"Contemporary Gospels of Wealth: Narratives of Power and Responsibility."
Paul G. Schervish. Advancing Philanthropy: Journal of the National Society of Fund Raising Executives 1, no. 1 (Fall 1993): 26-29.
The number of millionaires in the United States could triple within the next 20 years, as wealth is transferred from the aging wealthy to their children. What can fundraisers expect when they knock on the door of tomorrow's donors? A researcher on philanthropy and wealth discusses six factors that encourage a charitable commitment in the next generation.
"Does Generosity Run in the Family?"
Paul G. Schervish. Advancing Philanthropy: Journal of the National Society of Fund Raising Executives 1, no. 1 (Fall 1993): 26-29.
The number of millionaires in the United States could triple within the next 20 years, as wealth is transferred from the aging wealthy to their children. What can fund raisers expect when they knock on the doors of tomorrow's donors? A researcher on philanthropy and wealth discusses six factors that encourage a charitable commitment in the next generation.
"Gifts and Bequests: Family or Philanthropic Organizations?"
Paul G. Schervish and John J. Havens. In Alicia Munnell and Annika Sunden, (eds.), Death and Dollars, Brookings Press, 2003.
This paper presents an alternative paradigm to economic models of transfers, one which we have developed from our extensive ethnographic and survey research on charitable giving and which we call the identification theory. The identification theory suggests that it is self-identification with others and with the needs of others, (rather than selflessness) that motivates transfers to individuals and to philanthropic organizations and that leads givers to derive satisfaction from fulfilling those needs. The allocation of transfers to family and philanthropy, we have found, is not so much a division between individuals and philanthropic organizations, as it is an allocation of transfers across an array of perceived needs, which combines both the needs of individuals, including family and friends, and needs served by philanthropic organizations. Moreover, the allocation is less a single conscious decision than a process imbedded in daily life experiences.
"Passing It On: The Generational Transmission of Wealth and Financial Care."
Paul G. Schervish. In Care and Community in Modern Society: Passing on the Tradition of Service to Future Generations, edited by Paul G. Schervish, Virginia A. Hodgkinson, and Margaret Gates. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1995. 109-133.
During the course of our interviews with 130 millionaires, respondents frequently addressed their intention to pass on to their children a sense of financial care along with a financial inheritance. This essay describes four aspects of the generational transmittal of financial care that parents cited in the course of their interviews. By way of conclusion, I summarize the factors that appear to influence the transfer of financial morality by wealthy parents and indicate general implications for the generational transmittal of care.
