Editors’ Note: This year, for the first time, the annual ARNOVA conference will feature a separate Humanities track. This allowed humanities-trained scholars to review panels and ensured that those panels were scheduled at different time slots so they did not compete with each other. The Humanities track represents a concerted effort on the part of ARNOVA members to boost the presence of the humanities within the organization. Those wishing to be a part of this effort are encouraged to contact Gregory Witkowski,  associate professor of Philanthropic Studies at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI (and a trained historian!) at gwitkows@iupui.edu. He’ll be hosting a meeting to discuss next steps at 5:30 PM on Friday, Nov. 17 in the Berkey room. HistPhil supports and celebrates this exciting development for ARNOVA. Below are the 8 panels within this year’s Humanities track; there are, of course, many other panels that will be of interest to humanities scholars, and we encourage you to check out the full ARNOVA conference schedule for more details.

Thursday, November 16th:

• 8:00 – 9:30 AM

Local Religious Philanthropy: Historical Case Studies from the Hoosier State (David Hammack, chair & discussant)

– David King, “Religious Philanthropy in the Hoosier State: Proposing Approaches for Future Local Philanthropic Stories”

– Thad Austin, “A Prelude to Civic War: Indiana Abolitionists’ Contribution to Debates over Slavery, Higher Education, and Religious Philanthropy”

– Jim Alexander, “From Secular Philanthropy to Religious Authority: The Rise of the Jewish Federation of Indianapolis (1905-1930)”

• 9:45 – 11:15 AM

Normative Perspectives on Contemporary Philanthropy (Salvatore Alaimo, chair; Amanda Maher, discussant)

– Marty Sulek, “The Theoretical Basis of Philanthropy as an Ethical Idea”

– Guy Schultz, “On the Importance of Distinguishing Between Ideal and Nonideal Ethical Theories of Philanthropy”

– Theodore Lechterman, “The Effective Altruist’s Dilemma”

– Yoram Margolioth, “Examining the Relationship between Philanthropy and Democracy”

• 2:00 – 3:30 PM

Innovation in Heartland Cities: Developing Cultures of Giving (Gregory Witkowski, chair)

– Catherine Cefalu, “Tabula Rasa: Chicago’s History of Philanthropic Experimentation and Innovation”

– Gregory Witkowski, “Captains of Philanthropy and Teams of Civic Actors: Reviewing Pittsburgh’s Culture of Giving”

– Chen Ji and Peter Weber, “Philanthropic Innovations: the Case of the Indianapolis Foundation”

• 3:45 – 5:15 PM

VRAD (Values) Section Colloquium: The Dark Side of Religion, Past and Present: Defying the Golden Rule

– Presenters: David Horton Smith, Edward Queen, Jeff Bulgur

Friday, November 18:

• 8:15 – 9:30 AM

A Critical Exploration of Discourses in the Field of Nonprofit and Philanthropic Studies (Angela Eikenberry, chair; Billie Sandberg, discussant)

– Tracey Coule, Jennifer Dodge, and Angela Eikenberry, “A Systemic Review of Critical Approaches in the Nonprofit Sector Literature”

– Roseanne Mirabella and Khanh Nguyen, “Critical Pedagogy and Nonprofit Management Education: Employing Counternarratives to Engage Students in Discussions of Advocacy and Social Change”

– Abhishek Bhati, “Does the Ends Justify the Means? A Critical Review of Nonprofit Fundraising and Charitable Giving Literature”

• 3:45 – 5:15

Activist Philanthropy in an Era of Social Change (Amanda Moniz, chair)

– Thad Austin, “Advocate or Oppressor? J.B. Lehman, A White President of a Black College”

– Tyrone Freeman, “Black Philanthropic: Freeman B. Ransom and Philanthropic Advising for America’s ‘First Self-Made Female Millionaire'”

– Joan Johnson, “Funding Feminism: Women’s Philanthropy and the Suffrage Movement”

– Nicolette Naylor, “An Exploration of Love in the Time of Inequality: Social Justice and Philanthropy”

Saturday, November 19:

• 8:15 – 9:45 AM

Neoliberalism and the Nonprofit Sector

– Maoz Brown, “Uncovering the History of Fee-Charging in the U.S. Nonprofit Human Services Sector: A New Perspective on the Commercialization Debate”

– John Slocum, “Philanthropic Foundations and Democracy in the Context of Neoliberalism”

– Julie Langer, “Competitors, Activists or Confidants: Sector Blurring, Organizational Identity and the Nature of Stakeholder Relationships”

– Brett Thomas Crumley, “Justice for Charity: An Inquiry into Pluralism”

• 12:15 – 1:45 PM

Market and Non-Market Influences on the Nonprofit Sector (Roland Kushner, chair)

– Eva Witesman, Robert Christensen, and Curtis Child, “Are the Institutional Values of Government and Nonprofit Organizations Competing, Complementary, or Confusing? Unpacking the Possibilities with Ostrom’s Grammar Tool”

– Thomas Southard, “Assessing Norms in the Governance of Catholic Colleges and Universities”

– Diane Yoder, “The Ice is Melting: Whither the Indigenous Peoples of the Circumpolar North?”