Editors’ Note: HistPhil is happy to share with our readers a remarkable primary source document, an unpublished essay by Robert Payton, the founding director of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, on the philanthropy scholar Peter Dobkin Hall, and on the personal and professional difficulties Hall encountered in developing a career as a critic … Continue reading
Editors’ Note: Today begins HistPhil‘s mini-forum on Rob Reich‘s much anticipated new book, Just Giving: Why Philanthropy is Failing Democracy and How it Can Do Better. The three HistPhil co-editors, Stan, Maribel, and Ben, will each offer their perspectives on Just Giving, followed by a response from Rob. The forum begins with a review from Stanley … Continue reading
Editors’ Note: HistPhil co-editor Stanley N. Katz continues HistPhil’s book forum on David Callahan’s The Givers. THE GIVERS is one of the most useful and readable books recently published on the topic of philanthropy. It is especially well-informed on both the institutions and individuals who compose the new world of mega-philanthropy, which is the actual subject … Continue reading
Editors’ Note: HistPhil co-editor Stanley N. Katz remembers his friend, Richard Magat, the long-serving Ford Foundation communications director who passed away on March 13. Richard Magat died on March 13, 2017. That sad news likely did not register for many HistPhil readers. The name Dick Magat probably means little even to those currently engaged in the … Continue reading
Editors’ Note: At the 2016 meeting of the International Society for Third-Sector Research (ISTR) in Stockholm this summer, HistPhil’s Stanley N. Katz became the inaugural recipient of the ISTR Lecture Prize. Honoring “a member who has made a significant contribution to the field of Third Sector Research,” the Society asked Katz to share his thoughts on his work in Third Sector studies … Continue reading
Several weeks ago, Social Velocity’s Nell Edgington sent us a series of questions asking us to compare and contrast past and present American philanthropy. She has now posted our responses on Social Velocity’s blog. Please visit her site and check out this latest post: “Learning from Philanthropy’s Past: An Interview with the HistPhil Blog.” In this Q&A, Stan discusses two … Continue reading
Yesterday and today, NYU School of Law’s National Center on Philanthropy and the Law is holding its annual conference, this year on the topic of “Elasticity of the Boundaries: What Is (and Isn’t) Charitable.” HistPhil‘s own Stanley N. Katz delivered an opening paper on the history of those boundaries, “Should We Kill the Goose that Laid the … Continue reading
Editors’ Note: In the below post, HistPhil co-founder Stanley N. Katz brings the site’s ongoing discussion on philanthropy & inequality in dialogue with Kai Bird’s The Color of Truth: McGeorge Bundy and William Bundy: Brothers in Arms (Simon and Schuster, 1998). We have had a number of posts responding to Darren Walker’s recent articulation of … Continue reading
Over the years I have tried to teach myself not to fire until I see the whites of their eyes, but yesterday’s New York Times column by Nick Kristof has pushed me over the edge for what it says about philanthropy—and how the media covers the sector. The column apparently follows an interview Bill and Melinda … Continue reading
Editors’ Note: Whether it was meant to or not, the publicity roll-out for tech mogul Sean Parker’s Parker Foundation makes a series of historical arguments and raises a host of questions that are worth grappling with. What is really new about what Parker calls “hacker philanthropy?” What should we make about Parker’s arguments, best expressed in his Wall … Continue reading
My friend and long-time collaborator in studying the history of the philanthropic foundation, Barry Karl, cautioned me that “historians cannot predict the future, they are not even very good at predicting the past.” Wise words, and I have tried to keep them in mind for the forty years in which I have been thinking about … Continue reading
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