Director of PhD Program Wins Virginia Hodgkinson Research Book Prize

Femida Handy, PhD, professor and director of the PhD program in social welfare at the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice, was recently selected for the Virginia A. Hodgkinson Research Book Prize for her work on The Palgrave Handbook of Global Philanthropy.

The Virginia Hodgkinson Research Book Prize is awarded by ARNOVA on an annual basis and is given to the best book on philanthropy and the nonprofit sectorthat informs policy and practice. The prize recognizes the pioneering role of Virginia Hodgkinson in the research on philanthropy and nonprofit organizations.

The Palgrave Handbook of Global Philanthropy, co-edited by Handy and Pamala Wiepking of the Rotterdam School of Management in Eramus University Rotterdam, is a guide to the latest research in philanthropy, the non-profit sector and charitable giving across twenty six nations and regions.

As the ARNOVA award letter stated, “The Palgrave Handbook of Global Philanthropy raises the bar for books on international philanthropy and makes an invaluable contribution in its empirical findings and extending the boundaries of the current state of theoretical knowledge in the field of philanthropy.”

The handbook explores global giving research, societal conditions that motivate philanthropic giving, and what the different drives for giving around the world are.

“For me, this book answers a question I had puzzled over for years: Why are people in some countries more willing to give than in other countries? I did not believe that people are different in terms of their intrinsic natures regarding generosity; so we set out to understand what institutional factors inhibited or encouraged philanthropic activity,” Handy said. “I believe the award recognized this as the first attempt made, using micro level data cross-nationally, to understand the facilitating factors that enable philanthropy.”

For years, Handy’s research and teaching focus on the economics of the nonprofit sector, philanthropy, volunteering, nonprofit entrepreneurship and microfinance.

Prior to being appointed as Editor-in-Chief of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly in 2010, the premier journal in the field, Handy served on the editorial board of several academic journals. Professor Handy has published widely in a variety scientific journals on a variety of nonprofit-related topics, and her work has garnered many awards. One area of prominence is her scholarship on volunteering and philanthropy, in an international context. Her recent books on philanthropy are The Practice and Promise of Philanthropy in India.

Handy received the research book prize on Nov. 18 at the ARNOVA Awards Luncheon.