The Problem With Discretionary Philanthropy

Posted on September 28, 2016 by HistPhil • 3 Comments

Editors’ Note: Since our last conversation on philanthropy and the state, we have been working on two other forums for the site. Highlighting new scholarship in the field, this next forum centers on the edited volume, Philanthropy in Democratic Societies (U. of Chicago Press, 2016). In the book, editors Rob Reich, Chiara Cordelli, and Lucy Bernholz have brought together an interdisciplinary community … Continue reading →

New Works in the Field

New HULA Research on Humanities Grant Applications

Posted on September 21, 2016 by HistPhil • Leave a comment

Editors’ Note: Below, Christopher Pupik Dean, Maggie Schein, Sheena Kang, and Danielle Allen describe their research on grant applications funded by Illinois Humanities, with emphasis on its relevance for philanthropy scholars and philanthropists alike. The Humanities and Liberal Arts Assessment (HULA) project (a research and consulting group led by Danielle Allen and based out of … Continue reading →

New Works in the Field / Oral History/Testimonies / Philanthropy and Historical Research

Can History Make You a Better Giver?

Posted on August 12, 2016 by HistPhil • Leave a comment

Editors’ Note: The following post, a personal reflection from Amanda Moniz, which also introduces themes from her new book, From Empire to Humanity, originally appeared on the OUPBlog under the title “How can history inform public policy today?” As a historian of philanthropy, I have wrestled with how to bring historical perspectives to my own gifts … Continue reading →

New Works in the Field

The Eighteenth-Century Revolution in Philanthropy

Posted on August 10, 2016 by HistPhil • Leave a comment

Editors’ Note: Karen Sonnelitter discusses her recently-published book, Charity Movements in Eighteenth-Century Ireland (2016). More specifically in this post, she explains how “joint-stock financing” facilitated the establishment of a wide range of charitable societies in eighteenth-century Ireland. Earlier this summer, she presented part of this work at the 2016 conference of the International Society for Third-Sector Research (ISTR) in Stockholm, Sweden. … Continue reading →

New Works in the Field

Can Philanthropy Be a Profession? Should it Be?

Posted on July 27, 2016 by HistPhil • Leave a comment

Editors’ Note: In 1995, Howard Gardner, a psychologist-turned qualitative social scientist, joined forces with psychologists Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and William Damon to start the Good Work Project—an empirical study of the professions in the United States and of how such work could be conducted in an ethical manner. Two decades later, Gardner began a blog, The Professional Ethicist, … Continue reading →

New Works in the Field / Philanthropy and Education

What Gates and Broad Could Have Learned From Ford

Posted on June 22, 2016 by HistPhil • Leave a comment

Editors’ Note: Megan Tompkins-Stange discusses her book, Policy Patrons, which was published by Harvard Education Press this month. Earlier this week, HistPhil co-editor Maribel Morey reviewed the book on this site. “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” wrote George Santayana in 1905 – a perennially popular aphorism. But in the case of philanthropy, … Continue reading →

New Works in the Field / Philanthropy and Historical Research

Next Week’s ISTR Conference in Stockholm (June 28-July 1)

Posted on June 22, 2016 by HistPhil • 2 Comments

The 12th International Conference of the International Society for Third-Sector Research (ISTR) is taking place next week (June 28-July 1) at Ersta Skondal University College in Stockholm, Sweden. The theme is “The Third Sector in Transition: Accountability, Transparency, and Social Inclusion.” Below, I am including events that would be of particular interest to HistPhil readers. Of … Continue reading →

New Works in the Field / Philanthropy and Democracy / Philanthropy and Education

Maribel Morey Reviews Tompkins-Stange’s POLICY PATRONS (2016)

Posted on June 20, 2016 by HistPhil • Leave a comment

Editors’ Note: HistPhil co-editor, Maribel Morey, reviews Megan Tompkins-Stange’s new book, Policy Patrons: Philanthropy, Education Reform, and the Politics of Influence (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard Education Press, 2016). In Policy Patrons: Philanthropy, Education Reform, and the Politics of Influence, Megan Tompkins-Stange provides a fascinating peek into staff mentalities at the Gates, Broad, Kellogg, and Ford foundations. This is a … Continue reading →

New Works in the Field

Another Interpretation of “The Bible Cause”: David Hammack Reviews Fea’s History of the American Bible Society

Posted on June 6, 2016 by HistPhil • Leave a comment

Editors’ Note: David Hammack reviews John Fea’s The Bible Cause: A History of the American Bible Society (Oxford, 2016). Neil Young reviewed the book last week. As a sponsored celebration of two hundred years of the American Bible Society intended for a friendly audience, The Bible Cause is remarkably comprehensive and thoughtful. Its acknowledgement of debates and … Continue reading →

New Works in the Field

Interpreting “The Bible Cause”: Neil Young Reviews Fea’s History of the American Bible Society

Posted on June 1, 2016 by HistPhil • Leave a comment

Editors’ Note: Neil Young reviews John Fea’s The Bible Cause: A History of the American Bible Society. Later this week, David Hammack offers his own perspective on the book. Last year, the American Library Association recorded a new entry on its annual list of the ten most challenged library books. For the first time ever, the … Continue reading →

New Works in the Field

Alice O’Connor on Erica Kohl-Arenas’ THE SELF-HELP MYTH (2016)

Posted on April 11, 2016 by HistPhil • Leave a comment

Editors’ Note: Alice O’Connor reviews Erica Kohl-Arenas’ The Self-Help Myth: How Philanthropy Fails to Alleviate Poverty (University of California Press, 2016). Kohl-Arenas recently participated in the inaugural HistPhil Exchange with Linsey McGoey. Erica Kohl-Arenas opens her important and sharply-observed new book with a field note from her visit to organized philanthropy’s grand palaver, the Annual Meeting … Continue reading →

New Works in the Field / Philanthropy and Historical Research / Philanthropy and the State

A Review of Rhodri Davies’s PUBLIC GOOD BY PRIVATE MEANS (2016)

Posted on April 8, 2016 by HistPhil • Leave a comment

Editors’ Note: On HistPhil earlier this year, Rhodri Davies discussed his new book, Public Good by Private Means: How philanthropy shapes Britain (2016). Here, Andrew Purkis reviews the manuscript. This is a delightful series of wise reflections about key issues for philanthropy, particularly in the UK, informed by a historical perspective. It contributes more to stimulating thinking about the future … Continue reading →

New Works in the Field / Philanthropy and Historical Research

How 19th Century Indian Philanthropy Changes the Narrative of American Giving

Posted on March 28, 2016 by HistPhil • Leave a comment

Editors’ Note: Anelise Shrout contributes a new post on 19th century Cherokee and Choctaw transnational philanthropy and how it re-shapes our understanding of the giving of marginalized groups. The people gathered at Fort Gibson in the Western Cherokee Nation in March of 1847 were a diverse group. Cherokees, U.S. soldiers, local missionaries and traders passing through … Continue reading →

New Works in the Field / Philanthropy and Historical Research

Tata Philanthropy and the Making of Modern India

Posted on February 25, 2016 by HistPhil • Leave a comment

Editors’ Note: Scholars have often engaged the rise of modern philanthropy in the developing world through the tensions between indigenous traditions and cosmopolitan practices. Mircea Raianu explores the place of Tata philanthropy in modern India to complicate that dichotomy. What is the relationship between corporate philanthropy and the modern nation-state? Or, to put it another way, … Continue reading →

New Works in the Field / Philanthropy and Historical Research / Philanthropy and the State

The Social Benefits of Philanthropy & Charity

Posted on February 19, 2016 by HistPhil • Leave a comment

Editors’ Note: Below, Rhodri Davies discusses his new book, Public Good by Private Means: How philanthropy shapes Britain (2016). It is easy to take for granted the idea of charity as an accepted public good and to picture the not-for-profit sector as having incrementally yet inevitably developed towards its current form. However, my new book, Public Good by … Continue reading →

New Works in the Field / The Green Revolution

Raising Yields and Losing Genes

Posted on January 19, 2016 by HistPhil • Leave a comment

Editors’ Note: Helen Anne Curry continues HistPhil‘s forum on the Green Revolution. Here, she argues that the history of the Rockefeller Foundation’s involvement in the conservation of crop biodiversity offers insight into how the foundation navigated the science and politics of a problem that it had itself contributed significantly to generating. In 1943, the Rockefeller Foundation … Continue reading →

New Works in the Field / The Green Revolution

Can Philanthropy Feed the World?: A Review of David Rieff’s The Reproach of Hunger

Posted on January 13, 2016 by HistPhil • Leave a comment

Editors’ Note: HistPhil continues its forum on the Green Revolution with this review of David Rieff’s The Reproach of Hunger from Gilbert Levine and Ruth Levine. The world has done a remarkable job of feeding itself. Despite population growth, the Food and Agriculture Organization reports that the prevalence of hunger in most parts of the developing world … Continue reading →

New Works in the Field / Philanthropy and Historical Research

Confronting a Philanthropic Past: A Review of Rosenfield’s A World of Giving

Posted on December 21, 2015 by HistPhil • 1 Comment

Editors’ Note: Benjamin Coates reviews Patricia Rosenfield’s A World of Giving: Carnegie Corporation of New York – A Century of International Philanthropy. As a pioneer of modern philanthropy, Andrew Carnegie was among the first millionaires to face criticism not for his stinginess, but for his largesse. Why should society admire a man for giving away wealth … Continue reading →

From the Editors / New Works in the Field

A Review of Linsey McGoey’s NO SUCH THING AS A FREE GIFT (2015)

Posted on November 20, 2015 by HistPhil • Leave a comment

In his synopsis of last week’s Hudson Institute event for Linsey McGoey’s No Such Thing as a Free Gift: The Gates Foundation and the Price of Philanthropy (Verso, 2015), fellow HistPhil co-editor Benjamin Soskis mentioned that the site will be engaging further with the book. In this vein, here is a link to my review No Such Thing as a Free … Continue reading →

New Works in the Field / Philanthropy vs. Charity

A Review of Peter Brown’s RANSOM OF THE SOUL (2015)

Posted on November 20, 2015 by HistPhil • Leave a comment

Editors’ Note: Furthering the site’s ongoing discussion on the history of philanthropy and charity, Adam Davis reviews Peter Brown’s new book The Ransom of the Soul: Afterlife and Wealth in Early Western Christianity (HUP, 2015). It may at first seem curious for a blog on the history of philanthropy to review a new book about the relationship between … Continue reading →