August 20, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
NEW BOOKS
Giving Circles: Philanthropy, Voluntary Association, and Democracy
by Angela M. Eikenberry
Ms. Eikenberry, a professor at the School of Public Administration at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, analyzes the role “giving circles” — groups of people who pool money to donate to charity — play in encouraging democracy. She says she sees the growing popularity of giving circles as an avenue by which people — particularly women and minorities — can become more involved in their communities but on their own terms. Ms. Eikenberry states that the utility of giving circles is not based on how much money they donate or who they help. She writes that “their biggest contribution to democratic governance is more about what they enable members to give back to their communities rather than what funding recipients and the community gain from these gifts.”
Publisher: Indiana University Press, 601 North Morton Street, Bloomington, Ind. 47404; (800) 842-6796; fax (812) 855-8507; iuporder@indiana.edu; http://iupress.indiana.edu; 173 pages; $21.95; ISBN 978-0-253-22085-1.
