On October 8, 2008, The Chronicle of Philanthropy published an article about information John Havens introduced at the conference. The following is the text of the article, as published:

"Even with the steep stock-market drops of the past week, a prominent wealth researcher at Boston College says philanthropy may not suffer a financial meltdown as dire as some fund raisers fear.

Even with the steep stock-market drops of the past week, a prominent wealth researcher at Boston College says philanthropy may not suffer a financial meltdown as dire as some fund raisers fear.

More important, he said, unless national incomes drop sharply, the decline in giving may not last long or be significant.

The current crisis is similar to the conditions nearly a decade ago, said Mr. Havens, at a conference on "The Supply and Demand of Philanthropy in the 21st Century," sponsored Boston College's Center on Wealth and Philanthropy, the Association of Fundraising Professionals, and the Eaton Vance Investment Council.

In the last recession, said Mr. Havens, the United States began to see a decline in net wealth in 1999, even before the burst of the dot-com bubble precipitated the 2000 stock-market crash. The downward growth in wealth continued for three years, with aggregate household wealth declining by 15 to 20 percent from 1999 to 2002 - the largest and deepest downturn in wealth since the 1930s.

Those variations in net worth, however, did not directly correlate with changes in philanthropic giving, Mr. Havens said.

Average household contributions did not begin to fall until 2000, and they did not drop as much as households' net worth did. From 1999 to 2002, household donations decreased by 10 percent, while their net worths dropped by as much as 20 percent. Moreover, said Mr. Havens, once net wealth began to grow again in 2002, donations also rebounded.

The net wealth of households began to decline in the fourth quarter of 2007, said Mr. Havens. Based on the previous recession, Mr. Havens predicted a lag of up to a year before donations decline - -in part because most high-net worth donors plan their charitable contributions a year in advance - and the decline in aggregate donations may not be significant.

But Mr. Havens' prediction, he warned, assumed there would be no big drops in income. If household incomes decline sharply, the impact on giving would probably be more severe and prolonged, said Mr. Havens. However, he added, household income levels have historically tended to remain more stable than net wealth."

As part of an annual lecture sponsored by the Lake Institute on Faith & Giving, Professor Paul Schervish offers what Patrick Rooney calls an "examination of the inner life of receiving and giving as spiritual exercise."

Click the link below to download the full text (PDF) of the article entitled, "Receiving and Giving as a Spiritual Exercise: The Spirituality of Care in Soul, Relationship, and Community."

The following are suggested background reading regarding topics covered at the conference:

1) "Today's Wealth Holder and Tomorrow's Giving: The New Dynamics of Wealth and Philanthropy." Paul G. Schervish. Journal of Gift Planning. Vol. 9, no. 3. 3rd Quarter 2005. Pp. 15-37. Increasing numbers of individuals are approaching, achieving, or even exceeding their financial goals at younger and younger ages. A level of affluence that had been rare has come to characterize large groups and even whole cultures. In the context of an ongoing intergenerational transfer of wealth, the author examines demographic and spiritual trends that are motivating wealth holders to allocate an ever-greater portion of their financial resources to charity. Download Paper (PDF).

2) "Why The Wealthy Give: Factors Which Mobilize Philanthropy Among High Net-Worth Individuals." Paul G. Schervish. The Routledge Companion to Nonprofit Marketing. Published Winter 2008. This article outlines the motivations of high net-worth individuals for philanthropy. Download Paper (PDF).

3) "How do People Leave Bequests: Family or Philanthropic Organizations?" Paul G. Schervish and John J. Havens. In Alicia Munnell and Annika Sunden, (eds.), Death and Dollars, forthcoming Brookings Press. This paper presents an alternative paradigm to economic models of transfers, one which we have developed from our extensive ethnographic and survey research on charitable giving and which we call the identification theory. Download Paper (PDF).

4) "The Modern Medici: Patterns, Motivations, and Giving Strategies of the Wealthy." Paul G. Schervish. This paper addresses three aspects of the relationship between wealth and philanthropy. Download Paper (PDF).

5) "The Moral Biography of Wealth: Philosophical Reflections on the Foundation of Philanthropy." Paul G. Schervish. Published in Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly. Volume 35, No. 3, pp. 466-492. September 2006. Places the notion of a moral biography of wealth in historical context and suggests how advancement professionals can deepen their own moral biography by working to deepen the moral biography of their donors. Download Paper (PDF).

6) "The Sense and Sensibility of Philanthropy as a Moral Citizenship of Care." Paul G. Schervish, (2005) Good Intentions: Moral Obstacles and Opportunities, David H. Smith (editor) Indiana University Press. The leading question of this paper is how to understand the moral dimensions of philanthropy as a spiritual sense and sensibility. The purpose is to elaborate a modestly integrated analysis of several aspects of philanthropy that make it a morally oriented behavior in the lives of donors. Download Paper (PDF).