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

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / A significant literature gap exists in our understanding of the motivating mechanisms for creation of foundations by philanthropists, a rapid paradigm shift that is occurring in many countries. This study aims to address the literature gap by discovering Chinese entrepreneurs' heterogeneous responses to the conditions that may lead to creation of their own foundations. Adopting the institutional entrepreneurship theory, which examines agency/change in breaking from an old institution, the researcher tested and operationalized four major factors derived from the institutional entrepreneurship theory--i.e. conflict, heterogeneity, institutional logic, and power--to account for the behavioral change. Through investigating 209 wealthy Chinese entrepreneurs from the 2003-2004 Top 100 Philanthropists List produced by the Hurun Research Institute, utilizing the event history analysis method, the study discovered that among the four factors only heterogeneity resulting from strategic industry intersection and the entrepreneurs' political power are the antecedents of their creation of foundations. Other factors--such as conflict, heterogeneity resulted from civil network, and institutional logic--were not relevant in this study. These results suggest that Chinese entrepreneurs who benefit from their improved political and social standing and increased capital are also making endeavors to take initiatives to contribute to the social and economic well-beings in the social areas that the entrepreneurs' industry intersect heavily. This study enriches our understanding of the creation of foundations from entrepreneurs' contextual background in an emerging market. The empirical validation of the antecedents of behavior change and civic leadership innovation also provides practical implications for policy-makers, philanthropy advisers, and nonprofit leaders.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The thesis, American Indian Foundations: Philanthropic Change and Adaptation, explores definition of the issues which impelled the development of grantmaking foundations as vehicles for American Indian community development. American Indian foundations are grantmaking foundations by and for American Indians. They frequently incorporate technical support, fiscal sponsorship and management of their own programs in ways which are unique to American Indians. The thesis is based on a case study and analysis of the formation and development of the Seventh Generation Fund for American Indian Development (and its predecessor the Tribal Sovereignty Program of the Youth Project), the first American Indian national public grantmaking foundation. The research design is based on primary source research and a literature review, augmented by a case study, and amplified by in-depth experience in the field of American Indian philanthropy. The literature review encompasses the relevant primary issues of the thesis and also covers an historical philanthropic review of influences on the development and inception of American Indian philanthropy. Original documents relative to these subjects were located in the manuscript and microfilm collection of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison; the Field Foundation Archives of the Center for American History at the University of Texas, Austin; and the Ruth Lilly Special Collections and Archives, and the Joseph and Matthew Payton Philanthropic Studies Library, both located at Indiana University in Indianapolis. The thesis is based on a primary research question and framed by six subsidiary questions. The thesis concluded that perhaps American Indian foundations were formulated to better serve their peoples in the absence of philanthropic attention. In addition they were formed to address underserved philanthropic needs in ways unique to American Indians. As well with regard to the case study, the primary reason for the founding of the first American Indian national grantmaking foundation was to apply the theoretical concepts of sovereignty and self-sufficiency into practicality in Indian country.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This dissertation consists of two essays on nonprofit finance. Nonprofit finance concerns obtaining and managing financial resources to support the social purposes of nonprofit organizations. A unique feature of nonprofit finance is that nonprofits derive revenue from a variety of sources. Nonprofit finance thus involves answering two fundamental questions: What is the optimal combination of revenue sources that supports a nonprofit to achieve its mission? Where and how to obtain the revenue sources? The two dissertation essays address these two questions respectively. The first essay, titled “Modern Portfolio Theory and the Optimization of Nonprofit Revenue Mix,” is among the first to properly apply modern portfolio theory (MPT) from corporate finance to nonprofit finance. By analyzing nonprofit tax return data, I estimate the expected return and risk characteristics for five nonprofit revenue sources as well as the correlations among these returns. I use the estimates to identify the efficient frontiers for nonprofits in different industries, based on which nonprofit managers can select an optimal portfolio that can minimize the risk given a preferred level of service provision or maximize the return given a level of risk. The findings also pose a challenge to the predominant approach used in previous nonprofit finance studies (Herfindahl-Hirschman Index) and suggest that MPT is theoretically and practically more helpful in guiding nonprofit revenue management. The second essay, titled “Charitable Giving in Nonprofit Service Associations: Identities, Incentives, and Gender Differences,” concerns nonprofit resource attainment, specifically, how do decisionmaking contexts and framing affect donations. Membership in a service club is characterized by two essential elements: members’ shared interest in the club’s charitable mission; and private benefits that often come as a result of social interactions with other members, such as networking, fellowship, and fun. A laboratory experiment was designed to examine 1) whether membership in a service club makes a person more generous and 2) the effect of service club membership—stressing either the service or socializing aspects—on individual support for collective goods. The study finds that female individuals are the least generous when they are reminded of the socializing aspect of service-club membership.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This dissertation argues that the Edison Institute (presently known as The Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan) survived internal and external challenges through the evolution of the Ford family’s leadership and the organization’s funding strategy. Following Henry Ford’s death, the museum complex relied upon the Ford Foundation and the Ford Motor Company Fund as its sole means of philanthropic support. These foundations granted the Edison Institute a significant endowment, which it used to sustain its facilities in conjunction with its inaugural fundraising program. Navigating a changing legal, corporate, and philanthropic landscape in Detroit and around the world, the Ford family perpetuated Henry Ford’s legacy at the Edison Institute with the valuable guidance of executives and staff of their corporation, foundation, and philanthropies. Together they transitioned the Edison Institute into a sustainable and public nonprofit organization by overcoming threats related to the deaths of two generations of the Ford family, changes in the Edison Institute’s administration and organizational structure, the reorganization of the Ford Foundation, the effects of the Tax Reform Act of 1969, and legal complications due to overlap between the Fords’ corporate and philanthropic interests. The Ford family provided integral leadership for the development and evolution of the Edison Institute’s funding strategy and its relationship to their other corporate and philanthropic enterprises. The Institute’s management and funding can be best understood within the context of philanthropic developments of the Ford family during this period, including the formation of the Ford Foundation’s funding and concurrent activity.   This dissertation focuses on the research question of how the Edison Institute survived the Ford family’s evolving philanthropic strategy to seek a sustainable funding and management structure. The work examines its central research question over multiple chapters organized around the Ford family’s changing leadership at the Edison Institute, the increase of professionalized managers, and the Ford’s use of their corporation and philanthropies to provide integral support to the Edison Institute. In order to sustain the Edison Institute throughout the twentieth century, it adapted its operations to accommodate Henry Ford’s founding legacy, its legal environment, and the evolving practice of philanthropy in the United States.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This history investigates the beginnings of community foundations in general and the creation of the Indianapolis Foundation specifically and its eventual funding of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. My findings reveal that, contrary to previous histories that have been written, the creation of community foundations was not driven by benevolence but by changes in federal and state banking laws starting in 1913 that allowed banks to have trust departments that broke the monopoly that trust companies had long enjoyed. In response, trust company executives chartered community trusts to publicly position themselves as benevolent, community-minded businessmen. This distinguished them as trustworthy compared to the greedy bankers of the day, which helped trust companies gain trust customers. Community trusts were responsible for identifying and disbursing funds to deserving beneficiaries, thereby relieving trust companies of a costly and time consuming burden. Even more important, the trust companies retained control over the community trusts by appointing surrogate board members. In addition, none of the trust companies that chartered the Indianapolis Foundation donated their own money, yet appeared charitable. All of these factors made community foundations a very lucrative arrangement. Funding the areas of arts and culture was not designated in the Indianapolis Foundation’s original purpose statement, yet the Indiana State Symphony Society was funded at the height of the Great Depression while many Indianapolis citizens went hungry. The love of music played a very small part in efforts by the wealthy elite to garner support from the Indianapolis Foundation for the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. The public justifications for funding the symphony began with giving psychological relief to the citizens of Indianapolis from the pressures of the Great Depression, to the need of employment for musicians, then the importance of musical education of children, expanding to the importance of the symphony to the city’s reputation, and finally, in the 1980s, the symphony as a community asset that helped rejuvenate downtown Indianapolis. However, the real reason for funding was that the wealthy elite wanted the symphony to use as a flattering cultural institution that would elevate their social status and attract fellow elites and businesses to Indianapolis.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This research explores what roles nonprofits play in political representation by applying the concept of the representational role to nonprofits. The representational role consists of representational focus and style. Representational focus shows those whom nonprofits aim to serve: members, constituents, or the general public. Representational style denotes the ways nonprofits advocate for their focal groups: the delegation, trusteeship, and educational styles. The survey and regression analysis results demonstrate that nonprofits serving their members are most likely to convey their members’ voices directly to policy makers: the delegation style. In contrast, nonprofits advocating for their constituents are likely to pursue what they independently identify as the interests of their constituents: the trusteeship style. Finally, nonprofits speaking for the general public are most likely to work toward educating the general public: the educational style. These results suggest that nonprofits play different roles in political representation, depending on the types of their focal groups.