Viviana Chiu-Sik Wu, of the School of Public Policy faculty, has received a research grant from the Generosity Commission to study the “philanthropic gap” across the US, with a particular focus on how nonprofits that serve disadvantaged communities are affected. Wu is the project’s principal investigator.
The title of the project—“The ‘Matthew Effect’ in Generosity: Examining the Impact on Nonprofit Capacity Across Place and Time”—references a sociological term describing the concept that advantage leads to further advantage, increasing the gap between the haves and have-nots. The term comes from a verse from the Gospel of Matthew: “For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.”
The study will look at how patterns of giving affect the capacity of nonprofit organizations, especially those that serve ethnic minorities and rural and high-poverty communities. Growing inequality in the US, Wu wrote in her project proposal, “not only changes the way philanthropic dollars flow, but also where they go to—vulnerable and disinvested communities might be more adversely impacted by inadequate access of philanthropic resources that support nonprofit services for serving vulnerable groups, hampering community and societal resilience.”
The research team will offer recommendations for nonprofit and policy leaders on how to how to foster philanthropy and how to use that philanthropic giving to support a healthy nonprofit sector that promotes volunteering, political participation, and services and programs to serve community needs.
“Philanthropic contributions are a traditional cornerstone for supporting nonprofits to achieve their missions,” Wu said. “Amid a turbulent policy environment, especially after COVID-19, philanthropic resources are profoundly crucial to sustain nonprofits’ operations and straighten out overdependence on public funding, which is subject to policy changes. Moreover, the unequal patterns of giving across communities can have unintended ramifications on the capacity of local nonprofit sectors serving disadvantaged communities along socioeconomic, ethnic, and ecological lines.”
The Generosity Commission is a nonpartisan organization that supports research and other activities on civic engagement, philanthropy and volunteering in the US.