Elizabeth Dale, Ph.D. '16, Assistant Professor, Nonprofit Leadership, Seattle University

"Giving Among Same-Sex Couples: The Role of Identity in Philanthropic Engagement"

Watch Video Replay

Bio: Elizabeth J. Dale, Ph.D. '16, is an assistant professor in the Master of Nonprofit Leadership Program at Seattle University. Elizabeth received her Ph.D. in Philanthropic Studies in 2016 from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Her research focuses on the philanthropic practices of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals and couples, women’s giving and funding for women’s and girls’ causes, and the intersection of gender and philanthropy. She has presented nationally and internationally on her research as well as on service learning and online teaching methods.

Elizabeth teaches courses in philanthropy, governance, fundraising, and marketing and communications. She enjoys integrating new technologies and learning platforms in her classroom to enhance student engagement, whether teaching in-person or online.

Prior to beginning her Ph.D., Elizabeth served as Director of Development at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, a large community hospital based in Chicago, and as a campaign manager for the YWCA Metropolitan Chicago. She also served as Board Treasurer for the Chicago Women’s Health Center, a women’s health collective, where she participated in alternative governance first-hand. She achieved the Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) designation in 2012. Elizabeth also holds an M.A. in Women’s Studies from The Ohio State University and a B.A. in Journalism and Women’s and Gender Studies from Ohio Wesleyan University.

Abstract: Much of the philanthropic studies research has sought to understand the motivations behind prosocial behaviors, including charitable giving and volunteering. However, the majority of research assumes the White, heterosexual, male donor as the norm. A growing area of research investigates the diversity of philanthropy among racial, ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities, and, specifically examines how minority and marginalized identities can inform and shape charitable giving. Drawing on both an identification and justice model of motivation, this qualitative study investigates gay and lesbian couples’ philanthropic practices and the role of identity in giving. Study participants were highly engaged in philanthropic behaviors, however, giving to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) causes was a fraction of most couples’ philanthropy. Still, sexual orientation identity motivated donors to “give back” to support the LGBT community, pursue public policy changes, and support HIV/AIDS organizations, placing one’s “self” at the center of some decisions to give. Sexual orientation identity also determined which organizations donors would not support. Finally, same-sex couples used their philanthropy to support their communities at-large and be recognized as gay and lesbian couples in mainstream society, using philanthropy as a way to gain visibility and social acceptance.

Yan Long, Assistant Professor, School of Global and International Studies, Indiana University

The Contradictory Impact of Transnational AIDS Institutions on State Repression in China, 1989-2013

Watch Video Replay View Yan's Bio

Abstract: Existing research has focused on the extent to which transnational interventions compel recalcitrant governments to reduce levels of domestic repression, but few have considered how such interventions might also provoke innovation in the forms of repression. Based on a longitudinal study of repression against AIDS activism in China between 1989 and 2013, the author proposes that transnational institutions’ provision and reshaping of material resources and organizational rules can transform a domestic repressive apparatus in specific policy areas. The intervention of transnational AIDS institutions in China not only constrained traditional violent coercion, but also generated new forms of “diplomatic repression” through (1) changing repressive motives by moving AIDS from the margin to the center of mainstream politics; and (2) supplying resources, networks, and models of action that enabled government organizations to reformulate health social organizations as new repressive actors with new repertoires of strategies inside and outside China’s territory. Furthermore, diverse government organizations were far from passive targets in this process but used techniques of mimicry and editing to actively engage with and repurpose transnational practices for repressive ends.

Dana Brakman Reiser, Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School

"The Social Enterprise Life Cycle"

Watch Video Replay View Presentation

Bio: Dana Brakman Reiser is Professor of Law and former Vice Dean at Brooklyn Law School, where she has taught courses in Nonprofit Law, Social Enterprise, Corporations, Property, and Trusts and Estates since 2001. Her recent scholarship focuses on law and finance for social enterprises – businesses that pursue a social mission – and has appeared in Indiana Law Journal, Boston College Law Review, Emory Law Journal, and Notre Dame Law Review, among others. Her forthcoming book, Social Enterprise Law 2.0 (with Professor Steven Dean) will be published by Oxford University Press in 2016. She also has written extensively on nonprofit accountability and governance, and the role of members and other non-fiduciary constituencies in nonprofit organizations. Professor Brakman Reiser is a member of the American Law Institute and was Associate Reporter for its project on the Principles of the Law of Nonprofit Organizations. She is also a member and past-Chair of the Section on Nonprofit and Philanthropy Law of the American Association of Law Schools.

Professor Brakman Reiser is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Law School.

Abstract: Social enterprises are for-profit firms that pursue a dual mission – both earning profits for owners and achieving social good. But they are not all alike. “The Social Enterprise Life Cycle” describes how social enterprises’ needs transform over time, and explores a range of legal interventions to assist them along the way.

At inception, social enterprises need to ensure they have safe space in which to pursue their dual missions, and to differentiate themselves from other firms in the marketplace. Specialized legal forms can assist in both efforts, legitimizing the double-bottom-line concept internally for fiduciaries and managers, and broadcasting it to investors, employees, suppliers and consumers. As social enterprises seek to demonstrate proof of concept, grow, and scale, their capital needs increase. To meet them, social entrepreneurs need to identify mission-committed investors, and persuade them their own mission commitments can be trusted. Here again, the law offers solutions: this time in the form of creative financing structures that include reliable signals and enforcement mechanisms. Even as social enterprises draw to a close, contract terms and deal structures can be designed to steward social mission through dissolution or sale.

Paul Schervish, Professor Emeritus, Sociology and Director (Retired), Center for Wealth and Philanthropy, Boston College

"Charitable Giving by State: New Methods and Measures for Geographic Giving Relative to Income"

Watch Video Replay Charitable Giving by State

Bio: Paul G. Schervish is Professor Emeritus of Sociology and retired Director of the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy at Boston College. He served as Fulbright Professor of Philanthropy at University College, Cork, Ireland.

He has been selected five times to the NonProfit Times “Power and Influence Top 50.”  During the 1999-2000 academic year he served as Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Indiana University Center on Philanthropy. He received the 2013 Distinguished Career Award from the Altruism, Morality, and Social Solidarity Section of the American Sociological Association.

Schervish is the author of Gospels of Wealth: How the Rich Portray Their Lives and co-author with Keith Whitaker of Wealth and the Will of God. He is currently compiling Aristotle’s Legacy: The Moral Biography of Wealth and the New Physics of Philanthropy based on his published works. 

With John Havens, he co-authored the 1998 report, Millionaires and the Millennium, which predicted the now well known $41 trillion wealth transfer. Findings from their 2012 revised model are reported in The Golden Age of Philanthropy Still Beckons: National Wealth Transfer and Potential for Philanthropy.

He received a bachelor's degree in literature from the University of Detroit, a Masters in sociology from Northwestern University, a Masters of Divinity Degree from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.  He continues to give presentations and consult with families on the biographical meaning, mobilizing experiences, and practice of philanthropy.

Abstract: This paper (1) evaluates existing indices ranking geographic areas on their relative level of charitable giving, and (2) presents a more accurate set of rankings based on a more valid research methodology. A major problem with current state comparisons is using household gross income as a measure of capacity to give. This leads to incorrect comparisons and invalid implications unless substantial geographic differences in tax burden and cost of living are taken into account, as we do here. In addition, it is important to measure all charitable giving in a state rather than just itemized deductions. Our more precise methodology has stunning implications for research validity and for the veracity of the conclusions we impart.

Jennifer Brass, Assistant Professor, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, IU

"What Have We Studied? What Have We Found? A Systematic Review of the NGO Literature"

Watch Video Replay View Presentation

Bio: Jennifer N. Brass is an Assistant Professor at Indiana University's School of Public & Environmental Affairs, where she teaches courses on NGO Management, international development, international policy, and state building. Brass’s research examines service provision, policy, governance and state development, with a regional focus on sub-Saharan Africa. Her 2016 Cambridge University Press book, Allies or Adversaries? NGOs and the State in Africa, examines the role that nongovernmental organizations play in service provision and state-society relations. Alongside her work on NGOs, Brass studies energy policy and electrification, with a particular focus on small-scale, renewable sources of electricity, or distributed generation. Her articles appear in a range of political science, international development and public affairs journals. She has conducted extensive field research in Senegal, Djibouti, Kenya and Uganda. Professor Brass holds a PhD and MA in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service.

Abstract: Developing countries have seen a proliferation of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) providing humanitarian relief, services and development assistance in the past thirty years. With this growth has come a nascent social scientific literature describing, analyzing and critiquing these organizations. We are motivated by concerns that 1) scholars, policymakers, and practitioners make contestable claims about whether or not NGOs are “good” or “bad,” but few turn to the literature to identify a consensus view in the existing evidence, and 2) the study of NGOs has been fragmented across disciplinary lines, slowing the development and synthesis of knowledge. This project responds to these concerns by conducting a multi-method systematic review of the social science literature on NGOs. Using content analysis and topic modeling on the population of more than 3,000 social science articles published in English between 1980 and 2014 alongside a qualitatively coded random sub-sample of ~300 articles, we identify the major themes in the literature on NGOs in international development, disciplinary norms in topics and research methods, and how both of these have changed over time. In doing so, we note topical and geographic areas of particular research saturation, as well as major gaps in knowledge. Finally, we assess the positive and negative claims scholars make about NGO effects, and the evidentiary base for these claims.

Coco Kou, Ph.D. Candidate

Sara Konrath, Assistant Professor of Philanthropic Studies, Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, IU

"Dispositional Empathy and Diversification of Monetary and Non-Monetary Prosocial Behavior"

Watch Video Replay

Abstract: This study explores the diversification of monetary and non-monetary prosocial behaviors among individuals with a high level of empathic concern and perspective taking—two important dimensions of trait empathy. Both empathic concern and perspective taking tend to invoke an other-oriented motivation for prosocial behaviors, but they are correlated with charitable donations made to different charitable causes in different ways. Prior research finds a “diversification bias” of individuals—a tendency to spread choices over various options. Research has examined this pattern of allocation in different settings, but limited attention has been paid to the diversification of helping and charitable giving behaviors by individuals. By analyzing data from two datasets, this study examines the relationship between two dimensions of trait empathy and diversification of prosocial behaviors, as measured by giving money and time. Findings from the study shed light on the role of empathy in society and offer practical implications for nonprofits in improving communications with donors and volunteers.

Instructions for Remote Access

You can actively participate in the talk through this option.

You can watch and listen to the talk by using the following URL during the presentation:

http://www.indiana.edu/~video/stream/liveflash.html?filename=PhD_Meeting

Videoconferencing

You may connect using Pexip, which is available to anyone using a Chrome browser without downloading any special software or creating an account. Chrome itself is freely downloadable from google.com. Remote participants should mute their microphone when not talking.

To connect with Pexip in Chrome:

1. Go to IU’s Pexip bridge at https://bridge.iu.edu
2. In the “Person or conference to dial” field, type the number of the conference you want to join (233011). (Enter 0 to connect to the IU Video Help Desk operator).
3. Enter your name. When you join the conference, your name will display in the roster list
4. In the “Bandwidth” field, select an appropriate bandwidth. Typically, choose low or medium if you are at home and high or max if you are on campus.
5. Click join.
6. If prompted, allow the browser to use your camera and microphone. The first time you connect to Chrome, you may see a message under the address bar requesting use of your camera and microphone. Select “allow.”
7. If you have questions or concerns, please call the Video Helpdesk at 812-856-2020.

Archive

You may watch the archived video of the presentation.