Advantage,meaning, and pleasure: Reframing the interaction between major-gift fundraisers and philanthropists

The purpose of this paper is to bridge the widening gap between the rapidly growing academic literature on fundraising and the need that practising, reflective fundraisers have for a useable explanatory framework for understanding what are the main forces and motivations shaping the interaction between major-gift fundraisers and philanthropists (major donors and potential donors), particularly in the so-called cultivation and solicitation (or Ask) meetings. The author's perspective is that of a fundraising practitioner. The paper sets out the essential characteristics needed in such a framework, contends that we do not yet have such a framework, and concludes by setting out a preliminary, simplifying framework for making sense of the interaction between fundraisers and donors. The purpose is to stimulate practitioners and researchers to rethink and reframe this interaction. It is proposed that the interaction is grounded on the reality that funders (and to some extent, fund-seekers), like individuals in almost every social interaction, are seeking to maximise advantage, meaning, and pleasure (AMP). This paper argues that the more these three overlap, the stronger their effect.     

Use of region,life-cycle and role variables in the short-run estimation of the demand for gasoline and miles travelled

Short-run demand for miles travelled and gasoline consumed are estimated for population subgroups defined by region, occupation and life-cycle. Understanding and quantifying the different responses of subgroups to changes in income and gasoline price are important from the perspective of transport and energy policies. Micro data are used to investigate the effects of marginal changes in price and income among sociodemographic groups. This paper demonstrates that there are significant differences in the estimated parameters between the general population and subgroups within the population. Further, significant differences may be demonstrated between those subgroups.     

Problems in valuing the benefits of biodiversity protection

This paper considers two problems in valuing the benefits of biodiversity protection. These are, firstly, that preferences for biodiversity protection may be lexicographic rather than utilitarian. The more individuals for whom this is true, the less is cost-benefit analysis validated as a means of decision making for biodiversity protection, since lexicographic preferences are incompatible with the Kaldor-Hicks Compensation Test. Secondly, people may be poorly informed about the meaning of biodiversity, complicating the use of contingent valuation as a means of measuring preservation benefits. This paper first discusses the meaning of biodiversity, and trends in diversity over time. We offer some empirical evidence with regard to lexicographic preferences; consider the implications of having poorly-informed consumers; and then report the results of a contingent valuation study of biodiversity protection with varying levels of information. We find that willingness to pay for biodiversity protection increases with the level of information provided.We thank David Pearce, participants at a seminar at University College London, and two referees for comments on earlier versions of this paper.     

Influences in Ethical Dilemmas of Increasing Intensity

This study attempts to extend the literature in ethics research by developing and testing a model of an individual's ethical system which identifies the sources of influence on the decision process. The model is developed from an interdisciplinary literature review and includes six subsystems or spheres that exert influence on an individual: the workplace, family, religion, legal system, community, and profession. The study also examines the role of materiality in the decision-making process.Using this model, empirical tests identify the spheres that exert the most influence on the decision-maker facing an ethical dilemma. In addition, the relative importance of the spheres and the interaction among the spheres is examined. Findings show that: (1) individuals rate variables at different levels of importance as the materiality of the breach changes and (2) the spheres that are considered most important for minor ethical breaches are different than the spheres considered most influential in a major ethical situation.Exploratory factor analysis suggests that the variables representing the spheres can be summarized by three factors. Further, it indicates that these factors change with materiality.     

Designing Curriculum for Real-World International Business Needs

Economies continue to become more integrated through international trade and foreign investment, as well as by more, and more, complex global supply changes. With the expansion in the level and scope of international business (IB), it becomes all the more important that university graduates seeking careers in IB be able to “successfully hit the ground running” as they enter the labor force. The Schulich School of Business introduced a Certificate in Managing International Trade and Investment for undergraduates in 2012. Its aim was to intensify their learning by deepening their knowledge of IB and providing them with integrative courses, real-world learning, and cultural intelligence, enabling them to be effective in organizations as soon as they graduate. To ensure that the curriculum was in line with real-world needs, executives and other experts were interviewed to identify the skills they wanted to see in people they were hiring for their IB activities. The factors identified from this qualitative research informed the development of the Certificate. The global mind-set fostered will give students a competitive edge both in the recruitment process and on the job.     

The road less travelled: a pre-service approach towards the technology teaching profession

This paper presents the findings of a longitudinal study on the effectiveness of an innovative one-year pre-service Graduate Diploma of Teaching (secondary) for teachers of Technology. The timing of this study is significant. Over a decade of review and adjustment to the Technology curriculum, leading to the new learning area of Technology in the New Zealand curriculum, Ministry of Education (2007), has caused many teachers in New Zealand schools to retrench to an earlier approach or make their own interpretation of curricular requirements. This situation in schools created the need for those involved with pre-service teacher education to prepare programmes that signpost pitfalls while building on students’ own strengths and those of the curriculum to cope with the wide variety of interpretation and pedagogical approach of school communities. This paper suggests a way forward.     

The migrant wife: The worst of all worlds

This study reanalyses data on migrants to Alberta, collected by Statistics Canada in a 1980 Labour Force Survey. The findings indicate that migrant men are gainers and migrant women, particularly migrant wives are the losers from such movement, even during a period of relative economic prosperity in the Province. Women's occupational status tends to improve with time spent in the new labour force. However there is a failure to return to occupational statuses enjoyed before the move. This means, first, that male and female workers are more sex-differentiated after the move than before it; second, that migrant women, especially wives, enjoy fewer occupational returns on their educational investment than migrant men; third, that the balance of economic contribution, and possibly therefore influence, within a migrant household is shifted towards greater male dominance by the move.It is to be emphasized that each of these findings is to be regarded as tentative pending the completion of further analyses on this and three related data sets. In particular the analysis of household level data will be critical in assessing any hypotheses about family power before and after the move. Loma Marsden is Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto. Her most important publication is: The Fragile Federation: Social Change in Canada(with E. B. Harvey), (McGraw Hill Ryerson, 1979). Lorne Tepperman is Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto. His most important publications include Social Mobility in Canada(1975); Crime Control: The Urge Toward Authority(1977); The Roots of Disunity(1979), with David Bell.