When even a sober technocrat like Mitch Daniels joins the chorus of crisis, we begin the year with a sense of foreboding. And when you look at the attempts of philanthropy to engage the existential issues that imperil humanity, unless it overperforms mightily it is hard to be optimistic about its prospects, even if all the biggest actors in philanthropy unite to push for the solutions we need. And even so, it is hard not to be a bit concerned about the scale of solutions that we need and what might go wrong in trying to put them in place.
If we don’t get big systems right, we are in trouble. The problem with systems is that they can go awry. The global markets we build to generate wealth also lead to immiseration. The coordinating power of governments to transform landscapes and facilitate the biggest endeavors can also lead to the horrific extermination of multitudes. Granted, much of philanthropy is preparing to advance the best and prevent the worst of our systems, and it is much too soon to declare defeat. Yet we must also consider, as Mitch Daniels does, that we may not be able to prevent a major crisis. What then for philanthropy?
If we do face a major social and economic crisis, there will be opportunities for more personal and intimate acts of kindness to give us hope. However partial, biased, unsystematic, and far from the levers of power and wealth, it is what we will need to restore ourselves and prepare for new possibilities.
This struck me during the holiday break as I visited what used to be the sleepy city of my youth. The public housing project across from my mother’s home in Vienna, Austria, recently placed a plaque on its façade to memorialize a prominent Jewish home that stood there before the Nazis seized the property in 1938 and drove out the Blauhorn family. Vienna is known as a pioneer in effective public housing, and I have walked past this building most years since 1978, but only just saw the modest plaque that was affixed to the exterior after the Covid pandemic. (This is not the only public improvement that has a less than happy origin story.)
The Leopold Museum in Vienna has an exhibit that displays a scrolling list of all the towering intellects and artists who fled or were killed by the Nazis. Physics, economics, architecture, psychology, music: pick your field and there was a luminary in Vienna in the early twentieth century. What is also remarkable is that they were embedded in networks of support and personal acquaintance that enabled their work, funded by wealthy families like the Blauhorns. The philanthropy supporting the energetic creativity of the period was more like patronage rather than the big bets, strategic philanthropy or the impact-intensive deliberations that characterize contemporary philanthropic discourse. At the time, systemic approaches were primarily the domain of an embattled state.
In the Sigmund Freud Museum, a display about daughter Anna Freud’s work on youth included a school she founded, which the Nazis closed. The description included the comment that the “National Socialists dismissively described the nursery as an ‘American Philanthropic Mission.’” How serious can something be when it is only supported by philanthropy? In an era enamored by the systematic application of coercion, the answer was obvious. The early twentieth century rhymes with our times, increasingly in sinister ways.
Today, we see more authoritarians devoted to pushing the boundaries of what can be achieved with increased doses of coercion. As the Blauhorns saw, even impressive wealth is no match for a state that decides to push its plans, unimpeded by the rights of anyone who can be coerced. And when vast wealth can be upended, we see the fragility of the scientific, artistic, educational, and humanitarian activities that depend on the wealth of others and the tolerance of the state.
What is personal is fragile, but it is sometimes the only defense we have against contempt at scale. Think of Anne Frank and the failed attempt of the young family employee to protect Anne from capture and death. On the other hand, a recent documentary, Sevap/Mitzvah, tells the story of a Jewish family saved by a Muslim family in Sarajevo in 1941, returning the favor during the siege of Sarajevo in the early nineties. Personal ties will struggle to have systemic effects, but they can have their triumphs.
My worry is that some deeply personal issues will become less personal and more systemic and sweeping. The evolution of modernity took humanity beyond patronage networks to systems in which our actions and circumstances were depersonalized to do away with bias and special favors based on our individual connections to those with authority or privilege.
However, at its logical extreme, depersonalization can also lead to the kind of dehumanization we witnessed in the totalitarian states of the twentieth century. In the service of the collective, led by a brutal elite, all the personal and particular ties of kin and shared local experience were erased and homogenized. As messy uniqueness weakened, adversaries were no longer distinctive persons – each unique soul came to represent either one who was in good standing, or one considered depraved and dispensable. The depersonalization that leads to forms of well-regulated modern living can also lead to wholesale dehumanization.
It is nonsensical to argue for or against one or the other. We are inescapably embedded in both personal and impersonal networks. And their relationships to each other are nuanced. Consider, for example, the various patrons and friends who supported Frederick Douglass, the iconic advocate for African-American civil rights who escaped the impersonal system of slavery. Indeed, the combination of stories about his personal experiences in bondage with more formal arguments about the wretched institution itself contributed to the transformative power of his writing and speaking.
Finally, consider an ingenious board game, Train, that inspired a fictional video game called “Solution” in a recent bestseller. In the game, players compete to move railway passengers to their destination only to realize at the end that they are participating in the Holocaust. It is a brilliant illustration of what can happen when we pursue ever better performance of systems without knowing the persons involved or the ultimate purpose of helping people get to a destination. The neglect of personal connection to those who shape our world can lead to contempt for others, but also ourselves.
Personal philanthropy can be partial, unsystematic, suboptimal, inequitable, and subject to the whims of individuals and the random happenings of relationships. It can also be transformative and transcendent, and a virtue that inheres in the most exalted human experiences. Certainly, it is never worthy of contempt. Perhaps this is a sliver of hope we can carry into the troubles to come.
As a Sikh growing up in San Antonio, Simran Jeet Singh felt the sting of racism and religious intolerance, but he also learned the power of kindness and generosity. Singh is the Aspen Institute’s executive director of the Religion and Society Program and author of the bestseller The Light we Give: How Sikh Wisdom Can Transform Your Life.
He recently took part in a wide-ranging conversation on religious diversity sponsored by Lake Institute on Faith & Giving, (which is part of the IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy) and the Center for Interfaith Cooperation. The Dec. 6th event at the Indiana Historical Society in Indianapolis was part of Lake Institute’s Distinguished Visitor speaker series. It explored ways religious diversity and generosity can build and promote a healthy, civic society.
David P. King, the Karen Lake Buttrey director of Lake Institute, described Singh’s work at the Aspen Institute as “a great model for our own work... addressing religious pluralism and the vital role it must play in our increasingly diverse society.”
The Rev. Libby Manning, director of the Wabash Pastoral Leadership Program at Wabash College, one of four panelists, started the discussion by asking Singh, 39, how faith shaped his journey. He said it began in South Texas where he and his two brothers were the only ones with turbans.
Singh said while they didn’t think much about religion as kids, they had a visible religious identity. “We knew we were different because people would tell us that,” Singh said. “You want to be accepted, but you have to deal with assumptions, stereotypes and judgments.”
He recalled being in fourth grade and joining his older brother for a class party at a roller rink. As they walked in with their mother, Singh says the rink manager began yelling, “GET out of here with those damn rags on your heads!”
Singh’s mother left her sons to talk to the manager. When Singh went to find her, she was crying, so he began to cry, too. When she asked why, he replied for the same reason she was upset. It wasn’t fair. They should be allowed to skate. But his mother told him she wasn’t crying out of hurt or anger, but because she felt so lucky. After Singh’s mother told the teachers and parents what happened, they all decided to leave the rink together in a show of solidarity.
“Imagine this nightmare scenario…your kids are being discriminated against, and she walks away feeling fortunate,” Singh said. “That’s how I began to understand the power of faith. You can engage in a different way, take a different path, and for me, that’s where openness, generosity and trust really started to build up.”
Singh emphasized that love and service are at the core of the Sikh faith, which is one of the world’s youngest religions (founded roughly 550 years ago) and now the fifth largest in the world. He said the first thing he learned growing up was the term Ik Onkar, which means “universal force.” He said, “The idea is that everything in the world is inter-connected…that divinity is in every single creature…To us love is the goal and the process…it’s to be engaged with the world and to ensure you’re reducing suffering.”
Asked how Sikh teachings relate to daily living, Singh said generosity, justice and activism aren’t just things you do for others out of a moral responsibility. “It also benefits us. Something changes inside,” he said. “It makes us closer to who we want to become, a humble, selfless, empathetic, compassionate people.”
Still, Singh said significant hurdles remain, especially when moving from religious tolerance to embracing religious pluralism. “It’s particularly hard in the American context where we don’t know how to talk about religion in public settings,” he said. “We’re so polarized and politicized, we’re scared to have conversations with people about what makes them who they are. I feel these fears, too. How do you listen to someone? How do you open yourself up and share your story? These are skills we need to start learning.”
Manning asked Singh for ways to nurture interconnectedness amid such division.
He said the best place to start is at the local level where people are rooted in the community and have shared experiences apart from their religious identity. Singh said it begins by listening, being curious and learning about them. He described it as an opportunity for influence and change in the people you’re engaging while also experiencing a transformation within yourself.
Singh noted, “It’s not just about changing the world around you. It’s about the internal work that happens as you start engaging with people and seeing their humanity in ways that may feel really difficult.”
Singh stressed that the practice of gratitude can also spark inter-connectedness within local communities.
He described it as “one of these themes that cuts across tradition…If you can feel connected at all times, then you are able to feel love.”
He shared how he and his wife gave their two daughters gratitude journals for Thanksgiving. Each day the girls had to list three things for which they’re grateful. Initially, they struggled. But Singh said within a week or so, “they’re thinking ‘Oh, this amazing thing happened today and I’m going to add it my journal.’ They’re feeling gratitude in the moment… and that’s the transformation.”
Others who shared the stage with Singh included Melissa Borja, assistant professor of American Culture/Pacific Islander American Studies at the University of Michigan and Joseph Tucker Edmonds, an associate professor of religious studies and Africana studies at Indiana University Indianapolis, where he’s also the associate director of the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture.
Despite the politics of division, the panelists agreed there are opportunities to connect on a deeper level. Difficult conversations should not be avoided but seen as an opportunity to learn about and appreciate different faith traditions.
As King noted afterward, “It left us with many questions we can pick up and explore,” a sentiment shared by several of those who attended.
The Rev. Shonda Nicole Gladden said, “I really appreciate when we’re able to have civil discourse around things that are so value-laden for us and don’t always get discussed.”
Ellen Munds was also grateful for the candid conversation. Munds said she arrived knowing nothing about the Sikh faith, “so it opened a window for me. And I just loved how (Singh) talked about the practice of generosity and being humble.”
A chance visit to Indianapolis changed the trajectory of Milan Ball’s life.
“My mother was working as a travel nurse and was stationed in Indianapolis,” Ball says.
“When I was visiting her, I quite literally saw a sign for the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. I looked into it and felt like it was the program for me.”
Prior to discovering the school’s M.A. program, Milan was looking into M.B.A. programs.
She began the M.A. program in August of 2022 and is currently finishing her last semester.
After receiving her B.F.A. from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, Milan worked in fashion design, holding several roles in the industry. It was during this time that she developed an interest in social impact.
In March of 2021, she founded Philan, a tech platform that helps shoppers measure the social impact of their purchases and discover charitable companies that align with their own values. She realized that most people have no idea how buying from charitable companies can create impact.
Late last summer, Milan was named Director of Development and Marketing for the Be Nimble Foundation, “a social enterprise taking a qualitative and quantitative approach to creating fully diverse and inclusive tech ecosystems.”
“The support I’ve received from [the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy] in my transition to managing full-time work and full-time student life has been nothing short of exceptional,” she says.
Recently, Milan was notified of her nomination and status as a semi-finalist for the United Way ELEVATE Award in the Emerging Leader of the Year category.
On Saturday, February 24th the winners will be announced. Until then, there is a People’s Choice Award fundraiser where people vote by donation. The United Way of Central Indiana will donate the winner’s funds to an organization of their choice
“Throughout my career, I’ve experienced social impact in a number of ways: through entrepreneurship, fostering racial equality, and strengthening economic development. And I believe that changing the world begins with transforming the marketplace.”
Two top winners of an upcoming Pitch Your Passion student competition will receive all-encompassing, four-year undergraduate scholarships to the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IU Indianapolis.
Students selected as Thomasson Scholars will receive scholarships that provide up to four years of tuition and fees, room and board, and books, as well as support for a semester of study abroad. Other winners of the competition will receive partial scholarships.
Lilly Family School of Philanthropy students have a passion for making a difference in the lives of others, for community service, supporting a cause, or meeting a need. The school's Bachelor of Arts in Philanthropic Studies degree program equips students to make their passion their profession, while preparing them for a job and a career in the growing field of philanthropy, which has a tremendous need for new leaders.
“Our scholarship program is designed to attract talented, compassionate students to meaningful, fulfilling careers in philanthropy and nonprofit organizations,” said Amir Pasic, Ph.D., the Eugene R. Tempel Dean of the school. “Our graduates serve in change-making positions in nonprofits, corporations and government across the country and around the world. Their work changes lives and communities and influences education, social services, health, arts and culture, animals, and the environment as well as many other endeavors that make a lasting difference.”
The Pitch Your Passion competition will be held March 8; the deadline to apply is Feb. 23. During the competition, participating students will identify a current social, economic, or cultural issue of concern to them. Together with other students who have similar interests, they will develop and present a group plan of action that leverages resources to bring about a transformative change for the population impacted by the challenge the students selected. For example, previous presentations have addressed issues such as mental health, sexual abuse, homelessness, and the need for resources for new mothers.
In addition to the group presentations, students will be evaluated on their grades, extracurricular activities and interests, and academic and career goals, as well as on an individual interview with a committee of the school’s faculty and staff.
Competition applicants must:
How to apply:
For more information about the Pitch Your Passion competition, scholarships and other financial aid at the school, and the Bachelor's Degree in Philanthropic Studies program, contact Pamela Clark at pamelac@iu.edu or 317-278-8927.
Eminent Indiana University scholar Richard Steinberg’s long-time dedication to the study and understanding of philanthropy and nonprofit organizations recently was honored with the Distinguished Achievement in Nonprofit and Voluntary Action Award from the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA). Steinberg is a professor of economics, philanthropic studies and public affairs.
The citation for the award recognizes Steinberg’s numerous, diverse contributions to philanthropy throughout his prolific career, stating, “Steinberg has been a pillar of excellence in nonprofit studies over the past four decades in terms of his scholarship, leadership, and community-building…. His early contributions to research in the economics of nonprofit organizations were foundational and path breaking. Rich was the attractive force that brought many economists into the ARNOVA orbit and the generation of economists he mentored brought philanthropy and the nonprofit sector into the mainstream of economic research.”
The award notes Steinberg’s authorship of many important articles, books and book chapters (including writing a key chapter in the first edition of “Walter Powell's iconic The Nonprofit Sector: A Research Handbook” and co-editing the second edition) “on topics whose centrality to nonprofit economics and nonprofit studies we now take for granted: competition between for-profit and nonprofit enterprises, efficient fundraising, tax incentives and charitable giving, and the provision of public goods.”
Also significant is Steinberg’s study of individual philanthropy, which included “the development of first-rate data on giving and volunteering…. Steinberg played a part in developing one of the great data sets available to scholars interested in giving and volunteering behavior in the United States [the Philanthropy Panel Study]. Along with colleagues at what was then called the Center on Philanthropy at IU (and now is called the IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy), Rich was part of an effort that led to the inclusion of a module on giving and volunteering administered as part of the venerable Panel Study of Income Dynamics. The module has yielded high-quality giving and volunteering data from a representative set of households, linked to extensive demographic and labor-market data, following a panel of households through time. In addition, Rich's coauthored 2008 paper "The Intergenerational Transmission of Generosity" (Journal of Public Economics) has been cited hundreds of times and serves as an example of the potential of this remarkable data set.”
The award committee noted “Steinberg has been an integral part of the development of the IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. The IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, and its earlier incarnation as the IU Indianapolis Center on Philanthropy at IU, are widely credited with being the first school of philanthropy and the first institution to award degrees in philanthropic studies. As part of that curriculum, Rich developed one of the first graduate classes on the Economics of Philanthropy. He served on the Center’s Board of Visitors for several years, and he has been engaged with [its] faculty governance since ‘time immemorial.’”
Steinberg is also applauded for his contributions to ARNOVA in partnership with an Indiana University colleague during a crucial period for the organization. “While building an academic discipline and a network of nonprofit economists, Rich was also building the institutional infrastructure for nonprofit studies. Rich served as co-president of ARNOVA, with Dr. Kirsten Grønbjerg [who previously received this award] – during the early 1990s when ARNOVA “became a truly professional organization.”
As praiseworthy as all these remarkable accomplishments, however, is Steinberg’s personal spirit of generosity and service that may be seen most clearly in his “ongoing teaching, mentorship, and collegiality.” The award committee notes, “His guidance has helped and inspired numerous students and young scholars. Anyone who has attended an ARNOVA conference knows Rich … for his extraordinary willingness and patience to guide and assist colleagues and students, especially younger scholars.”
Lilly Family School of Philanthropy faculty members and research were honored recently with several accolades from the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA).
Tyrone McKinley Freeman was honored with the Peter Dobkin Hall History of Philanthropy Prize for his book, Madam C.J. Walker’s Gospel of Giving: Black Women’s Philanthropy during Jim Crow. The award citation notes, “Freeman convincingly demonstrates how people of color and women -- and not only the elites among them -- shaped modern philanthropy and that we cannot understand the diversity of America’s philanthropic traditions without moving beyond the traditional image of the successful white, male philanthropist.” Freeman is the Glenn Family Chair in Philanthropy and associate professor of philanthropic studies.
Young-joo Lee, the Eileen Lamb O’Gara Chair in Women’s Philanthropy and professor of philanthropic studies was recognized with the award for Best Reviewer for Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly. The citation reports, “Lee excels in each of our [award] criteria. In particular, we value her expertise in the areas of volunteering, diversity, nonprofit governance, and community engagement.”
Beth Gazley, affiliate faculty member at our school and professor of public affairs at the Indiana University Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, and O’Neill School Ph.D. student Rachel Cash received the RGK-ARNOVA President’s Award for their proposed research, Is the Nonprofit Social Safety Net Prepared for Climate Change? The citation reads in part, “This well-crafted and crucial research project will help us understand how prepared vital nonprofit services are for the impact climate change will have on their work, and how nonprofit leadership grapples with environmental risks and threats.”
Richard Steinberg was honored with a lifetime achievement award.
Research from the school, its faculty members and colleagues earned both ARNOVA Data & Analytics Section (DAS) Awards conferred in 2023. Richard Steinberg, along with Eleanor Brown of Pomona College, received recognition for the Philanthropy Panel Study. Brad Fulton affiliate faculty member at our school and associate professor at the Indiana University Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs and David King received the award for their project “Using Google Maps to Generate Organizational Sampling Frames and Help Identify Every Nonprofit in the U.S.”
The DAS award recognizes contributions that advance nonprofit scholarship and practice through the dissemination of new methods or tools (e.g. software packages or data collection/extraction platforms) and the sharing of open assets (e.g. new datasets, ways to link, refine, or extend existing data) and the extent to which nominated projects demonstrate strong principles of open science by making methods, tools, and data assets free, accessible, and user-friendly.
As the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted services and programs that support women and girls all over the world, women’s and girls’ organizations in the U.S. received $8.8 billion in charitable giving in 2020—a 9.2% increase over 2019, according to research by the Women’s Philanthropy Institute at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. The fifth annual Women & Girls Index (WGI) finds that while giving to women and girls grew during the peak of the global health crisis, philanthropic support for these organizations was still lower than the 11.3% growth in overall charitable giving in 2020*, and represents less than 2% of all giving in the U.S. that year.
The WGI provides the only systematically generated, comprehensive data on charitable organizations dedicated to women and girls in the U.S. and tracks the amount of philanthropic support they receive from individuals, foundations, and corporations. The latest WGI adds information from 2020—the most recent year for which finalized IRS data is available—to expand the picture of charitable giving to women and girls from 2012 to 2020.
“The year 2020 was marked by upheaval across all areas of life, and philanthropy—especially giving to women and girls—was no exception,” said Jeannie Sager, director of the Women’s Philanthropy Institute. “This year’s WGI confirms that while the pandemic catalyzed philanthropic action in the U.S. and around the world, giving to women’s and girls’ causes continues to lag other areas of philanthropy. The pandemic erased progress that had been made toward gender equity, and women and girls will need additional resources to continue to make gains. The WGI provides a powerful tool for identifying funding opportunities that address issues affecting women and girls.”
The pandemic disproportionately impacted women in numerous ways, and the newest WGI shows how charitable giving responded to the needs generated by these unprecedented events. For example, contributions to family and gender-based violence prevention organizations in the WGI rose by 17% between 2019 and 2020, suggesting that donors may have been motivated to give to these organizations as domestic violence incidents increased following pandemic stay-at-home orders.
Additionally, in 2020, societal conversations inspired by the racial and social justice movement also raised questions about the dearth of funding for women and girls of color and spurred donors to action. The WGI is one part of the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy’s Equitable Giving Lab, an initiative of the school funded by Google.org to better understand charitable giving to diverse communities and under-resourced groups. Forthcoming research by the school for the Equitable Giving Lab will examine funding for BIPOC communities, as well as intersectional groups like LGBTQ+ women and girls, and women and girls of color.
Key findings from the latest WGI include:
“Women and girls have been shown to be disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, which generated greater giving to these organizations, but also greater—and sustained—demand for services,” said Una Osili, Ph.D., associate dean for research and international programs at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. “The WGI equips donors, fundraisers and others dedicated to women’s and girls’ causes to make an urgent case for increased and lasting philanthropic support for the myriad issues affecting women and girls.”
Among affluent households who gave to women’s and girls’ causes, 8.2% indicated they were motivated to do so by hearing that women’s and girls’ causes receive less than 2% of all charitable giving, according to the 2023 Bank of America Study of Philanthropy: Charitable Giving by Affluent Households conducted by the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.
In conjunction with the WGI’s release, the Women’s Philanthropy Institute observed Give to Women and Girls Day, an effort to increase funding for women’s and girls’ organizations, in partnership with Giving Tuesday, Impact 100, Magee-Women’s Research Institute, Ms. Foundation for Women, National Women’s Hall of Fame, Philanos, Philanthropy Together, Pivotal Ventures, Schusterman Family Philanthropies, Together Women Rise, United Nations Foundation, Vital Voices, Women's Funding Network and Women Moving Millions.
The full research brief and a downloadable dataset of women- and girls-serving organizations are available at EquitableGivingLab.org/WGI. A searchable index of the 51,756 charitable organizations included in the 2023 WGI can be accessed at WomenAndGirlsIndex.org.
*Source: Giving USA 2023, researched and written by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and published by Giving USA Foundation.
The Washington Post, Spelman College gets $100 million donation, a record for HBCUs
Crain’s Chicago Business, Mackenzie Scott’s donations to Chicago nonprofits tapered off in 2023
The Chronicle of Philanthropy, The Fiscal Cliff Has Arrived—and With It Cuts, Layoffs, and Crisis. A Look at 2024’s Hunt for Revenue.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy, What Philanthropy and Nonprofits Lose as Religion Fades
Philanthropy News Digest, 2023 Roundup: Donor participation continues to decline
Indianapolis Business Journal, Indiana not-for-profits pulled in $348.7 million in big gifts in 2023
2024 IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy Commencement Ceremony
700 W. Washington Street Indianapolis, IN 46204
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IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy will be hosting a recognition ceremony for the 2024 graduates at the NCAA on May 11, 2024, starting promptly at 3:00 PM. Please plan to arrive no earlier than 2:...Read more
Higher Education and Philanthropy in Sub-Saharan Africa: Engaging African Donors
Join the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy for a webinar on the philanthropic landscape and engagement of African donors in sub-Saharan Africa. Register
Science of Philanthropy Initiative Conference 2024
700 W. Washington Street, Indianapolis
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Come together as researchers studying charitable giving share their findings with practitioners in the field of philanthropy.
Science of Philanthropy Initiative Conference 2024
700 W. Washington Street, Indianapolis
-
Come together as researchers studying charitable giving share their findings with practitioners in the field of philanthropy.
