| Popis: |
The 29 county region of eastern and southern Ohio designated as Appalachia held only 2% of the endowed foundation assets in the state while housing 12% of the population and 16% of the poverty. Consequently, there were insufficient assets to carry out the work of the nonprofit sector in the region. The purpose of this study was to identify, examine, and understand the motives and criteria of donors for making philanthropic gifts to Appalachian Ohio. My intent was for the knowledge garnered from this study to be of value to those working in Appalachian Ohio to expand philanthropic giving and, eventually, endowed assets in the region. A post-positivist qualitative study was conducted. Working through 7 of the region’s community foundations that held assets in excess of $1 million, 10 philanthropic donors were identified and interviewed. For the purposes of triangulation and crystallization, other methods utilized included member checks, peer debriefing, and reflexive journaling. Finally, a grounded survey was completed by 14 community foundation professionals from within the region. The information generated provided a means of checking for converging and diverging information. As a result of the research, several themes emerged regarding donors and their giving: influences, connectedness, and gifts. In concert with other studies, the results indicate that family and religion are key influences of people’s giving. Philanthropic donors are connected to something larger than themselves. In addition to family and religion, community is a strong point of connection. Involvement in organizations and activities is also a means of connecting. Finally, donors proposed telling the story as a means of connecting others in the community with the power of philanthropy. The gift process includes 3 key components: the ask, the decision making, and the thank you. The ask for a gift should be personal and made by the right person at the right time. The decision making process is careful, thoughtful, and analytical. Through their gifts, philanthropic donors seek to meet their interests and accomplish tasks that they are unwilling or unable to do themselves. To complete the gift, a thank you is imperative, as it not only ends one gift cycle but also serves as the beginning for the next ask. Also emerging from the data was a sense of hope; a vision of a brighter future for the Appalachian Ohio region. The data collected from community foundation professionals via the grounded survey converged with the thoughts of the donors with 3 notable exceptions. First, professionals failed to truly comprehend the important of the ask, at least from the perspective of the donors. Second, the task of completing personal mission through giving was not seen by the professionals. Last, the decision to make a gift was not seen by community foundation professionals to be an investing decision. Drawing on the data collected, the literature, and the analysis conducted, major conclusions reached included: philanthropic donors are ordinary people; stories of giving need to be told; professional advisors are a secondary, rather than primary, route to donors; and community foundations must be more welcoming. |
