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The Role of Philanthropy in Local Government Finance
Author(s) -
Irvin Renée A.,
Carr Patrick
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
public budgeting and finance
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.694
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1540-5850
pISSN - 0275-1100
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-5850.2005.00366.x
Subject(s) - revenue , altruism (biology) , government (linguistics) , per capita , public finance , business , public economics , minor (academic) , variable (mathematics) , finance , economics , local government , public relations , public administration , political science , law , macroeconomics , psychology , social psychology , population , linguistics , philosophy , mathematical analysis , demography , mathematics , sociology
Nonprofit organizations thrive on the altruism of citizens, and actively court donors for major gifts. Yet individual gifts to government agencies are often unexpected, sporadic, and initiated by the donor. This article introduces the phenomenon of private giving to local governments and tests hypotheses regarding the expected forms of giving to public agencies. Results indicate that philanthropy is and will likely remain a minor and highly variable source of revenue, making it an ill‐suited replacement for broad‐based tax revenue. However, deliberate government efforts to provide a suitable environment for private donations appear to succeed in attracting more gifts per capita.