Muslim philanthropy: living beyond a Western definition

The commonly used definition of philanthropy used in Western scholarship excludes many Muslim acts of philanthropy. This definition privileges Western scholarly framing of philanthropy, which has been heavily informed by scientific approaches to philanthropy. This article argues that this framing of philanthropy limits our understanding of Muslim philanthropy and should not be privileged over other cultural and religious traditions’ notions of philanthropy. Muslim philanthropy is explored by examining theological and cultural sources in order to point towards a broader conception of philanthropy within an Islamic context. It illustrates the challenges of strict adherence to the Western definition of philanthropy for scholars of Muslim philanthropy. Ultimately, the article suggests a framework that the field of philanthropic studies can use to go beyond its Western-centric definition to be more inclusive of other cultural and faith perspectives, and proposes that Muslim philanthropy should be interpreted as a discursive tradition.

Computational Social Science for Nonprofit Studies: Developing a Toolbox and Knowledge Base for the Field

How can computational social science (CSS) methods be applied in nonprofit and philanthropic studies? This paper summarizes and explains a range of relevant CSS methods from a research design perspective and highlights key applications in our field. We define CSS as a set of computationally intensive empirical methods for data management, concept representation, data analysis, and visualization. What makes the computational methods “social” is that the purpose of using these methods is to serve quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods social science research, such that theorization can have a solid ground. We illustrate the promise of CSS in our field by using it to construct the largest and most comprehensive database of scholarly references in our field, the Knowledge Infrastructure of Nonprofit and Philanthropic Studies (KINPS). Furthermore, we show that through the application of CSS in constructing and analyzing KINPS, we can better understand and facilitate the intellectual growth of our field. We conclude the article with cautions for using CSS and suggestions for future studies implementing CSS and KINPS.

Establishing Fashionthropy: A History And Analysis Of Fashion And Philanthropy’s Convergence

Fashion and philanthropy, both the study and the practice, at times converge. It is at this intersection, conceptualized as the social world of fashionthropy, that this research takes place. A literature review on the history of fashion and philanthropic studies is presented as well as a conceptual framework based on Georg Simmel’s notion of fashion’s dualism and Gates’s view that a binary motive is the best fuel for market- driven philanthropy. This paper then explores concepts of capitalism, social responsibility and social worlds through an interpretivist lens in relation to three Canadian case studies on fashion and philanthropic happenings in Toronto.

Establishing Fashionthropy: A History And Analysis Of Fashion And Philanthropy’s Convergence

Fashion and philanthropy, both the study and the practice, at times converge. It is at this intersection, conceptualized as the social world of fashionthropy, that this research takes place. A literature review on the history of fashion and philanthropic studies is presented as well as a conceptual framework based on Georg Simmel’s notion of fashion’s dualism and Gates’s view that a binary motive is the best fuel for market- driven philanthropy. This paper then explores concepts of capitalism, social responsibility and social worlds through an interpretivist lens in relation to three Canadian case studies on fashion and philanthropic happenings in Toronto.

Mapping NACC Centers: The Past and Future Trajectory of Academic Nonprofit Centers

Nonprofit and philanthropic studies (NPS) as an academic field grew over the past four decades. Academic centers are more flexible entities than traditional academic structures and as such play a central role in the field’s growth. Our study maps members of the Nonprofit Academic Centers Council (NACC) with specific attention on centers’ establishment and development. We survey NACC centers and review archival records to study NPS’s evolution. We find center creation clustered in the period 1999-2003, when a combination of external funding and academic growth created a favorable environment for academic entrepreneurs to establish academic centers. We illustrate two trends over the past decades. Academic centers increasingly emphasized a NPS disciplinary focus, while, in the same period, traditional university structures absorbed several centers. These two trends suggest contrasting narratives emphasizing either the field’s successful institutionalization or these centers’ loss of independence.

Mapping the Field of Nonprofit Management and Philanthropic Studies in Canada: Cross-Country Comparison of Curricular Offerings

This paper provides the most comprehensive mapping to date of the current state of nonprofit management and philanthropic studies (NMPS) education programs in Canada. One of the more significant findings of this study is both the number and types of Canadian NMPS programs offered in the historically French-speaking province of Quebec, versus the predominantly English-speaking parts of the rest of Canada. We hypothesize that differences in the structure of civil society between English- and French-speaking parts of the country may have led to a differentiation in both the number and types of NMPS programs offered in the two regions. Canada is an apparent hybrid of the “welfare partnership” model found in many “continental European” countries, such as France, and the Anglo-Saxon model predominantly found in the United States, the United Kingdom, and some other members of the British Commonwealth. Given this hybridity, we compare the course offerings of French and English-speaking Canadian NMPS programs with those of other member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OCED) employing Esping-Anderson’s regime types as a comparative framework. This comparison reveals no strong correlations between these regime types and the nature of their NMPS curricular offerings. We follow this analysis with a more comprehensive comparison of American and Canadian NMPS education and offer a brief historical overview of the latter. We found significant differences in the NMPS education between these two countries, both qualitative and quantitative. Most significantly, a much larger proportion of Canadian post-secondary education institutions have programs that include at least some NMPS curricula, whereas there is a much larger proportion of programs in American institutions with NMPS as their primary focus. We then conclude by suggesting two potential paths of development lie ahead for Canadian NMPS programs: one follows the current status quo, dispersing programs among many programs and actors, the other sees the establishment of more centres specializing in NMPS education in a few select institutions, and also possible consolidation in programs for which it is a more peripheral concern.

Practicing What You Preach: UK Philanthropy Practitioners’ Experiences of Theoretical Academic Study

Analysis of UK educational provision in philanthropic studies (Carrington, 2009; Keidan et al., 2014; Palmer & Bogdanova, 2008) has demonstrated a need for further provision of philanthropy education for the UK sector. Taking its lead from debates around the role of academic theory in this growing field of study, this project aims to determine how theoretical (rather than practical) master’s-level study of philanthropy is understood and perceived by those working in the philanthropy, charity and fundraising sectors. Using a qualitative case study, this paper will present and discuss three key themes emergent from the data. These are: the ethical soup philanthropy practitioners experience as a result of reflection on their practice, the trickle effect of how literature and theory is shared around their networks, and the interdisciplinarity problem whereby the teaching of philanthropic theory from multiple disciplines can make application of the theory to practice difficult. The paper will conclude with some suggestions of what theory in the academy can contribute to practitioner skills in the philanthropy sector, including both strengths and some limitations.

Computational social science for nonprofit studies: Developing a toolbox and database for the field

How can computational social science (CSS) methods be applied in nonprofit and philanthropic studies? This paper summarizes and explains a range of relevant CSS methods, and highlights key applications in our field. Based on a typical design of empirical social science research, we define CSS as a set of computationally intensive empirical methods for data organization, concept representation, data analysis, and visualization. What makes the computational methods “social” is that the purpose of using these methods is to serve empirical social science research, such that theorization can have a solid ground. We illustrate the promise of CSS in our field by using it to construct the largest and most comprehensive database of scholarly references in our field so far, the Knowledge Infrastructure of Nonprofit and Philanthropic Studies (KINPS). Furthermore, we show that through the application of CSS in the analyses of the KINPS, our field’s knowledge and knowledge producing activities can be advanced, which is a core requisite for the development of our field as a discipline. We conclude the article with cautions for using CSS and suggestions for future research directions implementing CSS and the KINPS.

The Role of Philanthropic Studies in Equipping Students to Articulate their Personal and Vocational Purpose

Positioned within the larger discussion regarding the outcomes of a liberal arts education, this qualitative study examined Philanthropic Studies undergraduates’ articulation of purpose. Fifteen majors participated in this grounded theory study, providing insight into the student experience in this new, liberal arts discipline. Findings are expressed in a theoretical framework showing how most students’ articulation of purpose successfully evolved to include and integrate personal and vocational aims. Most of the Philanthropic Studies students held a strong, values-based orientation that underscored their experiences and perspective but was not enough to assure a confident vocational purpose on its own. The framework aligns and complements theories of student development and illuminates a number of personal and programmatic factors that facilitated or hampered the students’ progression. The study suggests that liberal arts-based curricula can do well with a holistic approach that attends closely not just to students’ academic achievements but also to their sense of personal purpose, career interests and vocational concerns, while using experiential learning strategies in generous measure.