Since 2012, Stanford PACS has partnered with The Philanthropy Lab to provide a Philanthropy for Sustainable Development course to Stanford University students of all levels of familiarity with philanthropy. The course, led in 2024 by Vera Michalchik, Director of the Effective Philanthropy Learning Initiative (EPLI), and Micah McElroy, Associate Director of Research for EPLI, teaches students how to pursue social change through philanthropy with a focus on sustainable development. The course was originally taught by Professor Bruce Sievers until Professor Patricia Bromley, PACS’ faculty co-director, reimagined a new version of the course in 2023. Professor Bromley will continue teaching the course after her return from sabbatical.

In this course, students learn about the approaches, history, and key debates in philanthropy, and apply their knowledge by collaboratively making a substantial class contribution to one or more select nonprofit organizations. This class responds to the reality confronting all philanthropists: there are many ways in which we can change the world for the better, but our money and time are finite. How can we best use our limited resources to accomplish change? And how will we know we’ve been successful? By the end of the course, students understand the fundamentals of effective philanthropy, including how to define problems, develop a theory of change, evaluate outcomes, and reduce unintended harm.

Thanks to our partnership with The Philanthropy Lab, Stanford has granted $1,109,670 to nonprofit organizations since 2012. 

We spoke with Vera and Micah about their reflections on teaching the course this past spring.

What are your key takeaways from teaching this course?

Vera: The history and current practice of philanthropy entail significant ethical and practical considerations, which college-age students have a lot of curiosity about and find rewarding to grapple with in the context of the nonprofit sector. Many students are highly oriented towards and care a great deal about the nonprofit sector, considering it in light of their own career trajectories, which are on all their minds.

Micah: One of the major takeaways for me is the value of combining practical lessons on philanthropy with the larger philosophical and historical context in which philanthropy takes place. Students were often skeptical of philanthropy and its potential to serve a public good relative to other institutions in American life. Just teaching the students the “basics” of grantmaking—from finding nonprofits to evaluation, and everything else in-between—wouldn’t have addressed their concerns about philanthropy. Instead, we paired that practical training with debates about philanthropy—such as whether philanthropy poses a challenge to democracy—as well as looking back at philanthropy’s past to inform our debates about its future. Ultimately, I hope these exercises also help students engage more critically and thoughtfully with philanthropy.

How did students go about the evaluation process for choosing grantees? 

V:  The students formed teams around issues they mutually cared about and used the process outlined in the Guide to Effective Philanthropy prepared by EPLI to better understand how to vet and analyze the contribution that a select group of nonprofit organizations make in the issue areas they were focusing on.  They used the standard tools created by vetting organizations like Candid’s GuideStar, spoke with representatives from some nonprofit organizations, and, in our last class session, pitched their final organization for funding.  The students voted for which organizations they’d like to see receive our primary gift—and smaller gifts were given to the second and third-place organizations.

M: In addition to what Vera has shared, I’d note that the students were also introduced to differing perspectives about how philanthropists should identify their goals and assess nonprofit organizations. That included debating the approaches favored by Effective Altruists as well as more participatory approaches, in which grantees or other members of the public make decisions on behalf of philanthropists. We also had a lively debate about the methods we use for assessing nonprofit performance with Aaron Horvath, a research scholar and associate director of research at PACS. 

How will this course help students practice effective philanthropy in the real world?

V:  I think they are more able to balance their values, the respect and trust they place in those who might receive philanthropic support, the varying schools of thought about the best ways to give, the importance of strategy when working to effect social change, and the complexity inherent in each of these aspects of practicing philanthropy.

Students also make a philanthropy giving goal for themselves that The Philanthropy Lab reminds them about annually, which likely stimulated ongoing reflection on the issues in the course.

M: There’s a considerable amount of basic knowledge that students get from courses like ours. Surveys generally indicate that most Americans don’t know all that much about philanthropy, let alone the nonprofit sector. And I can’t entirely blame them: the field is encrusted in tax codes and jargon and is too often associated with the contributions of the wealthiest individuals. The class introduces students to the fundamentals of philanthropy—knowledge about grantmaking, for example, that’s valuable for anyone working in philanthropy or public service more broadly—but the class also, I hope, inspires more creative ways of thinking about philanthropy. So we really emphasize that philanthropy, as practiced today, isn’t natural or inevitable. Instead, philanthropy is really a product of history and policy; and there are many ways in which people are presently trying to reimagine philanthropy. Hopefully after learning that, students are encouraged to think through how we might better align philanthropy as an institution with our vision of a better world. 

What is one thing you have learned about the next generation entering the philanthropic field? 

V:  They’re passionate and wise. They stand before a mountain of social and environmental issues, about which they are positioning themselves as agents of change, and they’re ready to consider ways to mobilize resources for effecting change.

M: Admittedly, I’m not sure whether our class at Stanford was representative of the next generation of people entering philanthropy. But I’d be happy if they were! At EPLI, we encourage humility in philanthropy, and the students often modeled that behavior in their willingness to question their own assumptions and admit when they didn’t know something. My hope is that more people in philanthropy will commit themselves to that same level of critical reflection and intellectual curiosity. 

The Philanthropy for Sustainable Development course presenting their final projects.

“The course provided me with a comprehensive and nuanced understanding of philanthropy, blending historical context, ethical considerations, and critical perspectives. This holistic approach has equipped me with the knowledge and skills to engage in philanthropy more thoughtfully and effectively, with a greater awareness of its complexities and potential for impact.“

–Spring 2024 course participant

Winning grantee organizations:

$50k Grant
Presented by: Sophia Rebolledo, Isabella Correa, Alec Walsh
RefuSHE protects, educates, and empowers orphaned, unaccompanied, and separated refugee girls and young women to build healthier and more resilient futures for themselves and their children. Stanford PACS’ contribution will help support RefuSHE’s general operations and play a crucial role in deepening their impact both on their campus and in the refugee community. Learn more about their mission and donate to their cause.

$15K Grant
Presented by: Liza A. Goldberg, Biak Tha Hlawn, Rehman Hassan, Chloe Eileen Shrager, Lizbeth Hernandez
ICDDR,B’s mission is to solve public health problems through innovative scientific research. Stanford PACS’ contribution will help support the Climate and Health Innovation Hub in Bangladesh: Putting Health of People in the Center of Climate Change. Through this contribution, the hub will organize training and capacity building for the key stakeholders in Bangladesh working on Climate and Health issues. Learn more about their mission and donate to their cause.

$10K Grant
Presented by: Matt Murphy, Astrid Wheeler, Sophie Marie Wallace, Jarren Morgan Reid
Friends of the Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge (FOHF) is devoted to helping the Refuge achieve its mission of conserving the flora and fauna of Hawaii. Stanford PACS $10,000 contribution will help their critically important plan for deploying acoustic monitors and mosquito trapping equipment on key transects at Hakalau Forest. Learn more about their mission and donate to their cause.

This class was supported by The Philanthropy Lab.