"Wealth Transfer on Track?"
US fundraising experts vet nationally-utilized wealth transfer projections by BC's Center on Wealth and Philanthropy in light of the economic downturn early in the decade. Center on Wealthy and Philanthropy researchers Paul Schervish and John Havens add their assessment.
Wealth Transfer: A Digest of Opinion and Advice (PDF)
National Influence, Local Connection (PDF)
"Washington DC Wealth Transfer Study"
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.
The authors of this study have used a version of their Wealth Transfer Microsimulation Model (WTMM) specially calibrated to the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area to derive findings concerning the level and distribution of household wealth, the amount and distribution of wealth transfer, and the amount and distribution of charitable giving in Washington, DC.
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"Leaving a Legacy of Care."
A long-held view has been that the only reason the wealthy left money to charity was to escape the estate tax; remove the tax, and charitable bequests would plummet. Boston College's Center on Wealth and Philanthropy disputed these predictions, and our research indicates that as people become more financially secure, incentives more powerful than taxes incline them to support charity and to limit their bequests to heirs.
Paul G. Schervish, John Havens, and Albert Keith Whitaker. Philanthropy. Vol. 20, no. 1. pp. 11-13. January/February 2006.
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"The Moral Biography of Wealth: Philosophical Reflections on the Foundation of Philanthropy."
Moral biography refers to the way all individuals conscientiously combine two elements in daily life: personal capacity and moral compass. Exploring the moral biography of wealth highlights the philosophical foundations of major gifts by major donors. First, the author provides several examples to elucidate his definition of moral biography. Second, he elaborates the elements of a moral biography. Third, he describes the characteristics that make one's moral biography a spiritual or religious biography. Fourth, he discusses the distinctive characteristics of a moral biography of wealth. Fifth, he suggests that implementing a process of discernment will enable development professionals to work more productively with donors. The author concludes by placing the notion of a moral biography of wealth in historical context and suggests how advancement professionals can deepen their own moral biography by working to deepen the moral biography of their donors.
Paul G. Schervish. Published in Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly. Volume 35, No. 3, pp. 477-492. September 2006.
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"Wealth and Giving by the Numbers."
How do individuals of means make decisions about how to allocate their wealth? what are their priorities in philanthropy? What obstacles do the face, and where could they use help? These are among the questions that the Wealth & Giving Forum has sought to answer in a series of interactive surveys conducted at their gatherings. The findings below are based on a survey of participants at the Forum's inaugural gathering in October 2004.
Paul Schervish and András Szántó. Published in Reflections: Excerpts from Wealth & Giving Forum Gatherings, Issue 2, pp. 31-49. Fall 2006.
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"Charitable Giving: How Much, By Whom, To What, and Why."
Four aspects of charitable giving are discussed in this chapter: how much is given in total; the patterns of giving broken down by demographic and behavioral characteristics; how much is given to various areas of need; and how donors are giving, that is, through outright cash gifts, or through more formal and strategic methods.
Paul G. Schervish, John J. Havens and Mary A. O'Herlihy. The Nonprofit Sector: A Research Handbook, Second Edition. Walter W. Powell and Richard Steinberg (eds.) Yale University Presss. 2006.
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"Philanthropy's Janus-Faced Potential: The Dialectic of Care and Negligence Donors Face."
Wealth-holders are capable of both extraordinary care and extraordinary carelessness in carrying out their philanthropy. This Janus-faced potential of philanthropy is explored as the dialectic of care and impairment, negligence, or dominion. This chapter explores this dialectic, drawing on intensive interviews with wealth-holders about their lives and philanthropy.
Paul G. Schervish. Published in Taking Philanthropy Seriously: Beyond Noble Intentions to Responsible Giving. Edited by William Damon and Susan Verducci. Indiana University Press, 2006.
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