Gasman Reports on African American Family Foundations

April 12, 2010 - The Aspen Institute recently released A Growing Tradition?: Examining African American Family Foundations, a report by Penn GSE Associate Professor Marybeth Gasman.

Published by the Institute’s Philanthropy and Social Innovation program, the executive summary presents analysis of Gasman's research on African American family foundations in the U.S. and their growth in recent decades.

A historian of higher education, Gasman has focused much of her research on philanthropy and historically black colleges and African-American giving. Among her books are Supporting Alma Mater: Successful Strategies for Securing Funds from Black College Alumni (with Sibby Anderson-Thompkins), Uplifting a People: African American Philanthropy and Education (with Kate Sedgwick), and Philanthropy, Fundraising, and Volunteerism in Higher Education (with Andrea Walton).

The paper is part of as Aspen Institute initiative designed to develop new knowledge that encourages strategic philanthropy in response to social and technological changes.

Media contact: Jill DiSanto-Haines at 215-898-4820 or jdisanto@upenn.edu