Wrapping up season two of Givers, Doers, & Thinkers, Jeremy talks with David Patrick King about faith-based nonprofits and how evangelical Christianity specifically has helped shape America’s philanthropic landscape.
David is the Karen Lake Buttrey Director of the Lake Institute on Faith and Giving and Associate Professor of Philanthropic Studies at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. His research interests broadly include exploring the practices of 20th and 21st century American and global faith communities and, more specifically, investigating how the religious identity of faith-based nonprofits shapes their motivations, rhetoric, and practice. And he is the author of the recent book, God’s Internationalists: World Vision and the Age of Evangelical Humanitarianism (UPenn Press 2019), which traces the seventy-year history of World Vision, the world’s largest Christian humanitarian organization, as a lens into the religious history of international relief and development organizations.
Jeremy and David discuss the longevity of religion-sourced giving in light of the growing demographic of "nones" and what that means for philanthropy moving forward, given that the majority of charitable gifts come from faith-oriented givers. David offers insights to congregations on their fundraising messaging and suggestions about connecting with younger givers and preparing older givers to leave a lasting legacy with the organizations they cherish the most. They also get into fascinating details behind the creator of World Vision International, Robert Pierce, an American Baptist minister and relief worker whose personality was one for the books—literally.
And last but not least, you'll hear from senior consultant Abigail Alberti about the wisdom of planned giving programs and why it is easier to get started than you might think. She demystifies "legacy fundraising" and shares how to implement this tool into your development strategy.
You can find Givers, Doers, & Thinkers here at Philanthropy Daily, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, Buzzsprout, and wherever you listen to podcasts.
We’d love to hear your thoughts, ideas, questions, and recommendations for the podcast! You can shoot Katie Janus, GDT’s producer, an email anytime!
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