Today, Fortune published a piece by sociologist Linsey McGoey, “Do today’s philanthropists hurt more than they help?” The author applies the history of philanthropy in furthering her argument on the contemporary state of philanthropic giving in the United States, so we are bringing the piece to readers’ attention. In her indictment of contemporary philanthropic practices, McGoey specifically draws comparisons … Continue reading
Author Archives: HistPhil
Overstating the Role of Philanthropy in Education Reform
Editors’ Note: The philanthropy & education forum continues with this contribution by William Schambra. One thing upon which friends and foes of school choice agree: without the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the initial education voucher experiment in Milwaukee would never have occurred. As fierce voucher opponent People for the American Way put it in 2003, … Continue reading
Darren Walker’s “Toward a New Gospel of Wealth”
Yesterday, the Ford Foundation’s President Darren Walker posted a thoughtful essay on the history of philanthropy and inequality, along with an analysis of how to tackle global inequities today. Since the piece revisits many of the topics that HistPhil contributors discussed during the inequality forum, we wanted to bring the essay to readers’ attention. He also answers quite directly … Continue reading
Foundations and Education Reform in the Jim Crow South
Editors’ Note: Joan Malczewski continues the site’s philanthropy & education forum. William C. Chance established the Parmele Industrial Institute in Martin County, North Carolina, in 1910. Chance was an experienced educator with great ambitions, but it was difficult in the Jim Crow South to sustain an independent black school. Four years later, when his house was … Continue reading
Call for Papers on the History of Philanthropy: ISTR Conference (Stockholm, June 2016)
The Twelfth International Conference of the International Society for Third Sector Research (ISTR) will be taking place this upcoming June-July 2016 at Ersta Sköndal University College in Stockholm, Sweden. I am reaching out to our readers in order to organize a potential panel on the history of philanthropy and foundations for the conference. If you’re interested in joining such … Continue reading
Noting the Lessons from Newark & the Annenberg Challenge
Editors’ Note: Alexander Russo continues the site’s ongoing discussion on philanthropy & education. One of the main concerns about the current era of school reform is that its approach is “top-down” rather than “bottom-up.” That is, the methods and approaches that are used are designed and implemented by consultants and district administrators rather than community … Continue reading
The Unity of Philanthropy and Education
Editors’ Note: George McCully continues the site’s dialogue on philanthropy & education. Recent research into the meaning of the word “philanthropy” by reference to its etymology and history, has revealed that today’s customary usage is a pale reflection of the great tradition, which we would do well now to revive —especially in thinking about philanthropy … Continue reading
Call for Papers: Voluntary Action History Conference (University of Liverpool, July 2016)
In the Summer of 1991 three people who conducted research on the UK voluntary sector and volunteering as well as working in voluntary organisations met at the Coach and Horses, a well-known public house in London’s Soho. After spending months complaining among themselves about the ignorance and lack of interest of people who worked in … Continue reading
Upcoming Philamplify Debate on Reform Strategies in Education
Next Tuesday, the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy will host their first Philamplify debate on “Reform Strategies in Education.” Philamplify is the novel evaluative tool that NCRP designed, using some of the principles of crowd-sourcing, in which the NCRP performs a deep investigation into a single foundation, but also opens up the process to the … Continue reading
Reimagining Education: Philanthropy and Public Policy
Editors’ Note: Robin Rogers argues that philanthropy has undergone great change since the turn of this century, and particularly in the education sector. In her analysis of this “new” philanthropy, she engages with Johann Neem’s and Jeffrey Snyder’s recent contributions to the site’s philanthropy & education forum. Laurene Powell Jobs, Steve Job’s widow, just gave fifty million … Continue reading
Do Old and New K-12 Education Philanthropy Differ?
Editors’ Note: Jeffrey W. Snyder continues the site’s philanthropy & education forum. Much of the emerging research on philanthropic involvement in K-12 education focuses on the “new” breed of extremely prominent funders like the Gates, Walton, and Broad foundations. These studies are undoubtedly important, and show how this newly emergent group has very defined preferences … Continue reading
Why We Consider Public Schools Public & Charter Schools Private
Editors’ Note: This piece by Johann N. Neem continues the site’s philanthropy & education forum. Earlier this month, the Washington Supreme Court determined that charter schools are ineligible to receive public school funds under the 1889 state constitution. Article 9, section 2 of the Washington constitution states that “the entire revenue derived from the common … Continue reading
Lessons from Mark Zuckerberg’s Grant for Educational Reform in Newark
Editors’ Note: As part of the ongoing forum on philanthropy & education, author of Follow the Money: How Foundation Dollars Change Public Schools Sarah Reckhow discusses Dale Russakoff’s recently-published book, The Prize: Who’s in Charge of America’s Schools? In 2010, Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a $100 million grant for educational reform in Newark on The Oprah Winfrey … Continue reading
Finding the Funding: The Professionalization of Development in American Higher Education
Editors’ Note: Today, John Thelin opens this site’s forum on the relationship between philanthropy and education. Readers, please feel free to comment on these posts, both via the comments section and Twitter, and please do reach out to us with post suggestions. And though we are moving on from last month’s discussion on philanthropy & inequality, also please … Continue reading
An Update on Open Philanthropy’s History of Philanthropy Project
Editors’ Note: Next week, this site will begin a discussion on philanthropy & education. In the meantime, HistPhil co-editor Benjamin Soskis provides an update on his work with Open Philanthropy’s history of philanthropy project. Several years ago, GiveWell, a nonprofit that evaluates charities and advises donors on effective giving, began to consider how historical inquiry might help them … Continue reading
A Call for Contributions on the Chicago Annenberg Challenge
As part of HistPhil‘s education theme, we’d like to run a post, or a number of posts, on the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, which can be regarded as a precedent for some of the major educational philanthropic interventions of the current moment. If you are doing work on the Challenge, or know a scholar, researcher or … Continue reading
Shifting Focus: From Inequality to Education
With Erica Kohl-Arenas’ recent piece, HistPhil‘s forum on inequality comes to an end. This is not to say that our attention toward the issue will wane; we still welcome contributions and discussions on the topic. But at the start of September, we’ll be moving on to a focus on another theme: the history of the … Continue reading
Can Social Movements Tackle Inequality with Foundation Funding? The Case of the Farmworker Movement
Editors’ Note: Below, Erica Kohl-Arenas provides the final contribution for the site’s ongoing discussion on philanthropy & inequality. Over the past month HistPhil has published a timely series on philanthropy and inequality. A few commentators, including Pablo Eisenberg and Alice O’Connor, proposed that if foundations are to seriously address inequality they must, among other things, invest … Continue reading
Reflecting on the Past 10 Years: U.S. Philanthropy’s Response to Katrina
Ten years after Hurricane Katrina, The New York Times today published an in-depth analysis of how the city of New Orleans has changed since then, arguing: “The city that went under in the surging waters of Hurricane Katrina has not returned, not to the way it used to be.” Though the piece does not focus particularly on philanthropy, it … Continue reading
The Cycle of American Money: Making it, Giving It Away, Re-making the World
Editors’ Note: With the below post, Zoltan J. Acs continues HistPhil’s philanthropy & inequality forum. In the coming weeks, we’ll be moving on to our next forum on philanthropy & education. Please reach us if you’d like to contribute to either discussion. The foundations of the American ethos and mythos are that we are all created equal and that … Continue reading
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