It used to be called charity, but that word is out of style. Today it travels under other names, including philanthropy.
Do different groups see the process of giving and volunteering differently? That's a question pursued by the IU Center on Philanthropy on the Indianapolis campus.
The findings of a two-year study will soon be available in a report and companion video called "African American Traditions of Giving and Serving: A Midwest Perspective" and "The Ties That Bind: The African American Philanthropic Tradition," respectively.
The report, which costs $10, and the video, $9.95, may be ordered by calling 317-274-4200.
The study was conducted by Cheryl Hall-Russell and Robert Kasberg (who is no longer at the Center for Philanthropy) under the direction of Paula Parker-Sawyers.
The co-directors did 180 in-depth interviews of African Americans in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan.
Hall-Russell explained that the research indicated that blacks don't regard what they do to help others as philanthropy.
Parker-Sawyers added that it is how that idea is defined.
"Blacks," she said, "tend to help more informally and within extended families and neighborhoods, but view philanthropy as something done within a formal organization. Only as the conversation went on and a description of what philanthropy is was discussed did they (the interviewees) say, 'Oh, that's what you mean. We do that all the time.'"
For African Americans, "charity begins at home," as the saying goes. Their first priority remains the immediate family. Helping other blacks usually comes next, primarily through the church, according to the report.
Another finding was that African Americans consider donations of knowledge, skill and time to be of greater value than money.
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