Million Dollar Giving

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The Million Dollar List is a record of publicly announced charitable gifts of $1 million or more given by U.S. residents, corporations, private foundations, and other grantmaking nonprofits to domestic or international entities across a range of charitable subsectors since 2000. Updated on an ongoing basis, this searchable online database contains information on donor characteristics, amounts given, donor and recipient locations, specific subsectors to which gifts were given, and additional descriptive information where possible. Interactive charts and maps present graphic representations of key aspects of the data.

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 10
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    Private Aid and Development: Evidence from Million Dollar Donations
    (2014-07) Osili, Una
    This paper investigates the role of private aid in meeting global challenges in developing countries in the 21st century. We use a newly available data set that provides unique information about publicly announced private donations of a million dollars or more between 2000 and 2010 from U.S. individuals, foundations, and corporations to international causes. In the past decade, there has been a significant growth in private aid; however, only a handful of studies have examined the size and composition of private aid to developing countries. Our analysis reveals that private aid toward developing countries is focused on key subsectors, with a significant share of private aid targeted at health and education. In general, we find that private aid to developing countries is positively associated with population size, incidence, and the severity of natural disasters, with more populous countries and countries that experienced more severe disasters receiving more private aid. Interestingly, while aggregate incidence and levels of private aid are positively associated with disasters, private aid is less responsive to development indicators and other factors that have been shown to be of importance for official development assistance (ODA).
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    Literature Review on High Net Worth Philanthropy
    (2011-10) Osili, Una
    Philanthropic activity among high net worth individuals has received much attention in recent years, becoming the focus of scholarly research and policy interest. High net worth philanthropy has received media attention with a number of stories about wealthy individuals making substantial pledges or contributions. High-profile donors and the efforts of philanthropists such as Oprah Winfrey, George Soros, and Ted Turner, among others, have generated a renewed interest in the idea of the wealthy giving away large portions of their fortunes to charitable causes.
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    Economic Effects on Million Dollar Giving
    (2014-12) Osili, Una; Ackerman, Jacqueline; Li, Yannan
    This study investigates the impact of economic factors on the number of charitable gifts of one million dollars or more within the United States using the Million Dollar List dataset. We investigate key donor groups: individuals, corporations, and foundations. Results indicate that individual donors are particularly responsive to underlying economic conditions; giving by foundations tends to be counter-cyclical, and corporate giving is not significantly associated with macroeconomic factors. We also find that economic conditions vary in their influence on giving to subsectors, and gifts to public benefit and human services organizations increase significantly during periods of recession. Findings from our study have direct implications for philanthropists, fundraisers, and policy makes as they seek to understand how economic conditions impact large gifts.
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    International Million Dollar Donors Report 2013
    (2013) Osili, Una; Ackerman, Jacqueline
    A key component of the report is the views and opinions of million dollar donors, who have given their time to tell us why they choose to part with a significant portion of their wealth and why they give to the causes they have selected. Their thoughts are open, frank and honest.
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    International Million Dollar Donors Reports 2014
    (2014) Osili, Una
    The international Million Dollar Donors Report is an annual study established in 2013 by Coutts & Co. and the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. It analyzes $1 million-plus giving by donors around the world. The first study, released in 2013 about giving in the year 2012, explored six countries or regions: the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, the Middle East (Gulf Cooperation Council nations), China and Hong Kong. The 2014 study adds Singapore to the analysis.
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    Million Dollar Ready - Assessing the Factors that Lead to Transformational Gifts
    (2013-12) Osili, Una; Ackerman, Jacqueline
    Million-dollar donors have been studied extensively, but less is known about the institutions that receive their gifts. What makes them so attractive to generous donors, and what can other institutions learn from their examples? This report examines colleges and universities that benefit from donations of one million dollars or more, and identifies the characteristics that help them attract major gifts.
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    The Million Dollar List - Methodology and Summary Statistics October 2011
    (2011-10) Osili, Una
    Charitable giving by high net worth households is an area of interest for scholars, practitioners, and donors. Research shows that high net worth donors contribute a disproportionately high share of all philanthropic dollars (Havens & Schervish, 2001 ; Havens, O‟Herlihy, & Schervish, 2006). However, little is known about patterns in high net worth giving. Scholars continue to investigate the characteristics of high net worth giving and high net worth donors in an effort to better understand how and why this subset of donors contribute their time and money.
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    An Analysis of Million Dollar Gifts: January 2000 – September 2007
    (2008) IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy