Neo-colonial philanthropy in the UK

UK philanthropic foundations are being subjected to greater scrutiny in how they address racial inequality with their funding distribution, yet the deeper critical question of whether these foundations perpetuate racial inequality in their very ethos, practices and existence remains unanswered. These foundations provide over £6.5billion of grants annually to the charitable sector, hold substantial power and influence over social movements and justify their charitable status by stating that they are addressing issues such as poverty and inequality. Yet many private foundations were built on a Victorian paternalistic model of gracious benefactor and grateful beneficiary and against the historical context of empire-building, slavery and colonialism which embedded ideas about ‘race’ within philanthropy. Furthermore, delineation between the deserving and undeserving poor connected with these formulations of race, to position subjects of colonies inequitably within this charitable paradigm and reinforce stereotypes. At the time, this formed the justification for the expansion of missionary or colonial philanthropy overseas which was the biggest philanthropic cause of the pre first world war era and which can be traced back as the basis for the ‘white saviour complex’ exhibited today within UK foundations, as they continue to operate a colonial social architecture. This inherent and unchallenged colonial social architecture used for grantmaking and funding distribution imbues processes and practices with the same ethos and principles exhibited by colonialism, resulting in a ‘neo-colonial philanthropy’, the tenets of which are identified and explored. In addition, as racial inequality remains one of the most critical issues of our time, it is asserted that foundations will need to understand the historical context of the UK’s colonialist history in order to recognise the link with racial disparities exhibited in communities today. This direct connection together with their own inbuilt colonial architecture necessitates an urgent conversation for Foundations about whether reparative or restorative justice is a more effective operational paradigm and the long term solution needed to address neo-colonial philanthropy or the ‘Empires new clothes’.     

High art down net: Conceptualizing a citizen arts philanthropy with ethical codes and a digital system

This research aims to offer a new perspective of art philanthropy, different than the traditional one, that focuses on citizen's desire for and support to art as one of the most important, collective heritage of human society. It conceptually proposes the citizen arts philanthropy (CAP) system, as well as its application in the form of a digital platform. The research proposition is based on a cross-disciplinary review of literature on the history of arts, patronage and philanthropy, arts and philanthropy ethics, participatory philanthropy, evolution of stakeholders in the art world, and a digital citizen governance process. Analysis of the existing literature leads to the CAP conceptualization with the subsystem of artistic creation; financial, social, and practical engagement; and collective activities. Each subsystem sets its ethical codes to assure the ethics of arts philanthropy. The CAP system may be realized with a digital platform with registration, art and art philanthropy ethics setting, art selection and art philanthropy action. The digital platform is conceptualized as a collective design with citizen governance, including actors, domain, and process and includes the platform registration, art and art philanthropy ethics setting, art selection and art philanthropy action. The overall design of the CAP system offers a direct engagement of citizens in arts and arts philanthropy and assures that citizens have equalized rights and responsibilities regarding art selection and creation. It further contributes to a new ethics of arts and arts philanthropy and the ecosystem of the art world.     

Community-engaged philanthropy: The role of the fundraiser in building equitable communities

In recent years, fundraisers have become increasingly focused on major gift solicitation while donors have been making larger gifts to fewer organizations. As this trend continues, some have begun to question whether major organizations and/or wealthy individuals now have too much control over the work of nonprofits and the communities they serve. While it is true that major gifts are important and can made a noticeable, positive impact, in some cases community members might see their impact as intrusive. In situations such as this, what is the “best” course of action? How should fundraisers consider, balance, and address the perspectives and rights of their organization, donors, and community members? This paper creates a framework for fundraisers as they consider not only their responsibilities to their organization and constituents, but also their responsibilities for promoting equity within their community as a whole. This paper draws on the social-ecological model, as well as concepts from intersectionality, to explore how fundraisers can increase involvement from all community members in a nonprofit's work to create a participatory and community-engaged process, with a special focus on including those who are typically marginalized, rather than maintaining a hierarchical system of power. It also draws on the theories of rights-balanced fundraising ethics, community-centric fundraising, and other ethical frameworks of fundraising and public administration to compare what is being done by fundraisers to what should be done to encourage ethical practices in fundraising. The paper is supplemented by examples of the impact of implementing (or not implementing) community engagement in fundraising practices. This paper aims to create a community-engaged philanthropy framework for fundraisers as they consider not only their responsibilities to their organization and donors, but also their responsibilities for promoting equitable distributions of power within their community. This framework provides specific guidance for fundraisers as to how they can balance these multiple (and sometimes competing) responsibilities while also keeping ethics at the forefront of their actions. It demonstrates how, by taking a community-engaged approach to their work, fundraisers are able to bring about better long-term outcomes for their organization. Specifically, the framework considers: (1) To whom are fundraisers most responsible, and to whom should fundraisers be most responsible—their nonprofit, their donors, or those being served? (2) For what rights of community members must the fundraiser account when soliciting funds, and to what extent is the fundraiser responsible for upholding these rights? (3) In what ways can an invitation from a fundraiser to make a gift also invite some level of power or control over the organization's work? (4) To what extent do fundraisers have the responsibility to maintain an equitable power balance among their constituents, including donors and those served? (5) How can fundraisers help ensure that all community members are able to participate in the organization's work to extent that they are willing and able?     

A thematic analysis of fundraiser characteristics in high-quality major donor fundraising relationships in US higher education

As nonprofits increasingly rely on large contributions, skillful major gift fundraisers are more important than ever. In contrast to the vast research on donor motivations, there are few examinations of fundraisers or fundraising relationships. This study responds to nonprofits' interest in understanding beneficial fundraising strategies and to the lack of empirical literature with the question: From the donor perspective, what characteristics do fundraisers demonstrate within high-quality major giving relationships? This exploratory, interview-based project used a codebook thematic analysis approach based on HEXACO personality theory to review participants' reflections about fundraisers. The 20 participating donors had given between USD$10,000 and USD$40 million to select colleges and universities in the US Midwest region. This study confirms much of what fundraisers believe to be important to major gift donors, with added nuance about the complex form of professionalism donors appreciate. The fundraiser characteristics show several dual emphases, including on field expertise and interpersonal acumen, attention to donor concerns and institutional interests, patience with the gift-making process and ability to facilitate its progression, and attention to ethical practice and empathetic interactions. The study shows the inner workings of the major giving relationship fundraising paradigm, reveals how societal perceptions of fundraisers are relevant for understanding donor preferences, and provides a framework for fundraisers to assess and enhance their interactions with major donors.     

Team trust over time: Modeling reciprocal and contextual influences in action teams

Team trust is increasingly being recognized as important for team performance, but little is currently understood about how it develops and evolves over the course of a team's lifespan. Because trust and related team constructs are inherently dynamic, this represents a critical gap in the literature that needs to be addressed before team trust can be fully understood and effectively facilitated in practice. Of particular relevance to these gaps are action teams – those that come together to perform under time-constrained, yet often high-stakes conditions. While scholars have begun to explore how trust develops in these contexts, little is understood about how it evolves over time. As such, we propose a theoretical model of team trust in action teams that incorporates its dynamic nature, models the reciprocal relationship between team trust and team performance, delineates unique mediating pathways based on the team's progression in the multiphasic performance cycle, and considers the role of moderating influences that may strengthen or attenuate the impact of performance feedback on subsequent team trust. Specific research implications are discussed, providing a rich foundation for future empirical studies, and ultimately, the generation of evidence-based interventions for facilitating trust as teams cycle through multiple performance episodes over time.     

大学校友文化在校园文化建设中的作用研究

校友文化作为社会观察学校的窗口,是校园文化建设的重要部分,也是一种最能促进师生价值认同感的特殊的文化形态。校友文化具有无形的能动力量,对师生发展起着潜移默化的影响。校友集结的人脉资源和对母校的反哺回馈,越来越被各高等院校普遍重视,形成了一种独特的校友捐赠文化。研究校友文化在校园文化建设中的作用,对丰富校园文化建设内涵和形式、促进校友联络工作均具有十分重要的意义。     

Spirituality and leadership: Engaging both in higher education

“Although American higher education can justifiably take pride in its capacity to develop the student's ability to manipulate the material world through its programs in science, medicine, technology, and commerce, it has paid relatively little attention to the student's “inner” development—the sphere of values and beliefs, emotional maturity, moral development, spirituality, and self‐understanding.” —from the Foreword to Encouraging Authenticity and Spirituality in Higher Education by Alexander W. Astin and Helen S. Astin     

Distance and academic performance in higher education

This paper examines whether one of the determinants of academic performance in higher education is the geographical distance separating the place of study and the place of family residence. Twelve years of data on students from a public university are utilized to estimate a model of relative academic performance, with an instrumental variables two-stage least squares estimator to account for possible endogeneity bias. The results indicate that distance is a negative determinant of academic performance and provide a new factor to take into account in reflexions over the impact of the spatial organization of higher education institutions.     

高职院校教育信息化建设的现状与发展趋势

随着我国经济的快速发展,社会需要大量应用型高级技术人才,因此,高等职业教育受到国家和社会的高度重视,并迅速发展成为是我国教育事业的重要组成部分。教育信息化是促进高职教育发展的关键,文章首先讨论了目前高职院校信息化建设现状,如存在缺乏统一规划、信息标准建设滞后、应用不到位、机制不完善等问题,文章最后还对高职院校未来的发展方向作了展望。     

The role of technology in transforming higher education

More than 100 years ago, John Dewey, a major influence in American education, argued for the need to “stimulate the spirit of inquiry into actual fact” (Dewey, 2002, p. 118). The debate among politicians and educators about the structure, purpose, and goals of education and inquiry continues. Yet the world has changed, largely because of widely accessible and versatile technologies. We are unclear how Dewey's spirit of inquiry will grow, die, or reinvent itself through boundaryless tools of inquiry such as the Internet, but the technology is here and will not disappear while educators debate best methods. Twenty‐first‐century society demands new ways to learn and understand, and these new ways of learning require new ways of teaching (McPheeters, 2009/2010). For many students, especially the younger generations, technology intertwines with almost all daily activities, including social contact. Many educators lag behind the technological curve and express frustration at the challenge to shift their educational paradigms toward increasingly technological means of communication and interaction, or entertain “virtual realities” as legitimate educational forums. The purpose of this symposium is to examine the role of technology in transforming higher education. The goal is to seek best methods of using technology more effectively to educate learners for the 21st century. The shifts in society's focus and the characteristics of learners going into the future are also critical, and part of this discussion.     

我国高等教育融资中存在的问题及对策探讨

文章在综述国内外有关高等教育融资问题研究成果的基础上,深入分析了我国高等教育融资中存在的诸多问题,并提出了实现我国高等教育融资多元化的对策建议。     

高职院校的素质教育

综合素质教育是指通过教育环境的影响熏陶、教育内容和手段的规范制约以提高受教育者综合素质为目标的教育。     

New technologies,new pedagogies: Finding the grail in higher education

More than 100 years ago, John Dewey, a major influence in American education, argued for the need to “stimulate the spirit of inquiry into actual fact” (Dewey, 2002, p. 118). The debate among politicians and educators about the structure, purpose, and goals of education and inquiry continues. Yet the world has changed, largely because of widely accessible and versatile technologies. We are unclear how Dewey's spirit of inquiry will grow, die, or reinvent itself through boundaryless tools of inquiry such as the Internet, but the technology is here and will not disappear while educators debate best methods. Twenty‐first‐century society demands new ways to learn and understand, and these new ways of learning require new ways of teaching (McPheeters, 2009/2010). For many students, especially the younger generations, technology intertwines with almost all daily activities, including social contact. Many educators lag behind the technological curve and express frustration at the challenge to shift their educational paradigms toward increasingly technological means of communication and interaction, or entertain “virtual realities” as legitimate educational forums. The purpose of this symposium is to examine the role of technology in transforming higher education. The goal is to seek best methods of using technology more effectively to educate learners for the 21st century. The shifts in society's focus and the characteristics of learners going into the future are also critical, and part of this discussion.     

高职教育数学改革的设想

本文对高职教育数学课,在课程设置、教学内容、教学方法、教师在教改中的作用以及对学生思维方式培养等诸方面,提出了一些改革的设想.     

Quality assurance in higher education: analysis of grades for reviewing course levels

In quality assurance, degree courses in European higher education have to demonstrate the course level by means of results. These courses produce many results, among them grades, referring to teachers’ evaluations of students’ performances, and it is our proposal to use them as an effective mean to reflect the course level. Our study examines the criteria that are needed to analyze grades as significant indicators for course levels. We considered what might constitute empirical proof of valid grades and from this analysis we established that the main proof of valid grades consists of measurements of construct validity, scale reliability, intercorrelation and face validity. The analyses delivered insights into the relationship between the proof of valid grades and elements of the curriculum. In the light of these insights we developed four characteristics as reference points for curricula realizing the course level. Following these points, we draw up a procedure to create such curricula. This procedure is explored in a study with eight bachelor degree courses. The conclusion is that the procedure traces the causes of invalid grades and confirms that valid grades are significant indicators of the course level.     

GAMONALES WHO MAKE A CITY: Intimate Interactions in City Building

In this article I analyze the participation of economic patrons or gamonales in processes of city building. Like clientelistic leaders, local ‘big men’ can partake in the transformation of the living conditions of the urban poor. These individuals show an extraordinary capacity for transforming cities, their built environments and social and political infrastructures, especially in small and rapidly growing cities located in the peripheries of nation-building projects. In my research I explore the case of one patron in Granada, a rapidly urbanizing city in Colombia that received many forced migrants between 1990 and 2010, to reveal a new way in which city building and patron–client relationships co-evolve and are constituted within a space of intimate interactions between landed property and urban real estate.