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May 11, 2008

First Ph.D. in Philanthropic Studies Is Awarded

The United States may lead the world in charitable fund raising and philanthropy, but the country’s first Doctor of Philanthropic Studies, who graduated today in Indianapolis, is Chinese.

Yue (Jen) Shang, a native of Beijing, studied for her Ph.D. in Philanthropic Studies at Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy, where she will soon join the faculty and help teach fund raisers and other nonprofit officials about donor behavior and other topics.

Ms. Shang, who wrote her dissertation to shed light on why donors give, plans to return to China and conduct research on the psychological underpinnings of philanthropy there.

Ms. Shang was joined in the ceremonies by three fellow students who are expected to finish requirements for their philanthropic studies doctorates this summer. Altogether, 31 students have been admitted to the Ph.D. program, which prepares students to teach and conduct research in philanthropy.

Ms. Shang is one of 10 foreign students in the Ph.D. program, which began in 2004. The other students are from China, Taiwan, Ghana, Germany, Japan, Latvia, South Korea, and United Arab Emirates.

Perhaps the philanthropic studies degree will help promote the spread of civil society to other parts of the globe. What do you think?

—Holly Hall

Sunday May 11, 2008 | Permalink

Comments

1. Just what the “profession” needs — another “credentialled” armchair theorist. I’m sure Ms. Shang is a wonderful, warm-hearted well-intentioned person. But she hails from a country with no tradition of philanthropy as we know it, and is going to go straight from a seat in the classroom to the front of the class. We already have an abundance of self-styled experts who stand behind podiums and dispense useless, impractical advice gleaned from misinterpreations of ill-constructed surveys and studies based on incorrect assumptions. In 30 years, I’ve heard only a handful of speakers whose actual track records matched the quality of their presentation skills. They all know PowerPoint, though; I’ll give them that.

   Sorry, folks, no sale.

   — Jeff Steele    May 11, 04:05 PM    #

2. Jeff, in the spirit of scholarly peers, your comments were unwarranted. I have worked in non-profits for over 12 yrs and since she is returning to her native land, which does not have a history of Philanthropy, then she is in the right place with the right terminal degree. China is fertile land for fundraising.

   — current phd student in HI ED    May 11, 04:57 PM    #

3. Jeff got his degree from the School of Hard Knocks, alright? He don’t put much stock in book learnin or your fancy-pants theories, okay Mr. Fancy Pants guy?

   — Neesh    May 11, 09:55 PM    #

4. Neesh, your thoughtful critique has opened my eyes to the error of my ways. What was I thinking?

   No doubt, your alma mater is bursting with pride at having spawned such an articulate alum.

   — Jeff Steele    May 11, 11:51 PM    #

5. I write to thank the Chronicle for this article and to thank all of those who have commented for expressing an interest in the first PhD in the School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI.

   Please be assured that Dr. Shang received her degree from the School of Liberal Arts; the Center on Philanthropy, one of the jewels of the School, does not and cannot award degrees. Indeed, the curriculum in Philanthropic Studies is rooted in the liberal arts tradition. At the same time, students draw on internships and civic engagement experiences. As a result, those graduating with a PhD in Philanthropic Studies from the School of Liberal Arts have a degree that is both theoretically based and draws on applied experiences.

   Sincerely,
   Robert White
   Dean, IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI

   — Robert W. White    May 12, 09:39 AM    #

6. I thought Jeff might be interested to know that Dr Shang’s thesis was conducted in the realm of public radio, where the ‘ill constructed’ surveys he speaks of assisted 10 stations to increase giving to their on-air and direct mail fundraising by an average of 10%. By implementing the results of her most recent work on social identity, her partner station in that case was able to increase the value of donations by 34%. Yes, in academia we unashamedly draw on theory, but all too often the profession assumes it has nothing to learn from this work. The practical efforts of Dr Shang and others shows that this is patently not the case.

   Adrian Sargeant
   Robert F Hartsook Professor of Fundraising, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University.

   — Adrian Sargeant    May 12, 12:47 PM    #

7. Actually, a quick check of the Dissertation Abstracts database indicates there are many dissertations with the word “philanthropy” in their title, it’s just many have been done in related areas like sociology. My field of communications went through a similar period, where early work in media studies was done in graduate programs in related fields such as psychology. The formalization of the titling is a real indication that the field has matured as an academic discipline.

   — Joseph Borrell    May 12, 01:00 PM    #

8. I dont know Jeff but there is no reason to beat him up. His comments were well intended and not really off base. There are many of us out here in the trenches day in and day out rasing lots of money and doing good works. The field itslef has not caught up with itself in terms of edcuation and credtials. That was the beauty of the Indainna program and otehrs like it when it first opened. If we are honest, we have all fallen prey to speakers like Jeff described who want to spout stats and “how-to” info but have not lived a day in the trenches or rasied a dime in many many years. The field needs a balance of both and as time goes on more terminal degrees will be awarded. Hopefully as this happens those eraning their degrees will remember that know fundraiser ever perfected their craft in a clasroom. Certainaly you can learn skills that will enable you to be a better practioner but fundraising is realtionship building and that is as much if not more art than it is theory. I think the student who responded earlier in this thread represented themselves and their institution in less than a positive light for really no real reason excepet they were not open to the diverity of thought that Jeff proposed which is really what a terminal degree is suppoed to offer you to begin with.

   — robert watts    May 12, 09:35 PM    #

9. I don’t entirely buy the art/science debate. Taking direct marketing out of the equation, where the science is very much an issue; yes, in face-to-face contexts fundraisers need to have good communication skills, empathy, etc. but…

   I think every competent fundraiser should also know key facts such as:

   1. The three key drivers of donor loyalty.

   2. A content and a process model of donor behavior – otherwise they will miss oportunities to make the big gains in response I alluded to above.

   3. The relationship between perceptions of the dimensions of brand personality and individual giving behavior. i.e. the aspects of a brand that drive giving

   4. The key drivers of donor commitment to an organization and why this matters.

   5. Ditto for the drivers of trust in a nonprofit.

   6. The characteristics of effective fundraising websites.

   etc

   etc.

   Would you want to employ someone who didn’t know these things? There is a wealth of knowledge out there that should be informing professional practice and would make a genuine difference if it did. I concur that we do need more first rate professionals to share their wisdom, but we also need a lot more academics steeped in this body of knowledge and able to communicate it to those organizations where it will make a difference. This is a desperately needed skill. Sadly, fundraising as a profession is still where marketing was 30 years ago. It has yet to ringfence an appropriate body of knowledge and importantly, to value it when it does. In the 1970s the notion of a qualification in marketing was anathema to most of the profession and all that was valued was an individual’s ‘war stories’ of past experience. The marketing profession came of age, so must we.

   — Adrian Sargeant    May 13, 03:15 PM    #

10. I am an in-the-trenches fundraising practitioner (10 years). I have also conducted informal surveys of what fundraisers believe are the most salient factors in successful solicitations in corporate and foundation relations. Taking the next step, constructing valid and reliable instruments measuring how their beliefs compare to actual donor choices would be a great help to the profession and it is something I hope to do as an incoming Master’s student at IUPUI. Theory and practice don’t have to have a Mars-Venus relationship.

    — Kenna Barrett    May 16, 03:54 PM    #

11. Dr Shang is one of the most brilliant persons I have ever met. Anything to promote fundraising should receive everyone’s full support.

    — Michael Naessens    May 30, 10:51 AM    #

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