Experiential philanthropy in public affairs education: Learning for lives of giving?

ABSTRACT

Globally, public affairs programs are designed to meet dual educational purposes. On the one hand, these professional degree programs are intended to educate students for careers in service to the public. On the other hand, these programs are also intended to educate students about our common responsibility to contribute to the betterment of society through civic participation and engagement. Not surprisingly, then, public affairs programs often include a curriculum emphasis on philanthropy; and, as a means of teaching philanthropy, experiential philanthropy has become an increasingly popular pedagogical strategy. Despite growing use of the pedagogy cross-nationally and consistent evidence of its short-term efficacy, there has been limited evidence of the pedagogy’s long-term impact. Therefore, in this study, we explore whether experiential philanthropy, as a pedagogical strategy within public affairs programs in the US and China, is associated with long-term philanthropic and prosocial outcomes of former course participants.

KEYWORDS:

• Experiential philanthropy
• service learning
• public affairs education

Acknowledgement

We thankfully acknowledge funding from Rutgers University - Newark (RUN), which allowed us to fund experiential philanthropy at RUN and Rutgers University Newark Institute (RUNIN). We also thankfully acknowledge funding from the Learning by Giving Foundation, which provided additional support for experiential philanthropy at RUN.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Prosocial behavior is defined as “a broad category of actions” generally considered by society to be “beneficial to other people and to the ongoing political system” (Piliavin et al., 2002, p. 470).

2. The qualities of a civic-minded graduate have been conceptualized as a function of personal identity, educational preparedness, and civic experiences (Bringle et al., 2011).

3. Normal universities in China are those that were originally designed for the training of future teachers.

4. Although the Civic Minded Graduate Scale was specifically designed to assess civic-mindedness among students graduating from one US institution of higher education (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)), the Scale has been broadly applied.

5. Although as a teaching and learning approach, the goal of experiential philanthropy is not merely to create greater service requirements but to provide students with an opportunity to identify as philanthropists (McDougle et al., 2017), the act of giving money away is still an act. of service, which may contribute to students’ feelings of “service burden.”

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Learning by Giving Foundation; Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

Notes on contributors

Lindsey M. McDougle

Lindsey M. McDougle is an Associate Professor of Public Administration in the School of Public Affairs and Administration at Rutgers University in Newark, NJ. Her current work explores how, and to what extent, philanthropic and prosocial pedagogies in higher education can be used to cultivate student commitments to long-term philanthropic engagement as well as fulfill the civic missions of colleges and universities and strengthen communities.

Huafang Li

Huafang Li is an Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh. He researches and teaches research methods, public administration and nonprofit management.

Gabrielle Rossi

Gabrielle Rossi is a doctoral candidate in the School of Public Affairs and Administration at Rutgers University in Newark, NJ.