This page collects work we’ve commissioned on the history of philanthropy, as outlined on our focus area page.
Case studies we’ve commissioned
Case study on the Healthcare for the Homeless Program, by Ben Soskis:
- Blog post summary
- Full case study (.docx)
- Full source list (.docx)
- Our internal review of Dr. Soskis’s report (.pdf)
Case study on the Pew Charitable Trusts’ drug safety legislation program, by Tamara Mann Tweel:
- Blog post summary
- Full case study (.pdf)
Case study on the role of multiple funders in the passage of the Affordable Care Act, by Ben Soskis:
- Blog post summary
- Full case study (.pdf)
Case study on the founding of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, by Suzanne Kahn:
- Blog post summary
- Full case study (.pdf)
Case study on the founding of the Center for Global Development, by Ben Soskis:
- Blog post summary
- Full case study (.pdf)
Case study on the role of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in state EITC programs, by Suzanne Kahn:
- Blog post summary
- Full case study (.pdf)
Case study on the Clinton Health Access Initiative’s role in global price drops for antiretroviral drugs, by Tamara Mann Tweel:
- Blog post summary
- Full case study (.docx)
Case study on Philanthropy’s Role in The Fight for Marriage Equality, by Benjamin Soskis:
- Blog post summary
- Full case study (.pdf)
Case study on the role of philanthropy in promoting nuclear nonproliferation and threat reduction, by Paul Rubinson:
- Full case study (.pdf)
Case studies produced by the Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy at the Urban Institute
We’ve also supported this work through a grant to the Urban Institute. Read more about this work at the Urban Institute’s website.
Case study on the Pugwash conferences on science and world affairs, by Paul Rubinson:
Philanthropy and US Student Movements: Four Cases, by Maoz Brown:
Literature Review: Conservative Philanthropy in Higher Education, by David Austin Walsh:
Case studies we’ve completed
Some case studies in early field growth, by Luke Muehlhauser:
Other work we’ve commissioned
Historian Ben Soskis reviewed the existing literature on the history of philanthropy and created the following resources:
- Annotated bibliography: A list of books he identified as possibly informative. He briefly reviewed each book and summarized its contents.
- Extended bibliography: A list of books he reviewed (covered in the list above); books he considered but did not review; and books he would review if he spent more time on this project.
- Process and findings: The process he used to select books for consideration and his preliminary conclusions about the state of the literature.
We also support Ben’s work on HistPhil. This work is structured as part of Ben’s consulting for us rather than as a grant, which is why it does not appear in our grants database.
We have also commissioned reviews of the existing literature on several particular cases of philanthropic impact:
- Healthcare reform (.docx), by Ben Soskis
- Tobacco reform (.docx), by Ben Soskis
- The Healthcare for the Homeless program (.docx), by Ben Soskis
- The Nunn-Lugar Act (.docx), by Ben Soskis
- The emergence of climate change as a governance issue (.pdf), by Bentley Allan. (Also see our notes from a conversation with Dr. Allan.)