Individual philanthrophy: A research on the characteristics of the philanthropists at Antalya province

Voluntary charitable activities which individuals and institutions carry out in order to ensure social justice and help to resolve inequalities in society are considered as philanthropy. Philanthropic activities which carry out by foundations, associations and as well as through first-hand volunteer activities by individuals in Turkey. The aim of this thesis is to explain individual philanthropy activities in the questions of the general characteristics of the philanthropists, reasons to carry out individual philanthropy activities, and why some philanthropy activities have higher priority than others. A qualitative research design is implemented as a method; sample of the study is selected from Antalya province where the individual philanthropy activities are prevalent in the field of education. The data of this research consists of notes of the interviews which Antalya Directorate of National Education carried out with philanthropists between the dates of 2012 and 2013. According to results of the descriptive analysis, donations in education field (building schools and classrooms, supporting the educational expenses of students who are in need) are predominant within the scope of individual philanthropy activities in Antalya province and its towns. The reasons that philanthropists pay more attention to educational activities are closely related to individual and familial issues, and also they believe that the educated individuals directly affect the development of society. Keywords: Civil society approach, social responsibility, individual philanthropy, conventional philanthropy, descriptive analysis, Antalya