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New Trends of Philanthropy - Development of the Nonprofit Sector and Charitable Giving in the U.S.

Vienna
May 27, 2008

PROGRAM BRIEF (pdf) - prepared by the American Reference Center

Remarks by Cultural Attaché Katherine Perez, U.S. Embassy Vienna

On May 27, Michael O’Neill, Professor of Non-Profit Management, University of San Francisco, delivered a talk on “New Trends in Philanthropy: Development of the Non-Profit Sector and Charitable Giving in the U.S.” before an expert audience of NGO representatives involved in fundraising and Embassy contacts at the Amerika Haus. In a tour d’horizon, the speaker described both recipient and donor groups, providing elaborate statistics and analyses, and outlined future trends for the U.S. non-profit sector, also touching on increasingly important issues such as accountability. The ensuing Q&A provided the audience an opportunity to draw comparisons between U.S. and European societies with regard to charitable giving and to put the developments into a historical context.


Cultural Attaché Katherine Perez, U.S. Embassy Vienna, welcoming the audience	Monica Culen, President of Austrian Fundraising Association (FVA)


Michael O’Neill, Professor of Nonprofit Management, University of San Francisco	Chargé d'Affaires Scott Kilner, U.S. Embassy Vienna, and Prof. O'Neill

Remarks by Cultural Attaché Katherine Perez

Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Amerika Haus and to this evening’s program. I am Katherine Perez, the Cultural Attaché of the U.S. Embassy. A special welcome also to the head of our mission, Chargé d’Affaires Scott Kilner – thank you for taking the time to join us tonight.

I’m very pleased that Professor Michael O’Neill, who I should like to welcome especially, has graciously agreed to give a talk on “New Trends in Philanthropy: Development of the Nonprofit Sector and Charitable Giving in the U.S.” Actually, Professor O’Neill is here on sabbatical together with his wife Elfrieda, a classical singer, but he has kindly made himself available to us tonight. He is demonstrating firsthand the spirit of giving by donating his precious personal time in order to be with us this evening. Thank you, Professor O’Neill, for sharing your valuable time and expertise!

I also want to use this opportunity to thank Magister Helmut Heinzel from the Fundraising Institute, and Doctor Günther Lutschinger and Monica Culen from Fundraising Verband Austria for their cooperation and help in setting up this program.

Philanthropy and volunteerism has a great tradition in the U.S. It is estimated that more than one million private persons and groups support the third or non-profit sector. Their donations make up for three-fourths of the total amount of donations, which is more than 200 billion dollars per year.

The scale and the preconditions in Austria are of course different, but I understand philanthropy and fundraising have become increasingly important here, too.

Therefore, I am confident there is a lot to share and learn from each other, and I am glad that the US Embassy can facilitate such an exchange of knowledge. With such vast expertise assembled in this room, I’m looking forward to an interesting talk and a fruitful discussion afterwards.

One final note: for those of you who are here at the Amerika Haus for the first time, let me invite you to sign on our program list. The US Embassy offers a great variety of programs throughout the year, and we would be happy to welcome you again.

We have put a list at the entrance where you can leave your name and email address, so we can send you information about our future programs. Next to this list, you will actually find invitations to some of our upcoming activities. Please feel free to take one or more for you or your colleagues.

I will now hand over the microphone to Monica Culen, our distinguished co-host. Thank you all for coming. I hope you enjoy the program and please stay for a glass of wine after the discussion.

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