Viviana Chiu Sik Wu

2023-2024 ISSR Scholars Project Title: Distributive Justice in the Third Sector: Theorizing and Tracing Philanthropic Networks in the Grants Market

The voluntary nature of giving provides us with little clue of the powerful “invisible hands” that orchestrate the philanthropic landscape. Dr. Wu will develop the theoretical framework of  “distributive justice” for giving through a mixed methods approach, utilizing qualitative and computational network analyses to examine grant distribution and disparities along the socio-economic, racial, and rural-urban lines. This research would shed light on the equity considerations of philanthropic distribution, and expose the ways in which wealthy players and mega-structures shape the philanthropic marketplace across places and over time.