country and around the world. The research will focus on identifying changes in philanthropy and how those changes affect United Ways in their local communities. The Fund Raising School will develop a specialized training curriculum based on the research findings to help prepare future leaders.
  • Slate.com sponsored enhanced data collection for the Center on Philanthropy’s Million Dollar List and used the data for its annual Slate 60 list of the largest American charitable contributions in 2007. Since 2002, when giving $10 million qualified a donor for the Slate 60, the minimum gift amount has increased to more than $30 million, demonstrating the trend toward increasingly large donations form the nation’s wealthiest citizens.

Civic Engagement

  • The Center on Philanthropy convened a special summit on philanthropy and organizational effectiveness, sponsored by the McCormick Foundation. More than 50 national leaders from philanthropic foundations, nonprofit organizations, academic centers, third-sector infrastructure organizations, corporations, and government agencies attended the summit and discussed frankly the issues and challenges of accountability, assessment, and evaluation. The report, Expecting Too Much? Promising Too Much? Assessing Accountability for Grantmakers and Their Recipients, highlights the discussions and key themes that emerged during the summit. A vital need exists to identify the challenges and strategies for enabling assessment to achieve its promise in improving the practices of nonprofit organizations and ensuring a positive return on investment for grantmakers.
  • In celebration of its 20th anniversary, the Center on Philanthropy held a two-day event convening national and international leaders from the philanthropic, government, and business sectors. Distinguished guests included Patty Stonesifer, IU alumna and CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Emmett Carson, CEO and President of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation; and Juree Vichit-Vadakan, Chairperson of Thailand’s Center for Philanthropy and Civil Society at the National Institute of Development Administration—all of whom received honorary degrees from IU President Michael A. McRobbie. In addition to the guests from across the country, the Center hosted 21 international visitors from twelve countries. The international group met to address issues of education, outreach, and research in other countries, and identified the possibility of six to eight new collaborations between the Center on Philanthropy and other universities internationally.

Diversity

  • The Center on Philanthropy’s Third Millennium Philanthropy and Leadership Initiative co-hosted the national conference for Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy (EPIP), founded and run by Rusty Stahl, an alumnus of the Center’s academic programs. The Millennium initiative seeks to increase philanthropy among youth, women, and people of color.

Best Practices

  • The Fund Raising School at the Center on Philanthropy offered three new courses incorporating the Center’s ground-breaking research, including data from the Bank of America Study on High Net-Worth Philanthropy.

External Awards and Appointments

  • Dr. Eugene R. Tempel, executive director of the Center on Philanthropy, was once again named to the NonProfit Times “Power and Influence Top 50.” Dr. Tempel and the Center have been named to the list every year since its inception a decade ago. The Center is described as having “cornered the market on sector research and education,” with work that encompasses “convening leading thinkers and developing the sector’s next generation.”
  • Eva Aldrich, Associate Director of The Fund Raising School, was appointed to the CFRE International’s Exam Committee. CFRE International is the global provider of professional certification of proficiency and practice in fund raising and the primary credential for career fundraisers for practitioners, employers, and the public.