INDIANAPOLIS - The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University announced today that Paul G. Schervish, the nation's leading authority on wealth and philanthropy, is being appointed as National Research Fellow at the Center, which is headquartered at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
Schervish will advise and assist the Center on its research programs while continuing his primary responsibilities as professor of sociology and director of the Social Welfare Research Institute (SWRI) at Boston College.
"We look forward to involving Paul in the Center's important research efforts," said Eugene R. Tempel, executive director of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. "Paul's background in donor and volunteer behavior is a significant addition to the Center's research team and will further strengthen our work in this area."
Schervish, who formerly served as Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Center for 1999-2000, will collaborate with the Center on new research projects, including a longitudinal study of donors and volunteers as part of a University of Michigan study. He also will be a part of the advisory boards of some of the Center's current research activities including:
Giving USA - Published by the AAFRC Trust for Philanthropy, the Center researches and writes this annual publication, which provides estimates of charitable giving in the U.S.
Philanthropic Giving Index - a semiannual survey that measures the climate for U.S. charitable giving.
"Over the past 15 years, the Center on Philanthropy has been instrumental in shaping the meaning and practice of the philanthropy in the United States and now globally," Schervish said. " I am honored and will be greatly benefited by this appointment. I look forward to deepening my intellectual and personal collaboration with the people and the purposes that focus on philanthropy as both a material and a spiritual undertaking."
Schervish has worked with Center researchers previously as a co-author of methodological work, which simultaneously tested several different survey methods first in Indiana (Indiana Gives) then in the entire U.S (America Gives).
Schervish is widely known for a groundbreaking report he and SWRI Associate Director John J. Havens released in 1999 that estimates that between $41 trillion and $136 trillion in wealth will be transferred over the next several decades from all adults alive today to heirs, charities, taxes and other recipients.
The report, Millionaires and the Millennium: New Estimates of the Forthcoming Wealth Transfer and Prospects for a Golden Age of Philanthropy , found that even at the minimum $41 trillion level, $6 trillion would be transferred to charity over a 55-year period.
Schervish also is known for his theoretical models for donor and volunteer behavior through his work on the Study on Wealth and Philanthropy, an examination of the strategies of living and giving among 130 millionaires. He currently is directing two studies - "Dilemmas and Decisions Surrounding the Accumulation and Distribution of Financial Resources," and "The Emerging Material and Spiritual Determinants of Charitable Giving by Wealth Holders."
He has published numerous books and articles on philanthropy and on the sociology of money, wealth, and religion. For the third consecutive year, Schervish was named to The Nonprofit Times' "Power and Influence Top 50," a list of the top leaders in the nonprofit sector.
The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University seeks to increase the understanding of philanthropy and improve its practice through research, teaching, public service and public affairs programs in philanthropy, fundraising, and management of nonprofit organizations.
To arrange an interview with Center officials or Paul Schervish, or for more information, contact Adriene Davis at (317) 236-4912 or Ty Gerig at (317) 684-8906.
# # #
