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Philanthropy Research Workshop

Philanthropy Research Workshop

Spring 2018 Schedule of Presenters

University Hall, home of Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy Tuesdays, 12:00-1:15 p.m. (with occasional exceptions) University Hall Room 3011

Spring presentations
Instructions for remote access
Downloadable calendar

The Philanthropy Research Workshop is a venue for presenting academic research prior to publication.

The workshop has expanded its disciplinary and methodological scope, and students and faculty will have opportunities for individual meetings with our speakers.

The purposes of the workshop include the following:

To help students and early career faculty develop as scholars. Workshops illustrate the process of research—problems that come up and how best to deal with them. Workshops expose participants to unfamiliar methodologies that might become part of their analytic toolbox. Workshops expose participants to what’s hot in research. External speakers can meet with students and faculty during their visits, beginning a relationship that can enhance one’s career.
To build a sense of community and shared knowledge both within the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and beyond. We build a shared sense of purpose, and foster interdisciplinary collaborations across schools, campuses, and disciplinary homes.
To build the research reputation of the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

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Spring 2018

January 25

Philanthropy Research Workshop: A. Abigail Payne Professor A. Abigail Payne, Director and Ronald Henderson Professor, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, University of Melbourne

"The Effect of Tax Price on Donations: Evidence from Canada" (Ross Hickey, Bradley Minaker, Joanne Roberts, and Justin Smith, coauthors)

Watch Video Replay

Abstract: What is the tax price elasticity of charitable donations? While many countries provide tax policy that encourages donations, estimating the responsiveness of charitable donations to changes in benefits accruing to donors is difficult because the tax price and donations simultaneously depend on an individual's income. We use a large administrative dataset from Canada, the Longitudinal Administrative Database (or LAD) to estimate the tax price elasticity of donations. Our estimation strategy uses instrumental variables with fixed effects. Focusing on the time period for which the tax price of giving is a linear function of provincial and federal tax credit rates we use variation in the marginal income tax rates to instrument for the tax price. We estimate that the tax price elasticity of charitable donations is - 0.6, implying that donations are inelastic with respect to the tax price. We discuss our findings in light of the limitations of our estimator, and the possible policy recommendations of our result.

February 20

Laurie Paarlberg, Robert H. and Judy L. Allen Professors, Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M and Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, IUPUI

"The Differential Effect of Minority and Network Status in the Grants Marketplace"

Watch Video Replay

Abstract: Public policy increasingly relies upon private philanthropic actors to meet community needs. However, disparities may exist in the distribution of philanthropic resources. In particular, concern exists that minority organizations may be disadvantaged in the grants marketplace. This paper tests the complex relationship between grantee location in a minority community, board status and the size of grants. Our study occurs in a sample of public foundations in two metropolitan communities. We find that grantees located in minority communities, all else being equal, receive smaller allocations from grant makers and smaller grants designated by individual donors. Network status positively affects grant size and organizations located in minority communities have smaller and weaker networks. As a result, grantees located in minority communities are disadvantaged in the grants marketplace because they have smaller board networks. However, board interlocks do not explain all variation as location in a minority community has a direct and negative effect on the size of grants received. These findings confirm the importance of board interlocks in the grant making process and raise important questions for future research.

February 27

Allen M. Omoto, Professor of Education & Psychology and Interim Dean, School of Educational Studies, Claremont Graduate University

"Community and Caring: The Psychology of Volunteerism and Activism"

Watch Video Replay

Abstract: This talk will explore some of the dynamics of social action and how ordinary citizens “make a difference” for themselves, their communities, and society at large. After defining and describing social action, the specific case of volunteerism will be considered. The results of original multi-method research conducted in different domains will highlight the potential role of psychological connections to others (i.e., sense of community) in motivating and sustaining volunteerism. In addition, evidence will be presented for the impact of psychological sense of community on broader indicators of individual and societal functioning and well-being.

Bio: Allen M. Omoto, Ph.D., is a Professor and Associate Provost for Academic Affairs at the Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, CA. He is a social psychologist whose research focuses on the social and psychological aspects of prosocial behavior and civic and political engagement. He also conducts research on issues related to the environment, HIV disease, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender concerns. Dr. Omoto has extensive governance and leadership experience at his university and in numerous professional societies.

March 20

Richard Gunderman, Chancellor's Professor of Radiology, Pediatrics, Medical Education, Philosophy, Liberal Arts, Philanthropy, and Medical Humanities and Health Studies, IUPUI

Richard Turner, Professor Emeritus of English and Philanthropic Studies, IUPUI

"Luther's Gifts"

Watch Video Replay

Abstract: Last year’s 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s posting his 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg saw many celebrations of and reflections on the impact of Luther’s action on the Western world. Many of those deliberations focused on Luther’s impact on religious practice and religious life. However, just as many focused on the impact of Luther’s life and work on many other aspects of contemporary life. Among those impacts are literacy, the publishing industry, social and political organizations, attitudes toward economic success, and the foundation for the Enlightenment. One theme permeates these retrospectives – how many of the extraordinary changes attributed to Luther were significantly unintended by him. This paper examines one of those unintended consequences – the belief in the transforming power of reading – and explores the degree to which we ought to recognize how much Luther’s life and work have shaped significantly the way we regard reading and the work done within the context of the humanities. The possibility that a lone reader might come up with a new idea that expands the reader’s horizons and increases capacity for understanding and making a difference in the world creates a broad recognition of the value and power of reading. Luther’s insistence on the centrality of each individual experiencing the Word directly and authoritatively and then his translation of the Bible into German “so that every plowboy could read the Bible for himself” prompted a deep change in the presence and importance of reading in people’s lives. That enduring legacy has shaped much of what people expect from a book and from text-centered disciplines and practices.

March 27

Emily Barman, Professor and Associate Dean of the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, Boston University

"Just Good Business: Making Sense of Success for Health Enterprises"

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Abstract: Social enterprises—companies that employ business methods to address an unmet need—are championed by many for their unique capacity to offer a sustainable and scalable solution to a social or environmental problem. Yet, these new hybrid organizations face a dual tension: they must achieve financial sustainability while offering a high quality, affordable product to disadvantaged clients. Drawing from an innovative data set of interviews with the founders and/or CEOs of successful health enterprises, this exploratory study identifies the determinants of success for this type of social enterprise. Crucially, I find that existing literature’s depiction of the goal/s of and challenges faced by social enterprises do not align with those expressed by social entrepreneurs themselves, with implications for the types of guidance and support best offered to nascent social entrepreneurs.

April 9

(Please note that this workshop is on a Monday rather than the usual Tuesday)

Brian Goldstein, Assistant Professor, Department of Art, Swarthmore College

"Community Empowerment and the Built Environment: Lessons from Harlem"

Watch Video Replay

Abstract: This talk examines several strategies by which design professionals—architects and urban planners—have used the built environment toward effecting social change and improving the public good. Rather than simply a container in which such efforts unfolded, the talk will consider organizations and individuals who used buildings and plans as the medium through which to pursue such change. Design activists occupied a unique position as philanthropic actors. With direct influence over the spaces people inhabited, they could shape participation in urban development decisions, create affordable housing, pursue civil rights equality, and shape public memory. Through cases focused on the United States in the postwar period, this talk will not only extend consideration of philanthropy to additional professional fields, but also suggest the value of formal and spatial thinking to the study of philanthropy.

April 17

Leilah Vevaina, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity

"Shifting Modes of Giving and Their Effects on Community Preservation: Some Insights from Mumbai"

Watch Video Replay

Bio: Leilah Vevaina received her Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from the New School for Social Research in 2015. She has an M.A. in Anthropology from The New School (2007) and an M.A. in Social Thought from New York University (2005). Her research lies at the intersection between urban property, religious life, and philanthropy within the legal regimes of the common law. She has conducted fieldwork in Mumbai, India and Hong Kong with specific focus on the Indian Zoroastrian, or Parsi, community, with generous support from the Wenner-Gren Foundation as well as the American Institute of Indian Studies. Her book manuscript, entitled 'Trust Matters: Religious Endowments, Parsis and Property' focuses on the trust as a mechanism of property and philanthropy in Mumbai.

Abstract: The small traditionally endogamous group of Parsis (Indian Zoroastrians), while a micro-minority of around 50,000 today, are well-known in India for their philanthropic giving. While the center of Parsi communal life remains in the city of Mumbai, the community, through its ties to shipbuilding and the opium and tea trade, has for centuries had a sustained relationship with the China trade and Hong Kong. This paper wishes to show how these trade profits are invested and how old practices of religious giving come to align with newer processes of financialization as religious charity comes to be formalized with the instrument of the trust. Key to this story is the role of urban real estate, which first serves as personal and social equity and then becomes the critical asset in communal preservation.

April 24

Maribel Morey, Andrew Carnegie Fellow and Assistant Professor, History Department, Clemson University

*This workshop is postponed to Fall 2018.

Instructions for Remote Access

You can actively participate in the talk through this option.

Live Stream

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_Res_Wkshp

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:

Go to IU’s Pexip bridge at https://bridge.iu.edu
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).
Enter your name. When you join the conference, your name will display in the roster list
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.
Click join.
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.”
If you have questions or concerns, please call the Video Helpdesk at 812-856-2020.

Downloadable calendar

The Fall Philanthropy Research Workshop calendar in .ics format can be imported to Apple iCal, Google Calendar or Outlook Calendar. View instructions.

Download the Spring 2018 calendar

Philanthropy Research Workshop

Spring 2018 Schedule of Presenters

Spring 2018

January 25

February 20

February 27

March 20

March 27

April 9

April 17

April 24

Instructions for Remote Access

Live Stream

Videoconferencing

Archive

Downloadable calendar