Browsing by Subject "Philanthropy"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Foundations of global giving
    (2011-12) Longhofer, Wesley Adam
    Sociologists have long been interested in the origins of generosity, altruism, and solidarity in society. Similarly, this dissertation examines the global origins of philanthropic activity and its consequences. More specifically, I situate philanthropic and charitable activity in what Boli (2006) has called a global moral order that champions virtue and positions voluntary associations, including foundations and charities, as legitimate moral actors for solving global problems (see also Schofer and Longhofer 2011). I begin by using multilevel modeling techniques to examine the effects of national context on membership in charitable and humanitarian organizations in 35 countries. I find that charitable membership is shaped by connections to world society at the country level and cosmopolitanism at the individual level. The next empirical chapter explores the global origins of philanthropic organizations. Through a statistical analysis of grantmaking foundations in a large number of countries from 1970 to 2005, I suggest that philanthropic activity derives in part from ties to world society and the rationalization of the domestic philanthropic sector through local "bridging" organizations. The final empirical chapter examines the impact foundations have on the social sectors in which they operate. Again adopting a global purview, I find that foundations have a positive impact on promoting arts institutions, improving health outcomes for children, and reducing carbon emissions. I conclude the dissertation with a discussion of what these three studies tell us about world society and the role philanthropic organizations play in its construction and enactment.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Identifying key determinants that influence athletic alumni intent to give financially to intercollegiate athletic department fundraising campaigns.
    (2011-11) Holquist, Gary W.
    National interest surrounding all facets of intercollegiate athletics has reached an all-time high in capturing public attention. Athletics has captured the attention of important outside audiences, especially major donors and annual fund contributors to the university (Coughlin & Erickson, 1984). Government appropriations at the federal, state, and local level directed to institutions of higher education have been declining over the past twenty years (Masterson, 2009). Consequently, colleges and universities are supplementing financial deficiencies by increasingly soliciting gifts and grants from private donors, corporations, and alumni. Donations by alumni are a significant source of revenue for colleges and universities, and their importance promises to grow in the future (Clotfelter, 2001). Financial contributions from alumni have become an increasingly important source of revenue for intercollegiate athletic departments. The ability to secure monetary donations to intercollegiate athletics has become an integral part of maintaining and building successful athletic programs. This study contributes to the literature in higher education by examining characteristics and motivations of the donating behaviors of intercollegiate athletic alumni from a comprehensive regional university. The purpose of this study was to identify key determinants that influence athletic alumni intent to give financially to intercollegiate athletic department fundraising campaigns. Those determinants were shaped from six models associated with charitable giving, which include altruistic giving, organizational identification, social identification, economic or utility satisfaction, receiving services, and relationship-marketing. Two significant studies that influenced this research explored developing a donor profile scale for intercollegiate athletics (Strode & Fink, 2009) and examined factors impacting athlete alumni donating to their alma mater (O‟Neil & Schenke, 2007). The work of Mann (2007) also provided an excellent framework for theoretical or model perspectives for understanding donor motives by applying his philosophies in studying collegiate athletic alumni financial giving. A survey questionnaire collected data from 122 athletic alumni who graduated within a 50-year span of time, from 1960 to 2010. The response rate was 30.5 percent for athletic alumni surveyed. In the instrument, there were demographic questions and questions pertaining to trends, attitudes, opinions, experiences, motives, and identification of why the athletic alumni participant in the survey gave or did not give financially to intercollegiate athletic department fundraising campaigns. Descriptive statistics using one-way ANOVA and Chi-Square measures were analyzed to identify key determinants shaped from six models associated with charitable giving, exploring athletic alumni financial giving levels to the athletic department for the most recent tax year and total lifetime. Demographic variables were also analyzed. To encourage athletic alumni to give financially to fundraising campaigns, this study identified a number of initiatives that can be implemented by the athletic department. Results suggest that these initiatives should be derived from the charitable giving models of altruistic giving, organizational identification, social identification, economic or utility satisfaction, and relationship-marketing strategies. The information obtained in this study can assist in predicting donor behavior and developing actions that will increase the effectiveness of development campaigns for intercollegiate athletic departments.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Interview with James Shannon
    (University of Minnesota, 1995-12-20) Shannon, James; Chambers, Clarke A.
    Clarke A. Chambers interviews James Shannon, graduate of the University. Shannon discusses his many positions throughout the state of Minnesota that influenced higher education.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Literature of Warning: The State-Private Network, Cultural Patronage, and the Emergence of Foundation Literature during the Cold War
    (2021-02) Niedfeldt, Amanda
    The literature on the cultural Cold War acknowledges that American philanthropic foundations provided funding to various Cold War projects, but does not provide a close analysis of the foundations’ involvement or examine how philanthropies and government agencies coordinated their funding, let alone consider the influence it had on writers and their work. This gap in analysis overlooks the intricacies of the foundations’ relationship with the American state and the role philanthropies played in circulating culture and building artistic networks throughout the Cold War. This dissertation begins to close that gap by examining the establishment of the Berlin Artists-in-Residence program by the Ford Foundation in 1963, focusing on its first two years of writing residences before the program was transferred to the German Academic Exchange Service, which still runs it today. Analyzing the function and influence of foundations within international artistic affairs during the Cold War period establishes that foundation personnel played key roles in connecting government policy to results on the ground. More broadly, this project explores how foundations built artistic networks and institutionalized art with a range of residency programs, grants, and accolades, setting a precedent, which still functions to this day. Analyzing the participation of Ingeborg Bachmann, Walter Höllerer, Witold Gombrowicz, Piers Paul Read, and W.H. Auden in the Berlin program shows that this new arrangement and the work it propelled resulted in mixed consequences for artists, extending prestige and visibility to certain artists and creating complications for others. Close attention to the Berlin projects elucidates how philanthropic foundations and Cold War networks played an essential role in connecting writers, while also allowing for exploration of how those writers utilized the opportunity in pursuit of their own goals. Ultimately, the analysis of writers’ texts illuminates their awareness of how the political-economic environment was working to shape them into suitable public intellectuals for the postwar age. The writers’ attention to and discussion of their artistic, social, and financial predicaments within their work defines a new subgenre of mid-century twentieth literature: foundation literature.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Medicated by the Corporate Soul: Public Relations, Storytelling, and Philanthropy in the Pharmaceutical Industry, 1912-1980
    (2021-12) Klaffke, Lauren
    Over the course of the twentieth century, the pharmaceutical industry evolved into its modern form. Individual pharmaceutical companies formed trade organizations in the early 1900s and experienced exponential growth in the 1930s and onward with the development of lifesaving and life-changing therapeutics. While providing products with immense value, the industry also faced criticism for a variety of practices, from labeling and advertising to pricing and patenting. In the midst of public ire and regulatory threats at various points in its growth, the industry and individual companies developed public relations programming to offset critiques, enter and grow markets, connect with their workforce, and (re)gain favor with the public. Using philanthropy and marketing as lenses into public relations, this dissertation explores public relations efforts through a series of case studies of one of the industry’s major trade organizations, the American Drug Manufacturers’ Association, as well as individual companies, including The Upjohn Company, Parke-Davis, Smith, Kline & French, and Alcon Laboratories. I begin in 1912 and follow the priorities of the ADMA in its first decades. Despite discussions about the need to educate the public about the industry’s work and its story, the ADMA failed to follow-through, leaving this storytelling to individual companies. I then explore how individual companies engaged in storytelling and history crafting through museum work and the creation of art. Finally, I examine industry-level and company-level philanthropy, connecting small philanthropic acts as well as programmatic philanthropy to positioning the industry and offsetting legislation. In this work, I contribute to the historiography of the pharmaceutical industry’s public relations and philanthropy.