Roger J. Nemeth is a sociology professor at Hope College in Holland, Mich. He has written about finances and congregations, including an essay, “The Religious Basis of Charitable Giving in America: A Social Capital Perspective” for the volume Religion, Social Capital and Democratic Life.

Steven Jacobs is a professor of religious studies and holds the Aaron Aronov Chair of Judaic Studies at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. He can comment on altruism as a scholar of modern Jewish thought and from a post-Holocaust perspective.

Ahmad S. Dallal is dean of Georgetown University in Qatar. His research interests include early modern Islamic societies, the causes of 9/11 and the relationship between Islam and science.

Sharon L. Miller is associate director of the Center for the Study of Theological Education at Auburn Theological Seminary in New York City. She is a sociologist of religion who specializes in evaluation research and data analysis. Miller co-edited a collection of essays on religious giving titled Financing American Religion.

Stephanie Clintonia Boddie is senior researcher at the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life in Washington. She specializes in the role of religious congregations in providing community services and has published two reports on giving for the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Center on Social Development.

Paul G. Schervish is a director of the Boston College Center on Wealth and Philanthropy and a sociology professor at the college in Chestnut Hill, Mass. He directed the studies “The Moral Biography of Wealth: Philosophical Reflections on the Foundation of Philanthropy,” “The Contradictions of Christmas: Troubles and Traditions in Culture, Home, and Heart,” and “The […]

Abdullah Saeed is a professor of Arab and Islamic studies and director of Centre for the Study of Contemporary Islam at the University of Melbourne in Australia. He has written widely on the role of money in Islam.

James K. Kelley is director of development for the Diocese of Charlotte in North Carolina and president of the board of directors of the International Catholic Stewardship Council. Kelley is the author of “Stewardship Manual: A Guide for Individuals and Parishes Developing Stewardship as a Way of Life” and the book Sustaining and Strengthening Stewardship.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy covers nonprofits.