Thesis (M.A.)--Indiana University, 2007. / Department of Philanthropic Studies, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Advisor(s): William Brescia, Frances A. Huehls, Dwight Burlingame. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 111-113).

Nearly all traditional charitable-giving studies conclude donors are more responsive to price-reducing charitable deductions (the price effect) than they are to income-reducing tax payments (the income effect). Thus, taxes stimulate giving. In addition, this empirical evidence also indicates that the charitable deduction is treasury efficient. This traditional understanding was recently challenged by studies employing observations on the same individuals across time (panel data). These panel studies provide evidence which suggest that donors are either much more responsive to income reducing tax payments than they are to price-reducing charitable deductions or just as responsive to both. Further, price elasticity estimates are much greater than negative one. Thus, the deduction is inefficient and giving is either neutral to, or inhibited by, taxes. / Ph. D.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität, Heidelberg, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [211]-240).

This thesis focuses on developing a comprehensive framework for understanding the challenges NGOs face with in-kind donations in disaster relief. The overwhelming problem of inappropriate material donations, often referred to as the second disaster, has plagued disaster relief operations for decades now in both domestic and international disaster response. Despite efforts to promote ``cash only'' giving in disaster relief, unsolicited and mostly inappropriate in-kind giving continues to challenge NGOs in every major disaster. Researchers have identified this as one of the most pressing yet understudied challenges in disaster relief to date. This thesis is divided into three parts. In the first part, we conduct a multidisciplinary literature review from philanthropy, economics, public policy, corporate philanthropy and corporate social responsibility to understand why donors donate in-kind and why NGOs accept those donations. We describe the roles of the various players involved and explain the structure of the distribution channels in-kind donations follow both in disaster and non-disaster contexts. We then explain the challenges NGOs and their donors face with in-kind donations in the context of these channels. We identify systemic issues in the distribution channels and highlight current policies and practices that contribute to the second disaster. In the second part of this thesis, we propose a comprehensive framework to help donors, NGOs and policy makers comprehend the scope of the problem and identify strategies to address the challenge of unsolicited donations in disaster relief. Our framework provides a succinct representation of the main issues and players involved in the process in a format that is simple to work with and easy to understand. It supports comprehension of the many related issues and can help NGOs and policy making bodies (e.g., FEMA, NVOAD, USAID) assess current strategies and devise new approaches and solution strategies. In the third part of the thesis, we exploit our framework to propose a tiered strategy consisting of a set of solutions ranging from decision tools to help NGOs better screen in-kind donation offers to entire new channels for more productive in-kind giving in disaster relief. Each of these solutions may deter only a small fraction of the inappropriate flows, but together they can dramatically diminish the problem. Our proposed NGO decision tools both allow quick screening of donation offers in disaster relief and provide a framework for strategic management of corporate in-kind donations in the long term. We also propose a ``retail donation model" which can transform a portion of the current stream of unwanted and unusable in-kind donations from individuals and community groups into a valuable source of needed relief supplies through an entirely new donation channel. We document a successful implementation of an on-line retail donation model in the 2012 Sandy response.

The purpose of this study was to determine the degree to which public universities are providing subsidies to tax-exempt, non-profit, legally distinct corporations which serve as university-affiliated foundations. Specifically, this investigation sought to determine (a) the percentage of universities providing subsidies, (b) the types of subsidies provided, (c) the dollar value of subsidies provided by the universities, and (d) whether statistically significant differences exist among the categories of the value of the foundations' endowed funds, university size, and the amounts of foundation unrestricted and restricted expenditures with respect to the presence, type, and dollar ranges of subsidies provided by universities to their affiliated foundations. A survey instrument was developed for purposes of gathering data for this study. The accessible population surveyed consisted of all four-year public universities and colleges with an enrollment exceeding 2,500 full-time students which were members of the National Association of College and University Auditors. Of the selected sample size of 125, a total of 83 usable responses were received, resulting in a completion rate of 66 percent. Based on the results of the study, the following information was obtained: (a) 94 percent of the universities provided at least one type of subsidy to their foundations; (b) 73 percent of the universities provided staff and 80 percent of the universities provided office space to their foundation; (c) 50 percent of the universities provided subsidies of $50,000 or more, 33 percent provided $100,000 or more, and 20 percent provided $250,000 or more to their foundation; and (d) foundations that received the lowest subsidies (zero) had the highest means for endowment values, student enrollments, and expenditures. / Graduation date: 1990

No description available.

Univ., Diss. (rev.)--Princeton, 1973.

No description available.

In direct marketing, understanding the response behavior of consumers to marketing initiatives is a pre-requisite for marketers before implementing targeting strategies to reach potential as well as existing consumers in the future. Consumer response can either be in terms of the incidence or timing of purchases, category/ brand choice of purchases made as well as the volume or purchase amounts in each category. Direct marketers seek to explore how past consumer response behavior as well as their targeting actions affects current response patterns. However, considerable heterogeneity is also prevalent in consumer responses and the possible sources of this heterogeneity need to be investigated. With the knowledge of consumer response and the corresponding heterogeneity, direct marketers can devise targeting strategies to attract potential new consumers as well as retain existing consumers. In the first essay of my dissertation (Chapter 2), I model the response behavior of donors in non-profit charity fund-raising in terms of their timing and volume of donations. I show that past donations (both the incidence and volume) and solicitation for alternative causes by non-profits matter in donor responses and the heterogeneity in donation behavior can be explained in terms of individual and community level donor characteristics. I also provide a heuristic approach to target new donors by using a classification scheme for donors in terms of the frequency and amount of donations and then characterize each donor portfolio with corresponding donor characteristics. In the second essay (Chapter 3), I propose a more structural approach in the targeting of customers by direct marketers in the context of customized retail couponing. First I model customer purchase in a retail setting where brand choice decisions in a product category depend on pricing, in-store promotions, coupon targeting as well as the face values of those coupons. Then using a utility function specification for the retailer which implements a trade-off between net revenue (revenue – coupon face value) and information gain, I propose a Bayesian decision theoretic approach to determine optimal customized coupon face values. The optimization algorithm is sequential where past as well as future customer responses affect targeted coupon face values and the direct marketer tries to determine the trade-off through natural experimentation. / text

Originally presented as the author's Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Münster, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 349-361) and index.