By William Bagley, Advancement Office

Through a Different Lens – A Book, Blood, and Altruism: Thinking About Philanthropy

On a corner in Cambridge in 1974, a day before taking my graduate degree, a favorite professor stopped me and offered a book. He described it as “something you have to read.” Though I had visions of reading a Trollope novel on a beach on Cape Cod, I could not say no. The book, written by Richard Titmuss, changed my life. Its title is The Gift Relationship.[1]

In the late 1960’s, Titmuss was a professor at the London School of Economics. His academic interests would lead him to study philanthropy – but in a very distinctive way.

Rather than look at philanthropy expressed as gifts of money, he looked at philanthropy in the (more…)