Philanthropy: Historical and Contemporary Approaches
Why does nonprofit sector exist? Which is more ethical: supporting homeless families or animals? Is there a shared understanding of “civil society” across the globe? In general, what is “philanthropy”?
This course helps you understand what philanthropy is through three course components. 1) Theories of nonprofit and philanthropy provide foundational knowledge about why nonprofit organizations exist and their relations with business and government sectors. 2) Through fieldwork and essay, you will analyze three cases of philanthropy. 3) The dialogue with practitioners will invite nonprofits to present in class and discussion their works. At the end of the course, you will be able to:
Understand and explain what philanthropy is.
Understand ethics and values supporting philanthropy, and apply these values to moral decisions.
Understand the challenges and opportunities to contemporary nonprofits.
Have an international perspective towards the development and roles of nonprofit and philanthropic organizations.
Readings: No required textbooks for this class. The course is supported by readings compiled from two major sources: 1) Academic-oriented journal articles and books: help you understand the theory, and 2) Practice-oriented articles, e.g., articles from Stanford Social Innovation Review, Nonprofit Quarterly, and Chronicle of Philanthropy: help you reflect on practice.
Tentative readings by week can be found here: http://jima.me/?page_id=547
Grading: analysis of readings (30%), plagiarism test (10%), three essays (30%) and three peer review reports (30%).