From the Director: April 2011

Dear Friends and Supporters,

Spring greetings and wishes to all of you. As we look out on the Stanford University campus, there is so much to be grateful for with the opportunity to expand knowledge and learning. Even so, I must acknowledge the serious challenges facing us globally. Let’s take a moment to pause and think about the suffering in Japan from the recent natural disasters and then to acknowledge the challenges in the Middle East as people fight for their personal freedom. There are many ways that you can support these efforts through philanthropy while we are also exploring these social issues through our research efforts. The challenges are complex but the insights that we can provide to create social change through our scholars, practitioners and innovators with a long term strategic lens are boundless.

Recently I had the opportunity to accompany Steven Rockefeller and Selig Sacks, one of our Stanford Law School alumni leaders to Beijing to represent the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society (PACS) and the Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR) with business, government, foundation and nonprofit leaders. It was a transformational experience that expanded my vision about the respect that PACS and SSIRcommand globally. It was noteworthy that academic silos are passé and that everywhere we went there was genuine interest in the interdisciplinary role of leaders, innovators and philanthropists to spotlight new information through a practical lens to create social advancement. We see this theme everywhere when our PACS and SSIR team are at conferences globally or when we are hosting scholars or public events at Stanford. The opportunities for PACS with SSIR to lead and partner globally on knowledge creation, knowledge sharing and community building are an open field. The reverence that others have for “philanthropy” with the underpinnings from scholarly research anchored at Stanford University in Silicon Valley, is of the highest regard. It was a privilege to represent our work and dreams with changemakers and influencers in Beijing. I know that these recent experiences will enliven and enrich our work at PACS and beyond!

We are a “center on philanthropy” and this note comes to you at a time when we are all focused on the April 15th tax season and what that means to individuals who make charitable gifts, institutional foundations, corporations and nonprofits that benefit from these tax deductions. We observe the level of polarizing discourse in Congress threatening to stop government. What is the new social contract between citizens and our government? More government cuts are contributing to increased work by nonprofits that are counting on philanthropy to serve greater community needs? What are the responsibilities of these nonprofit organizations and the independent sector? What is the collective relationship for public and private sector that is evolving? Is it a new partnership or is it a hand-off? And who and how will these changes be balanced in that third sector by nonprofits and civil society organizations? Very specifically, as national, state and local government cutbacks grow, we have seen more private resources impacting the education reform debate.

Join us on Wednesday April 20th: Wendy Kopp, Founder and President of Teach for America discusses her new book A Chance to Make History. She will be interviewed by Rob Reich, PACS Faculty Co-Director. This event is in partnership with Silicon Valley Social Ventures (SV2) Please mark your calendar for 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm in Encina Hall - Bechtel Conference Center Stanford University campus. Please rsvp here. Please let this serve as an invitation join Alexa Culwell, PACS Visiting Practitioner, past President of The Charles Schwab Foundation and The Larry Stupski Foundation who will lead an armchair interview of Mark Kramer, PACS Visiting Practitioner and Founder-FSG Consulting and Leslie Crutchfield, from FSG Consulting and co-authors of their new book, Do More than Give: The 6 Practices of Donors Who Change the World. Thursday May 5th from 5:00pm to 6:30pm in Encina Hall-Bechtel Conference Center.  This event is in partnership with the Center for Social Innovation.

Join us in New York City Monday May 16th 6:00pm reception and 7:00pm to 8:30pm program on “How Private Resources are Impacting Education Reform” with Shael Polakow Suransky, New York City Schools Interim Chancellor, Senior Deputy Chancellor and Chief Academic Advisor; Jeannie Oakes, Education Program-Ford Foundation; andWendy Kopp, Founder and President of Teach for America, moderated by Rob Reich, Faculty Co-Director –PACS. The event is co-sponsored with the Stanford Alumni Association-NYC and the Americas Society/Council of Americas where the event will be held at 680 Park Ave & East 68th. Registration fee is $15 for AS members, COA members, Stanford Alumni; $20 for non-members.

Today we have our Spring Quarter small grant deadline so there is one more opportunity for you to apply for $500 to $2,500 this academic year! Let’s acknowledge our most recent small grant recipients:

• Curtis Murungi, PhD, Anthropology, Advisor Sylvia Yanagisako. Research topic: Government and Constitutional Reform in Kenya.

• Ana Diaz-Hernandez, Undergraduate in Anthropology and Civil Engineering, Advisor Jenna Davis. Research Topic: Understanding Social Organization and Motivations Surrounding Sanitation Development: A Case Study of a Rural Island Community in Panama.

Congratulations to our inaugural Post Doctoral Research Fellows for the 2011-2012 academic year.

• Chiara Cordelli, Political Theory, School of Public Policy, from University College London will be working with Rob Reich, PACS Faculty Co-Director. Ms. Cordelli’s PhD thesis title is “The Changing Subject of Justice and the Duties of Private Agents.”

• Valeska Pailin Korff from the Department of Sociology, University of Groningen, Netherlands will be working with Woody Powell, PACS Faculty Co-Director. Ms. Korff’s PhD thesis was on intra-and inter-organizational relations in the nonprofit sector, with a special focus on the professionalization of international humanitarian organizations.

Additionally this month, the Stanford Social Innovation Review co-hosted with FSG Consulting the Collective Impact Conference with 300 attendees at Arrillaga Alumni Center. It was a day of discussions related to the important issues of collaboration, public-private partnerships and explorations of real approaches that are working to impact the social challenges facing society today. Special recognition is due to Regina Ridley, Publishing Director of SSIR and her team in addition to Mark Kramer and John Kania from FSG Consulting.

PACS hosted a group of 30 Japanese students through Volunteers In Asia (VIA) organized by Kazutoh Ishida and Ben Strong. We led a discussion on “Philanthropy 101” and then made some comparisons between Japan, China and the United States recognizing each countries unique approach. Remarkably 17 of the students were from the earthquake stricken area, but they all made it to this spring break trip to Stanford, so it was a very special moment to recognize the humanity and dignity of the Japanese response to the disaster with these student leaders. We continue to broaden and deepen relationships across the University with faculty and students as an important part of our mission.

We held a PACS reception with Buzz Thompson, Director, Woods Institute for the Environment and Professor in Natural Resources Law along with colleagues and students from the Woods Institute for an introductory meeting with the PACS faculty, staff and students. Special thanks to Rob Reich and Woody Powell, PACS Faculty Co-Directors. Looking ahead, PACS will also be partnering with the Haas Center for Public Service on a project using social networking for social good with actor Kevin Bacon and GSB Professor Jennifer Aaker.  

As always, I must thank our dedicated Advisory Board under the leadership of Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen. This dream team is a group of the best leading edge visionaries and leaders, who are always pushing new ideas, strategy and direction! There is much work to be done as we look ahead to this exciting spring quarter and series of events, in addition to new opportunities as a result of the China trip, but it is all very inspiring and invigorating! Thank you for joining our journey of social change for social good!