In my doctoral program, they encourage students to begin thinking about their dissertations now, in the second term. It is both exciting and terrifying, because I’m still trying to figure out how to put into words what I’d like to research. That’s ok, though—right now, the ideas are starting to piece together as I learn the terms that I’ll need to observe and measure my findings.

I picked up a book at the library today that I hope will solidify the foundation for my study. If this book explains what I have a hunch it will reveal, then my own hypotheses will be better grounded. If not, well … I don’t know what then. I guess I’ll brainstorm another idea.

What I hope to discover is whether mega-gifts (also called transformational gifts) by the Carnegie family to establish and endow numerous libraries across the country spurred the federal government into offering more funding for libraries. I wanted to use a well-known example from history that we can delve into and track along a timeline. In other words, I want to find out if national library associations, federal grants, etc. gained more oomph after the Carnegies invested private money into the effort.

Why is this important? I’m so glad you asked. 🙂

I believe this is important because if it turns out to be true that philanthropic gifts have a direct or indirect influence on federal priorities, then we can speculate the potential impact of mega-gifts in the future. Specifically, I’d like to try to forecast gifts from the wealthy individuals participating in The Giving Pledge. I believe that we can narrow down their affinities (based on their current giving and/or that of their private foundations) and predict (within the course of a few decades, depending on their lifespan) the impact on federal spending priorities.

For example, we know from their current funding practices that Bill and Melinda Gates are strong advocates of global health and poverty initiatives. If my Carnegie Influence Model (for lack of a better term) is accurate, then I believe that we will see an uptick in the amount of attention given to global health and poverty initiatives at the federal level in the future.

This idea of the Carnegie Influence Model is what I’m working on this semester. In future classes, I might be able to replicate the study based on mega-gifts in other areas. I’m excited to delve into it and see what I can find!