{"title":"Beast philanthropy: Multifarious, complicated, and even contradictory","authors":"Katie Ellis","doi":"10.1002/nvsm.1859","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/nvsm.1859","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This article responds to the representations of disability and health care in MrBeast's disability focused philanthropic efforts such as [1000 Deaf People Hear for the First Time] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTOm65IZneg), and [1000 Blind People See For the First Time] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ2ifmkGGus). These videos follow the structure of a number of MrBeast's other social initiatives such as [Planting 20,000,000 Trees, My Biggest Project Ever!] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPJKxAhLw5I) In quantifying his initiatives in this way MrBeast is able to both reference back to his first breakthrough viral video where he counted to 100,000 over the course of 40 hours and leverage his followers to pick up the challenge and contribute towards the initiative. The YouTube algorithm has responded well to these approaches and as of 2023 Mr Beast is one of the most viewed and highest paid YouTubers. To respond to these disability focused videos under the broader banner of Beast Philanthropy, I also consider the response to these videos and Rhodri Davies' article. Amongst many things, Davies draws attention to the agency or lack thereof of the people receiving Mr Beasts' gifts, asserting they are disempowered as “merely passive actors whose twofold role is to provide a means for him to perform viewer-pleasing acts of generosity, and then to offer suitably effusive and emotional displays of gratitude in response.” I agree and assert that any non-consensual sharing of images is a form of disability abuse. As such, we must consider the agency of the people involved in these videos and whether they have given informed consent, and what informed consent means in this context.</p>","PeriodicalId":100823,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Philanthropy and Marketing","volume":"29 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140919296","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"On beast philanthropy: A response to commentaries and some final reflections","authors":"Rhodri Davies","doi":"10.1002/nvsm.1861","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/nvsm.1861","url":null,"abstract":"<p>To complete this special issue debating the philanthropy of MrBeast, Rhodri Davies offers some thoughtful responses to commentaries on his invited paper. Davies highlights how Beast Philanthropy, despite its novelty, evokes many of the classic ethical, moral, and political debates within the field. Nonetheless, in the contemporary ‘attention economy’ he notes that there are developments within this new style of ‘influencer philanthropy’ that we should observe closely and explore their implications. Davies observes an ambivalence and occasional frustration with MrBeast among the commentaries in this issue, but also a cautious optimism, informed both by the positive impacts Beast Philanthropy has already achieved and how it may evolve and mature over time. Davies urges us to put aside any generational differences and aesthetic aversions, and to engage in a generous spirit with this new era of influencer philanthropy.</p>","PeriodicalId":100823,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Philanthropy and Marketing","volume":"29 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140919284","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Dismantling Christian hegemony: Religious identity as a pathway to fully embrace DEIJ in philanthropy","authors":"Noah D. Drezner","doi":"10.1002/nvsm.1863","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/nvsm.1863","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This essay explores the crucial yet often overlooked role of religious identity in philanthropy, focusing on how Christian hegemony influences the sector's practices and priorities. While scholars have extensively studied the impact of social identities such as race, gender, and sexuality on philanthropic giving, the significance of religious diversity remains largely neglected. Building upon the existing literature, this essay argues that understanding and embracing religious diversity is essential for fully realizing diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) within philanthropy.</p>","PeriodicalId":100823,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Philanthropy and Marketing","volume":"29 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140919291","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Celebrity and influencer philanthropy: Debating MrBeast and China","authors":"Elaine Jeffreys, Jian Xu","doi":"10.1002/nvsm.1860","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/nvsm.1860","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This article examines the philanthropy/marketing interface with reference to celebrity philanthropy, focusing on the American YouTube star, MrBeast, and the Chinese government regulation of celebrities and social media influencers. Celebrity nowadays can refer to film and music stars with international broadcast media visibility and to people who create their own fame through social media and appeals to niche markets/audiences (social media influencers). While the United States of America has historically used tax incentives to encourage elite philanthropy as a matter of individual choice, the Chinese government is regulating the cultural industries to promote and direct celebrity and influencer philanthropy towards government-endorsed development goals. Comparing debates about MrBeast philanthropy with the operation of philanthropy in China highlights different ideas about celebrity/influencer philanthropy and the role it can play in supporting public welfare.</p>","PeriodicalId":100823,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Philanthropy and Marketing","volume":"29 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140820570","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Paula Maria de Jancso Fabiani, Marcos Paulo de Lucca Silveira, Flavio Pinheiro
{"title":"Income and money donation in middle-income countries: Evidence from Brazil","authors":"Paula Maria de Jancso Fabiani, Marcos Paulo de Lucca Silveira, Flavio Pinheiro","doi":"10.1002/nvsm.1862","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/nvsm.1862","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Income plays a crucial role in shaping pro-social behavior, particularly in the context of charitable giving. However, existing literature reveals mixed findings when dealing with the nuances in this relationship. This study aims to evaluate the main hypotheses concerning the influence of income on charitable giving, drawing on data from a 2021 national survey with 2099 respondents in Brazil. This study contributes with new evidence to the topic within the context of a middle-income Latin American country, an aspect often overlooked in previous studies. Our analysis focuses on how an individual's household income influences three key aspects: the likelihood of giving, the amount given, and the proportion of household income donated. The findings indicate that individuals from higher-income households donate larger sums of money but the same proportion of income as other income households. Household income does not significantly affect the likelihood of donating or the proportion of income donated.</p>","PeriodicalId":100823,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Philanthropy and Marketing","volume":"29 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140820673","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Four reflections on Beast philanthropy: A response to Davies","authors":"Jon Dean","doi":"10.1002/nvsm.1856","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/nvsm.1856","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":100823,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Philanthropy and Marketing","volume":"29 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140808023","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Good intent, or just good content? Assessing MrBeast's philanthropy","authors":"Rhodri Davies","doi":"10.1002/nvsm.1858","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/nvsm.1858","url":null,"abstract":"<p>MrBeast is the world's most successful individual YouTube content creator. Having made his name with videos of high-concept challenges and stunts, he has subsequently produced a series of viral videos centring on acts of philanthropy – drawing both praise and criticism in the process. This paper attempts to place MrBeast's approach in the context of wider historical and current debates about the nature and role of philanthropy, in order to ascertain what (if anything) is genuinely novel about it, and how we should understand it in relation to models of philanthropy that have gone before. The paper considers “Beast Philanthropy” through a range of lenses − aesthetic, ethical, economic and political − and what these can tell us about the key questions we should be asking and whether, on balance, we should view this phenomenon positively or not.</p>","PeriodicalId":100823,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Philanthropy and Marketing","volume":"29 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/nvsm.1858","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140648113","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"What is the point of Beast Philanthropy?","authors":"Matt Wade","doi":"10.1002/nvsm.1855","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/nvsm.1855","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Jimmy ‘MrBeast’ Donaldson is the most watched person on earth. There are undeniably far worse figures who could be commanding such attention, but there remains uncertainty about his methods of philanthropic giving and what Beast Philanthropy ultimately hopes to achieve. Beast Philanthropy claims that, through entertainment-based giving, they are inspiring a new generation of young people to be more civic-minded. However, this jars harshly with the hedonistic indulgence of many MrBeast videos, which delight in spectacular wastefulness and luxury consumerism. Moreover, Beast Philanthropy fosters both passive and romanticized notions of generosity, conditioning viewers to think of their <i>attention as a gift</i> and that giving should be always and endlessly fun. Finally, the insistent anti-politicism of Beast Philanthropy entails a refusal to offer even the slightest of opinions on the underlying causes of suffering and inequality. This deliberately incurious worldview may promote a narrow and stunted perspective on how meaningful social and political change is achieved. However, there are reasons to be optimistic and open-minded, and philanthropic foundations should not outright dismiss the prospects for Beast-style giving.</p>","PeriodicalId":100823,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Philanthropy and Marketing","volume":"29 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140643433","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Things change, things stay the same: MrBeast and novel philanthropy","authors":"Eddy Hogg, Vincent Miller","doi":"10.1002/nvsm.1857","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/nvsm.1857","url":null,"abstract":"<p>There is a tendency in the study of philanthropy to see each new innovation or movement as transformative and distinct from what has come before. Before MrBeast there was philanthrocapitalism and before long there will be another shiny new toy for those of us who research or practice philanthropy to study. Happily, Rhodri Davies' analysis of MrBeast's philanthropy avoids falling into the trap of seeing novelty at every turn. Instead, he presents a nuanced and measured analysis of the criticisms of MrBeast and of his philanthropic endeavours, weighing up where the mud sticks and where it does not. This response explores the relative novelty of MrBeast's approach to philanthropy and of the criticisms that have been levied at it.</p>","PeriodicalId":100823,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Philanthropy and Marketing","volume":"29 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140643434","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"How trust and relationships impact on the giving decisions of philanthropists","authors":"Caroline Greenhalgh, Paul Montgomery","doi":"10.1002/nvsm.1854","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/nvsm.1854","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Numerous studies have sought to understand why philanthropists are not giving more to charity. Two recently published studies identified a lack of faith in charities and an absence of trust as significant barriers to philanthropy. We report on the findings of a qualitative study which sought to examine the extent to which trust, and relationships influence the wealthy to give or withhold funding to charities. We employed in-depth qualitative research methods and semi-structured, conversational-style, interviews as the major form of data collection. We utilised Braun and Clarke's ‘reflexive thematic analysis’ method of thematic analysis which gave rise to 4 key themes and 9 sub-themes. Findings revealed that trust underpins the relationships that philanthropists have with charities and is an important conduit to forging an ongoing relationship. Trust is frequently relied upon as a proxy for evidence and an absence of trust will usually lead a philanthropist to withhold funding.</p>","PeriodicalId":100823,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Philanthropy and Marketing","volume":"29 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/nvsm.1854","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140632009","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}