The Study On The Historical Development Of U.S. Philanthropic Foundations

In modern society, teeming and healthily development of Non- governmental organizations(NGOs) plays an irreplaceable role for improving social welfare and promoting the social stability. According to the research of Lester M. Salarmon, an American scholar, the 'Revolution of association' appeared in the whole world, of which the remarkable sign is that a lot of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been springing up in different countries of the world for promoting the development of social welfare. If the former researches on the governance mechanism composed of 'nation-market-society' have provided us a deeper understanding of the function and structure of nation and market, then the researches on such Non-government organization(NGO) as philanthropic foundations are bringing us to realize the organized subject of social governing and the changes they have brought to our life.America must be mentioned regarding philanthropic foundations and philanthropic cultures. As with regard to the number of philanthropic giving and philanthropic foundations, well-established system, great influence, no other country could be mentioned in the same breath with U.S.. U.S. philanthropic foundations are the results of American modernization course. Together with other NGOs, U.S. philanthropic foundations are significant economic force in America. Practice has shown that philanthropic foundations are playing important roles in American social life. Attaching more importance to researching on philanthropic foundations can not only deepen the understanding of American society, but also give the reference to healthily and fast development of Chinese philanthropic foundations at the starting stage.The paper is aimed at analyzing the historical course and status quo of U.S. philanthropic foundations. The first part reviews and explores the historical course of U.S. philanthropic foundations. The second part analyzes the status quo and and its characteristics in detail, mean while, it also predict the developing trend in accordance with the features of philanthropic foundations and the international environment. And, the third part probe deeply into the reason why the philanthropic foundation rises and develops in U.S.. In conclusion, besides the demanding of nation and society, it is the co-influence of economic factor, social factor, and cultural factor that cause the rapid growth and prosperity of philanthropic foundations in such a short time. Such conclusion makes us realize the advantages and the motivation of the philanthropic foundations. At last, the rest part point out that we should draw lesson from them and rethink the problem we come up against profoundly on basis of our national conditions. We'd better perfect the development and management of the philanthropic organization including philanthropic foundations in terms of the cultural structure, decreasing the threshold of philanthropic foundation and improving the governing body.