Arnaud Cartwright Marts was successful over a long career in the mainstream of American life in the first half of the twentieth century. Although best known as a professional fund-raiser and co-founder of one of the largest professional consulting firms, he was president of Bucknell University from 1935 to 1945, a lecturer, and an author. This book gathers together the experiences and observations of over thirty years in the field of fund-raising. First published in 1953, it remains an exemplary statement of American capitalism as an ideology of obligation and the special place of foundations in expanding equity in society. The aim of philanthropy, in Mart's view, is to advance progress toward higher levels of well-being for all through the spirit of private obligation and voluntarism, concepts he locates specifically in the Judeo-Christian tradition and American political freedom and the free-enterprise system. The interaction of these concepts has borne fruit in America's colleges, cultural institutions, libraries, and hospitals, institutions that foster universal opportunity and individual initiative. Of particular importance in Marts's view of philanthropy is the role of the foundation and corporate support in promoting large-scale efforts in the direction of educational, scientific, and social progress. This volume is of value as a practical and ethical guide for the professional fund-raiser. Marts makes clear that the fund-raising specialist's expertise is, in part, technical, based on hard experience in working with volunteers, in planning and organizing campaigns, and in advising chief executives and members of boards, but he is firm in his belief that the ultimate purpose in any campaign is the cause to be served. The new introduction to this edition by Robert L. Payton offers a vivid biographical sketch of Arnaud C. Marts, situates his thought in its time and place, and analyzes differing conceptions of social progress between Marts's era and our own. It is of enduring value for fund-raising professionals, and social historians, and students of conservative thought.

This book discusses a series of related but independent challenges faced by philanthropic foundations, drawing on international, contemporary and historical data. Throughout the world, private philanthropic foundations spend huge sums of money for public good while the media, policy-makers and the public have little understanding of what they do and why. Diana Leat considers the following questions: Are philanthropic foundations more than warehouses of wealth? Where does foundation money come from, and is there a tension between a foundation’s ongoing sources of income and its pursuit of public good? How are foundations regulated and held accountable in society? Is there any evidence that foundations are effective in what they do? Is it possible to have too much philanthropy? In posing these questions, the book explores some of the key tensions in how foundations work, and their place in democratic societies.

Fundraising

"Foundations are socially and politically significant, but this simple fact... has mostly been ignored by students of American history.... This collection represents an important contribution to an emerging field." -- Kenneth Prewitt, Social Science Research Council

“A fine volume on the moral meaning and function of philanthropy…makes the case that philanthropy is essential to democratic society.”—Choice Philanthropy has existed in various forms in all cultures and civilizations throughout history, yet most people know little about it and its distinctive place in our lives. Why does philanthropy exist? Why do people so often turn to philanthropy when we want to make the world a better place? In essence, what is philanthropy? These fundamental questions are tackled in this engaging and original book. Written by one of the founding figures in the field of philanthropic studies, Robert L. Payton, and his former student sociologist Michael P. Moody, Understanding Philanthropy presents a new way of thinking about the meaning and mission of philanthropy. Weaving together accessible theoretical explanations with fascinating examples of philanthropic action, this book advances key scholarly debates about philanthropy and offers practitioners a way of explaining the rationale for their nonprofit efforts.

When disaster strikes, our instinctive response is to make things better, not only as individuals but also as groups, organisations, communities and major institutions within society. With increasing climate-related disasters and the potential for future global pandemics, philanthropy will continue to play an essential role. Yet our knowledge of how philanthropic responses to disasters are motivated, organised and received is fragmented. This book is a step toward curating our existing knowledge in the emerging field of ‘disaster philanthropy’ and to building a robust base for future research, practice and public policy. The authors highlight unknowns and ambiguities, extensions and unexplored spaces, and challenges and paradoxes. Above all, they recognise that philanthropic responses to disasters are complex, conditional and subject to change.

“Offers . . . a clearer insight into the scope and function of philanthropy in political and private life and the impacts that women writers and activists had.” —Edith Wharton Review From the mid-nineteenth century until the rise of the modern welfare state in the early twentieth century, Anglo-American philanthropic giving gained an unprecedented measure of cultural authority as it changed in kind and degree. Civil society took on the responsibility for confronting the adverse effects of industrialism, and transnational discussions of poverty, urbanization, and women’s work, and sympathy provided a means of understanding and debating social reform. While philanthropic institutions left a transactional record of money and materials, philanthropic discourse yielded a rich corpus of writing that represented, rationalized, and shaped these rapidly industrializing societies, drawing on and informing other modernizing discourses including religion, economics, and social science. Showing the fundamentally transatlantic nature of this discourse from 1850 to 1920, the authors gather a wide variety of literary sources that crossed national and colonial borders within the Anglo-American range of influence. Through manifestos, fundraising tracts, novels, letters, and pamphlets, they piece together the intellectual world where philanthropists reasoned through their efforts and redefined the public sector.

In a readable, coherent, and succinct account, Kiger surveys the changes that have taken place in U.S. foundations in the 20th century and describes our foundations as they exist today. Opening with historical information on the emergence of large foundations at the beginning of the century, the book discusses the major characteristics of foundations, emphasizing that they are organized to give away rather than make money, and identifies and discusses the major changes since 1950. In considering those changes, the book considers such topics as growth and expansion, diversification in the makeup of trustees and staff, and governmental oversight and supervision. In the increasing movement of foundations into the international sphere, the book covers their international activities and the formation and operation of international centers and groups associated with them. Phlanthropic Foundations in the Twentieth Century provides a useful overview of the growth, development, and operation of foundations.

Who are the new philanthropists? And how is their philanthropy 'new'? In this remarkable and inspiring book, the eminent management writer Charles Handy and his wife Elizabeth, a portrait photographer, have collaborated to portray a new generation of practical philanthropists, men and women who have made their own fortunes and decided to move on from financial success to try to help those in need. They are doing so not simply by giving their money away to charities and agencies but by helping actively, working on the spot with the very people who need their aid, ensuring that the initiatives are sustainable in the longer term. As in their acclaimed The New Alchemists, the Handys have both interviewed and photographed their subjects in order to tell their inspiring stories; from the Sydney restaurateur Jeff Gambin, who personally helps to cook hot and cold menus for homeless people; to Niall Mellon, a young Irish property developer who is replacing the shacks with breeze-block homes in a South African township; and Sara Davenport, who sold her art gallery and set up the breast-cancer care centre the Haven Trust to offer integrated and holistic treatment and support. This striking book of words and photographs reveals the energy and inspiration of these new ways of using wealth, revealing the motivations and satisfactions of such direct action.