THROUGH THE
Sallyport
The Role of Private Foundations in Supporting Religion
Brains and Bronze
Although millions of Americans make individual contributions weekly at their places of worship, a new study by a Rice University sociologist finds that private foundations have a disproportionate influence on the religious sector — despite the fact that their contributions constitute only a fraction of all philanthropy to religion.
What do former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and former Congresswoman Barbara Jordan have in common with Rice University’s founding president? Soon, they all will have been immortalized in bronze by noted American sculptor Bruce Wolfe.
Private foundations are influential in religion “because of their institutional independence, financial resources and unique ability to redirect energies within an institutional field,” wrote co-authors D. Michael Lindsay, an assistant professor of sociology at Rice, and sociologist Robert Wuthnow, director of the Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton, in “Financing Faith: Religion and Strategic Philanthropy.” Published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, it is the first major study of foundation giving to religion. The authors examined all grants between 1999 and 2003 reported by private foundations to the Foundation Center, which maintains the most comprehensive database on U.S. grants and grantmakers. They chose that five-year window because it represents a time that included both significant economic expansion (1999–2000) and retraction (2001) in the U.S. economy. During that period, the Lilly Endowment Inc. was by far the biggest donor to religious organizations. It awarded 1,473 grants totaling more than $677 million. In second place was the Arthur S. DeMoss Foundation, with more than $94 million in contributions. The Lilly Endowment “has infused hundreds of thousands of dollars into the religious sector with a strong preference to developing the leadership capabilities of pastors and church staff members. Over the last decade, the endowment has allocated nearly $500 million to various programs across the country with the goal of recruiting, training and sustaining high-caliber ministry professionals.” This kind of directed giving has real impact, according to the study. Federal tax policy has played a significant role in affecting religious philanthropy, Lindsay and Wuthnow found. The Tax Reform Act of 1969 both defined “private foundations” and regulated their activities. Since then, federal legislation has shaped philanthropic giving by delineating a number of charitable giving vehicles, including donor-advised funds and supporting organizations. The authors reached several major conclusions, one of which is that private foundations have significant, strategic resources that allow them to set agendas in the religious sector, even though foundation giving is only 5 percent of all religious giving. Second, social conditions such as rising secularism, religious pluralism and globalization pose significant challenges for the religious sector. And finally, foundation giving may very well reshape the religious sector in the years ahead. The study was supported by the Aspen Institute, with logistical support from the Center for Civil Society at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Rice recently commissioned a nearly 8-foot bronze statue of Edgar Odell Lovett that will be placed in front of Keck Hall, where Lovett gave his last speech as Rice’s president. The university is seeking support from the Rice community to fulfill its plans for the statue and hopes to unveil it during Rice’s Centennial Celebration in 2012. “Rice is the outgrowth of the vision, direction and leadership of one man: Edgar Odell Lovett,” said John Boles ’65, the William Pettus Hobby Professor of History. “His ambitions for Rice and years of dedicated service shaped the entire university, and his influence permeates Rice even today.” The Wortham Foundation, whose founder, Gus Wortham, was a Rice trustee from 1946 to 1962, provided a $300,000 challenge grant to cover almost half the statue’s cost. Rice must raise the remaining $400,000 from its alumni, faculty, staff, students and friends. “The Rice Art Committee unanimously selected Wolfe for his remarkable skill in creating dynamic likenesses,” said trustee emeritus Raymond Brochstein ’55, who chairs the committee. He noted that the Lovett statue will be a valuable contribution to Rice’s campus. “Lovett believed that Rice should play a significant role in advancing the arts in Houston,” Brochstein said. “Because of its artistic, historical and sentimental value, the Lovett statue will be a centerpiece of the collection of diverse, site-specific installations that the Rice Public Art Program is building to enliven the campus.” Gifts to the Lovett statue count toward the Centennial Campaign, Rice’s $1 billion fundraising strategy to launch Rice into its second century. Donors pledging $5,000 or more will be recognized on a plaque placed on the monument.
To donate, visit rice.edu/centennialcampaign or mail your gift to Rice University, Lovett Statue Fund–MS 83, P.O. Box 1892, Houston, TX 77251-1892. For more information, contact Sam Lasseter, Rice’s senior philanthropic adviser, at lasseter@rice.edu or 713-348-4387.
—Franz Brotzen
D. Michael Lindsay Rice Magazine
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No. 7
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2010
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