The boston college center on wealth and philanthropy là gì năm 2024

Havens, John J., and Paul G. Schervish. “Center on Wealth and Philanthropy charitable giving indices”, Chestnut Hill, Mass.: Center on Wealth and Philanthropy, Boston College, May 20, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:104120.

Subscribe to PND newsletters and alerts

Please provide a valid e-mail address.

Unable to update subscription. please try again later.

To subscribe, select any of the newsletters listed below.

• Philanthropy News Digest
• RFP Bulletin
• Job Bulletin
• PND Connections

Register to receive daily content alerts.

Page 1. Voluntas [voluntas] pp434-369935 March 5, 2002 9:35 Style file version Nov. 19th, 1999 Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations Vol. 13, No. 1, March 2002 ( C o 2002) The Boston Area Diary Study and...

Page 1. Voluntas [voluntas] pp434-369935 March 5, 2002 9:35 Style file version Nov. 19th, 1999 Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations Vol. 13, No. 1, March 2002 ( C o 2002) The Boston Area Diary Study and the Moral Citizenship of Care1 ...

Some organizations are so quirky and reflective of a particular sensibility that they are unsustainable when the leaders decide they are done. In this case, Paul Schervish, the director of Boston College’s Center on Wealth and Philanthropy, and John Havens, its associate director, are planning on retiring and the Center will retire along with them.

Since the ’70s, Boston College’s Center on Wealth and Philanthropy has been one of the country’s most well known academic centers on philanthropy. Its bailiwick since Schervish has led it has included the study of motivations for giving as well as the transfer of wealth. It is also, evidently, a very personal endeavor.

Schervish is a former Jesuit priest who has studied literature, sociology, and theology, while Havens has a background in economics and mathematics. This has led to a unique approach to the study of giving, often focused on ethics and motivation mixed with statistical models.

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

“We have a special chemistry, and that’s led to a unique working relationship,” Havens said.

Schervish, who is currently on sabbatical, said he did not want the Center “to become something different” under new leadership. “We always focused on spiritual context, and our statistical work was always the foundation for a moral question: How can you use your wealth for deeper purposes when you no longer need to achieve a higher standard of living?”

Schervish admits that he wants to write no more grants—he is tired of the never-ending search for funding—but, “If somebody comes along and tempts us with a grant in the next few months, we would ask permission to keep the Center going for as long as it would take to complete that research.”

“It would need to be really up our alley and a thrill to do,” he said, “but we don’t anticipate anything like that happening because we’re not searching for it.”—Ruth McCambridge

About the author

Ruth McCambridge

Ruth is Editor Emerita of the Nonprofit Quarterly. Her background includes forty-five years of experience in nonprofits, primarily in organizations that mix grassroots community work with policy change. Beginning in the mid-1980s, Ruth spent a decade at the Boston Foundation, developing and implementing capacity building programs and advocating for grantmaking attention to constituent involvement.

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Founded in 1970 and long considered an authority on the charitable giving of the very rich, the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy at Boston College is preparing to close as early as this summer, the Boston Globe reports.

Director Paul Schervish and Senior Associate Director John Havens, who have led the multidisciplinary research center for the past three decades, are planning to retire, and neither is interested in continuing to do the fundraising necessary to keep the center going. They also told the Globe it would be difficult to replicate the academic partnership created by their distinctive blend of expertise — Schervish, a former Jesuit priest, has a background in literature, sociology, and theology, while Havens' training is in economics, mathematics, and physics. So, with the consent of Boston College administrators, the two have decided to close the center's doors once they wrap up their current projects.

Schervish, who is on sabbatical through June, has been appointed a visiting research fellow at Duke University; he will give up his professorship at Boston College at the end of the year. "I did not want it to become something different" under new leadership, he told the Globe, referring to the center's work, which includes rigorous analysis of charitable giving trends as well as research on what Schervish calls "the softer side" of philanthropy, including the ethical dimensions of wealth and privilege.

In 2006, the center published a paper (4 pages, PDF) challenging long-held beliefs that the main reason wealthy people leave money to charity is to avoid estate taxes and that charitable bequests would plummet if estate taxes were eliminated. On the contrary, Schervish and Havens found, the wealthiest Americans, once they've achieved financial security, tend to give to charity for more altruistic reasons. "We always focused on spiritual context," said Schervish, "and our statistical work was always the foundation for a moral question: How can you use your wealth for deeper purposes when you no longer need to achieve a higher standard of living?"

"For many years, Paul Schervish has brought valuable empirical data to public discussions about philanthropy in America," said Caitrin Nicol Keiper, editor of Philanthropy magazine, "[and he] has sharply questioned the stereotypes about how, when, and why people give."