From the Director: Dec 2011

Dear friends,

Thinking of you! May you find inner peace, joy and unstructured time for rejuvenation as you enjoy the holiday season and look ahead to the New Year. As you look back over your accomplishments, challenges and opportunities from 2011 then consider your hopes, dream and goals for 2012, I am certain that leadership and commitment matters.

At Stanford PACS, we enjoy the thoughtful leadership of Woody Powell and Rob Reich our Faculty Co-Directors, in addition to our visionary Advisory Board chaired by Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, and Madeline Stein (Vice Chair), Susan Ford Dorsey, Laura Meier Fisher, John Goldman, Russ Hall, Leslie Hume, Burt McMurtry, William Meehan III, and Regina Kulik Scully. We are so fortunate to have their commitment strengthening us daily. My very special gratitude for all they do to advance our mission through their time, intellectual and financial capital. Our dream team!

A very important accomplishment for Stanford PACS in 2011 was the completion of our strategic plan and website. During that process we became much clearer about our vision, mission and goals. Personal thanks to Paul Brest, President of the Hewlett Foundation and Bill Meehan, Lecturer at the Graduate School of Business and his years at McKinsey & Company, for their interest and guidance during the strategic planning process. As experts in strategic planning and strategic philanthropy, their insights helped chart our course to create goals with meaningful measurable impact to insure that we "walk the talk." Grateful thanks to Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen and Regina Scully, who helped me illuminate and articulate our work with strong intention and style, which I hope has helped you understand our work with scholars, practitioners and leaders.

Vision: The Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society strives to be the leading global research center on philanthropy and civil society.

Mission: The Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society (Stanford PACS) develops and shares knowledge to improve philanthropy, strengthen civil society and effect social change. Stanford PACS connects students, scholars and practitioners and publishes the preeminentjournalStanford Social Innovation Review(SSIR).

What We Do: Stanford PACS is a research center for scholars, practitioners and leaders to explore and share ideas that create social change.

Last week I had the delight to observe the final session of the "Strategic Philanthropy" class that Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen teaches at the Stanford Graduate School of Business with guest speaker Nitsa Zuppas, Executive Director of the Siebel Foundation. Under Tom Siebel's leadership, The Meth Project is a remarkable example of catalytic philanthropy, where passion and impact come together. Teen meth use in Montana has declined by 63% and adult meth use has declined by 72%. The results are staggering and it is strategic focused philanthropy at its best. How are you approaching your philanthropy?

As the class continued, each graduate student shared their final video project of how they individually want to impact the world through their philanthropy. Each presentation was inspiring and if this is the leadership that we can expect from the next generation, we can offer hope to future generations. Being a student at Stanford is a privilege and with that honor comes responsibility to make the world a better place through whatever path is chosen in philanthropy, business, government or civil society. The Chronicle of Philanthropy noted in their December 7^thissue that "Nearly 60 percent of nonprofits achieved no increase in donations or saw giving drop in the first nine months of 2011, compared with the first three quarters of 2010. Sixty-five percent of donors don't plan to increase their giving in 2012, while 17 percent plan to contribute less." We all share in that responsibility to impact social change.

While the class was inspiring, as you think about your year-end giving and the holiday spirit, I hope that you are thinking about your personal imprint and impact. If you need more strategic guidance, I would encourage you to refer to Giving 2.0: Transform Your Giving and Our World or go to www.giving2.com by Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen. During the holiday season finding that balance between strategic philanthropy and charity is a reality. I must admit that there is motivation to support, for example, the immediate needs of food banks, homeless shelters and emergency health as we look around our local and global communities. How are you helping?

Later that same day, I participated in Occupy Stanford. It was a great example of Stanford faculty and students coming together to have an intelligent discussion and share presentations on the economic and social justice issues related to the 1% of Americans versus the 99% of Americans, and to study this movement. Many of you have opinions, one way or the other, but discourse and original thinking is what Stanford University and Stanford PACS encourage. Rob Reich, Faculty Co-Director spoke and his thoughts on "Ethics and Inequality" were published in the Boston Review. We also heard from other thoughtful leaders such as Donald Kennedy, President Emeritus of Stanford University and Doug McAdam, Professor of Sociology, Stanford University who did the landmark research on "The Civic Impact of Youth Volunteerism: The Curious Contrast Between Freedom Summer and Teach for America."

Allison Anoll, Political Science- PhD and Stanford PACS student, was selected to share her remarks publicly at the Occupy rally. Her noteworthy observation was that "Understanding this movement means stepping out from the shadow of the ivory tower and embracing our connections with the world. It means reclaiming the actions we too often take for granted, making them purposeful and thoughtful. But most importantly, this movement means recognizing the way we are bound in responsibility, consequences, and opportunity with strangers." We all have a responsibility to think about our role in the world and the consequences of our decisions and actions as we look ahead to our work in 2012 and beyond. For example, Stanford PACS students are exploring the ethics of philanthropy and how philanthropy is affecting inequality here and abroad. How do the civil society organizations involved in global development strengthen or deplete the effectiveness of people and governments?

On the subject of equality, as we look ahead, please mark your calendar for Wednesday, January 25^th at 5:00pm (doors open) and Program 5:30pm to 7:00pm. The venue details will be posted in January. Stanford PACS is hosting Roy Prosterman Founder & Chairman Emeritusof Landesa and Professor Emeritus of Law at the University of Washington. Roy is a pioneering world expert on land reform, rural development, and foreign aid. He was the first Kravis Prize winner in 2006, when he was recognized for his 40 years of leadership and his small budget of $1.3 million dollars that impacted 400 million people! Today under the leadership of CEO Tim Hanstad, Landesa has scaled to a $13 million budget and even more impact. Please join us to learn more from Roy and Tim onthe key role of land rights in pro-poor rural development during an arm chair interview led by Bill Meehan, Stanford PACS Advisory Board member, Lecturer and Faculty –Co Director of theStanford Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies at Stanford Graduate School of Businessand Director Emeritus of McKinsey and Company. Please RSVP here.

Looking ahead to the Winter Quarter, Stanford PACS will be hosting a series of monthly scholar-practitioner workshops - charrettes under the leadership ofRob Reich, Stanford PACS Faculty Co-Director and Lucy Bernholz, PhD and Stanford PACS Visiting Scholar. The Philanthropy, Policy and Technology research project is a two year Stanford PACS signature research project funded by the Hewlett Foundation, Gates Foundation and Mott Foundation.

According to Rob and Lucy, "Recent decades have seen great tactical innovation in social enterprise and impact investing. Major legal changes have transformed the roles that nonprofits play in political campaigns. Digital and mobile communications have expanded the ways we organize our institutions and our networks. Together, these changes add up to a new social economy – a dynamic and diverse set of enterprises that direct private resources to public goods. Now is the time to look beyond the tools we've built and look at the rules that guide their use." The first charrette on "Recoding Good" will be January 24, for a small group of scholars and practitioners, which will be followed up with public blogging on the Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR)website and the information database will be housed on the Stanford PACS website.

Additionally, under the direction of Johanna Mair, Stanford PACS Visiting Scholar and SSIR Academic Editor, and Christian Seelos, Stanford PACS Visiting Scholar, we are hosting a scholar-practitioner conference at the Rockefeller Foundation (RF) in New York City on January 18^th to discuss our newest signature research initiative, "Innovation in Established Social Sector Organizations" that RF is supporting. We'll look forward to sharing the outcomes of this initial landscape review and discussion then the establishment of a broader research agenda as we pull out information from academic silos to reach global leaders. Additionally, Johanna Mair, Chair -Social Agenda Committee will be leading similar discussions at the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 24^th.

Thanks to everyone who joined us on Thursday, November 17th with Steven McCormick, President of The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, former President of The Nature Conservancy, who as interviewed by Alexa Culwell, Visiting Practitioner with Stanford PACS and past CEO of The Helen and Charles Schwab Foundation and the Larry Stupski Foundation. We were delighted to have the Woods Institute serve as a co-host. It was a very illuminating conversation on "Philanthropy in the 21st Century" with over 150 guests. The podcast will be posted after the new year.

The November 17^th timing was perfect with twenty "next generation" philanthropists, leaders and media from China "Wall Street Without Walls" joining us to hear Steven and Alexa. The next day Stanford PACS hosted the WSWW visitors from China to hear from Bill Drayton-Founder of Ashoka, Matt Bannick-Managing Director of Omidyar Network and Renee Kaplan-Chief Strategy Officer at The Skoll Foundation. We look forward to creating a long standing relationship with new friends and colleagues in China, including WSWW, as Stanford PACS joins the Stanford at Peking University (PKU) campus, which will open March 21, 2012. The emergence of philanthropy and new civil society organizations is at a pivotal point in China. Stanford PACS looks forward to being a part of the leading edge knowledge creation, knowledge sharing and community building.

We have a very full year ahead and I look forward to sharing the many opportunities to engage with you in 2012. As the Fall Quarter comes to an end, on behalf of our staff team from Stanford PACS andSSIR,wesend our holiday wishes. I want to thank YOU for the tremendous support you have shown Stanford PACS. My most grateful and humble thanks for your willingness to engage with Stanford PACS!

With tremendous appreciation and gratitude,