"The Sense and Sensibility of Philanthropy as a Moral Citizenship
of Care."
Paul G. Schervish, (2005) Good Intentions: Moral Obstacles and Opportunities,
David H. Smith (editor) Indiana University Press.
The leading question of this paper is how to understand the moral dimensions
of philanthropy as a spiritual sense and sensibility. The purpose is to elaborate
a modestly integrated analysis of several aspects of philanthropy that make
it a morally oriented behavior in the lives of donors.
"The Sense and Sensibility of Religion: Retrieving Spiritual
Experience as an Authentic Sociological Variable."
Paul G. Schervish. Presented at a joint session of the American Sociological
Association and the Association for the Study of Religion, session on "New Theoretical
Directions in the Sociology of Religion", New York, NY, Aug. 15-20, 1996.
In this paper, I seek to transcend the Enlightenment treatment of religion.
My goal is to return spiritual experience to its rightful place as an authentic
cause and consequence in the unfolding of what Anthony Giddens calls the duality
of structure. Drawing on 60 intensive interviews with a broad range of people
in the Boston Metropolitan area about their Christmas experiences, I tender
a dialectical retrieval of spiritual experience as an authentic sociological
variable.
"Social Participation and Charitable Giving: A Multivariate Analysis."
Paul G. Schervish and John J. Havens. Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary
and Nonprofit Organizations 8, no. 3 (1997): 235-260.
This paper develops and
empirically tests a causal model of the determinants of individual charitable
giving. Although our analysis is in reference to charitable giving, the model
also appears directly applicable, at least as a starting point, for research
on volunteering. This paper reports on the researchers' continuing efforts to
develop and test a multivariate causal model of the social, demographic, economic,
and motivational determinants of individual charitable giving.
"The Sound of One Hand Clapping: The Case For and Against Anonymous Giving."
Paul G. Schervish. Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit
Organizations 5, no. 1 (1994): 1-26.
The paper draws on intensive interviews
with 130 millionaires to explore the case for and against anonymous giving,
to indicate a number of key findings about anonymous giving among the wealthy,
and to describe the potential of anonymous giving to raise both the level of
care and control in philanthropic relationships.
"The Spiritual Horizon of Philanthropy: New Directions for
Money and Motives."
Paul G. Schervish. Published in New Directions in Philanthropic Fundraising.
Understanding the Needs of Donors: The Supply-Side of Charitable Giving. Edited
by Eugene R. Tempel and Dwight F. Burlingame. Number 29, fall 2000, pp. 17-31.
In the first essay, I discussed the general difference between a demand-side
and supply-side analysis of philanthropy, the current patterns of charitable
giving, estimates of the forthcoming wealth transfer, projections for charitable
giving, and why we can expect a greater supply of financial resources for charity.
Here in the second essay, I discuss the spiritual side of the supply side and
draw out implications for tax policy and fundraising that derive from the analysis
in the two essays.
"The Spiritual Secret of Wealth: The Inner Dynamics by which Fortune
Engenders Care.”
Paul G. Schervish, with Mary A. O’Herlihy and John J. Havens. In Taking
Fundraising Seriously: The Spirit of Faith and Philanthropy, edited by
Dwight F. Burlingame. Vol. 35, pp.23-40. Spring 2002.
In this paper we draw on our intensive interviews with wealth holders in order
to portray how the broader range of capacity and choice wrought by financial
wherewithal can, under certain conditions, lead to deeper dispositions and directions
of care. Certainly, the very same range of capacity and choice can lead to an
opposite inclination to self-indulgence, moral quietude, and even social turpitude.
The potential for wealth to reflect and produce depravity is a common concern
and, despite its stark reality, does not need to be rehearsed here. As such,
it is the former positive tendency, rather than the latter negative trajectory
of wealth, that is the topic of this paper.
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"The State of Estates: Current Trends and New Thinking on the Meaning, Measurement, and Allocation of Financial Resources in the Light of Death and Taxes."
Paul G. Schervish, John J. Havens, Thomas B. Murphy, and Scott C. Fithian. Presented
at the 1998 annual meeting of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations
and Voluntary Action, Seattle, Nov. 5-7, 1998.
This panel discusses a shift
in the terrain of study on the relationship between financial status and charitable
giving. In writing this paper, the authors are pursuing a unique collaborative
approach. The authors are, respectively, a sociologist, a specialist in values-based
estate planning, an economist, and a foundation trustee who is an actuary and
entrepreneur.
"St. Louis Metropolitan Area Wealth Transfer Estimates: 2001-2055."
Issued by the Gateway to Giving Coalition and based on a study prepared John
J. Havens and Paul G. Schervish. November, 2004.
The Center on Wealth and Philanthropy has developed and tested a new methodology that enables the estimation of the transfer of personal wealth from 2001 through 2055 for states and large metropolitan areas. Analogous to its national estimate of $41 trillion of wealth transfer, the state and metropolitan area estimates are developed by microsimulation for 2% low growth, 3% medium growth, and 4% high growth scenarios. Like their national counterpart, the state and metropolitan area estimates are derived from an expanded and updated 2004 Wealth Transfer Microsimulation Model (WTMM) developed and housed at the Center. Using 10-year intervals the expanded model estimates the number and value of final estates (i.e., estates without a surviving spouse) and their distribution among estate fees, charitable bequests, estate taxes, and heirs - all cross-tabulated by categories of net worth of the final estates. The expanded model also estimates the number of millionaires spawned from the 2001 population and the value of their wealth at the end of each reporting decade. At the invitation of the St. Louis Metropolitan Association for Philanthropy, the Center recently applied this localized method to the St. Louis area. The technical background and published reports are available for download.
Download Technical Background Report
"Social Participation and Charitable Giving Revisited:
Replication of a Multivariate Analysis."
Paul G. Schervish, Platon E. Coutsoukis, and John J. Havens. October
20, 1998.
Two years ago, we empirically examined empirically a multiple-cluster, multivariate
theory of philanthropy developed by the first author (Schervish and Havens,
1996). We based this analysis on the 1992 national Survey of Giving and Volunteering
(SGV) conducted by the Gallup Organization for the Independent Sector. In the
present paper, we replicate our empirical analysis using two newer data sets:
the 1996 national General Social Survey (GSS) conducted by the National Opinion
Research Center and the 1994-95 national Harvard Survey of Health and Life Quality
(HSHLQ) conducted by DataStat for the MacArthur Foundation. These additional
surveys allow us to investigate whether we can obtain broad support for our
initial findings, despite the differences in focus and the specific questions
asked, among all the surveys.
