What Can History Contribute to Nonprofit Education?

The field of nonprofit studies and teaching has grown significantly over the past 40 years and is increasingly adopting a cross-disciplinary perspective. However, until recently, history has been largely absent from the curriculum. This paper attempts to redress the imbalance. While acknowledging that the past cannot provide a ready-made template for the future, it argues that history is essential for our understanding of the way in which the nonprofit sector has developed and can provide lessons for future courses of action, as well as helping to reconnect voluntary organisations to their founding values and missions. The paper draws on a range of examples from the history of the sector in the UK and the experience gathered by the author in teaching a history of philanthropy module to students on the charity master’s programme at the Business School (formerly Cass), City, University of London.

Modern Study of Philanthropy in Russia: Historical and Legal and Humanitarian Aspects

An attempt to comprehend the main fields of study of various aspects of philanthropy in the Russian Empire at the end of the 19th – early 20th centuries is presented in this article. The aggregate of sources considered on this topic can be conditionally divided into two large groups: the first group – modern domestic publications of both a monographic and a periodic nature; the second group – the English-language historiography presented by university editions. The article provides an overview of various approaches to the history of philanthropy in the latest specialized scientific journals. The methodology of the article is based on a comparative chronological analysis of numerous publications on the theme of philanthropy in the Russian Empire, as well as the principles of objectivity and historicism.

Charity and Philanthropy

This chapter traces the history of philanthropy and shows the extent to which it is woven into the very fabric of the American entrepreneurial experiment. In order to understand philanthropy as a viable system for recycling wealth and creating opportunity, it is worth probing the dynamics that have sustained philanthropic giving and the conditions under which it has prospered and wavered. After providing a historical background on philanthropy in the United States, the chapter considers the Giving Pledge, an idea put forth by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett that commits billionaires to give away one-half of their wealth in their lifetimes. It then looks at the origins of American generosity, along with volunteerism, associations, and self-reliance. It also discusses mass philanthropy, the welfare state and the persistence of philanthropy, political philanthropy, and the rationale behind philanthropy and charity.