Stanford PACS

Integrating Philanthropy & Investing to Maximize Impact - Stanford PACS Stanford PACS and the Center for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth (CSP) are partnering to offer an immersive program designed for philanthropists and impact investors ready to maximize their tot...

Learn more about this unique offering and register your interest to attend: stanford.io/4cgklec

#Philanthropy #ImpactInvesting

➤ Discover an integrated approach that brings together systemic investing and philanthropy to achieve lasting solutions

➤ Hear from Bay Area initiatives showcasing how integrated capital approaches reshape systemic inequities in local communities

As part of a small, select cohort, you will:

➤ Explore ways to combine investment, philanthropic, and non-financial capital to effectively address today’s environmental and social challenges

Are you a philanthropist or investor seeking to unlock the power of your full portfolio? ✨

Join us and the Center for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth this October for a three-day, hands-on program designed to help you integrate and maximize your impact.

Open Board Search (SSIR) How a new approach to recruiting board members can transform nonprofits.

What if nonprofits treated board recruitment more like a job posting?

Organizations who have tried the approach say it helps attract new talent and resources, increase board engagement, and improve strategic thinking.

Community Beyond Resources (SSIR) Ending homelessness is about housing. Except when it’s not.

Building stronger pathways out of homelessness means prioritizing not only shelter, but also belonging. In this sense, if housing is the foundation, relationships are the thing that keeps people in homes.

From this, five key principles emerge.

Redefining Philanthropy in Rural Communities with Kim Garner - Stanford PACS Kim Garner serves as the Merced Regional Director at the Central Valley Opportunity Fund,  a donor-advised fund housed within the Central Valley Community Foundation. Based in Merced, a small rural ci...

"Programs like this help ground your work in strategy and values."

We spoke with Kim Garner of the Central Valley Opportunity Fund about how our Education for #Philanthropy Professionals course helped strengthen her work to support a burgeoning #nonprofit ecosystem in Merced County.

Stanford PACS is pleased to partner with CUHK Business School to bring our effective #philanthropy training to Asia! 🌏

This hybrid, seven-day executive education program is designed for family office leads and financial advisors.

Learn more and apply to attend: bit.ly/3ITKTY7

USJF and Stanford PACS Co-Host Private Seminar on Japan’s Soft Power and Civil Society The United States-Japan Foundation (USJF), in partnership with Stanford University’s Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society (PACS), will host a seminar for comparative conversation on civil society ...

In April, Haruto joined us at Stanford to present on the social impact landscape in Japan as part of our seminar, hosted in partnership with @usjf.bsky.social, exploring #philanthropy and civil society in #Japan.

Can Japan's Philanthropic Sector Catch Up? A Provocative Essay by Haruto Okabe Haruto Okabe, the new Japan Representative of the United States-Japan Foundation, explores the cultural and structural barriers behind Japan’s underdeveloped philanthropic sector in this exclusive art...

"The question is no longer whether #Japan can be philanthropic—but whether it will choose to be."

In a new piece for Alliance, Haruto Okabe of @usjf.bsky.social identifies 4 key challenges for Japanese #philanthropy and offers 10 recommendations on how funders and foundations can address them.

Inside the Stanford Course Empowering Students to Become Philanthropists - Stanford PACS “Knowing that our class was responsible for distributing real funds added a powerful sense of accountability to apply the tools and frameworks of philanthropy we learned throughout the course.“ Chelse...

We spoke with Chelsey Arellano and Erick Rocha, two students from the Spring 2025 course, to hear what they took away from the experience and how it’s influencing their future paths.

Read the interview:

Inside the Stanford Course Empowering Students to Become Philanthropists - Stanford PACS “Knowing that our class was responsible for distributing real funds added a powerful sense of accountability to apply the tools and frameworks of philanthropy we learned throughout the course.“ Chelse...

How can we best use our limited resources for the greatest impact? 🎯

The Ethical and Effective Philanthropy for Sustainable Development course at Stanford invites students to explore this fundamental challenge as they learn firsthand about the responsibilities—and joys—of effective #philanthropy.

Recombination as Rebirth (SSIR) In this time of crisis, nonprofits may be forced into mergers, acquisitions, and sunsets. A few principles will help leaders make the most of a difficult moment.

Mergers, acquisitions, and other organizational transitions are difficult for nonprofits no matter what—but especially when done under duress.

Former GuideStar CEO @jacobharold.bsky.social has experienced and studied these restructurings and shares 7 principles for making them successful:

Integrating Philanthropy & Investing to Maximize Impact - Stanford PACS Stanford PACS and the Center for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth (CSP) are partnering to offer an immersive program designed for philanthropists and impact investors ready to maximize their tot...

This October, our Integrating Philanthropy & Investing to Maximize Impact (IPI) workshop will bring together wealth holders and foundation leaders to learn how to integrate impact across their entire portfolio.

#Philanthropy #ImpactInvesting

Learn more and register your interest:

Walmart heir Lukas Walton’s $15bn bet on the environment With an estimated worth of $39bn, he wants to use market mechanisms to save the oceans

Can impact investing activate markets to drive social change at scale?

Whatever your first issue is, this should be your second: The rationale for funding local news - Stanford PACS In the philanthropic sector, we’re used to funding public goods like emergency response, education, government accountability and the arts. What many of us have failed to see, however, is the vital ro...

INN CEO Karen Rundlet and @macfound.org's @palfrey.org make a powerful case for journalism as essential civic infrastructure in their @stanfordpacs.bsky.social piece.

From democracy to education to disaster response, local news connects us all. pacscenter.stanford.edu/philanthropy...

Organizational Justice (SSIR) A path forward for diversity, equity, and inclusion work.

"Different people in organizations will always get different things for various reasons, but the people in an organization must trust that the processes allocating opportunities and benefits are fundamentally fair and legitimate."

New article by Ahmmad Brown and @femlaw.bsky.social:

Grateful to have this chance to write with Karen Rundlet of @inn.org about the state of Local News and the #PressForward coalition of funders and those we are able to support.

"Whatever your first issue is, local news and journalism should be your second. Because if we don’t have a shared set of facts, we will not be able to get to rational policy solutions. And if we don’t have communities where people can talk across differences, we’re not going to have a democracy."

Whatever your first issue is, this should be your second: The rationale for funding local news - Stanford PACS In the philanthropic sector, we’re used to funding public goods like emergency response, education, government accountability and the arts. What many of us have failed to see, however, is the vital ro...

New on our Philanthropy Innovation Summit blog, @palfrey.org of @macfound.org and Karen Rundlet of @inn.org discuss their efforts to strengthen local news through the #PressForward coalition and call on fellow funders to join the movement to support quality independent #journalism.

Red button on instrument panel with label: "IN EMERGENCY PUSH"

What's the path forward for the global development sector?

Philosopher Peter Singer argues the answer lies in consequentialism:

ssir.org/articles/ent...

Win Hearts, Then Minds + Your Questions Answered on Identity and "Covering" - Hidden Brain Media This week, we bring you a favorite episode with sociologist Robb Willer. We discuss the common mistakes we make in trying to persuade others of our point of view — and how to break out of our echo cha...

The @hiddenbrain.bsky.social podcast re-shared "a favorite episode” featuring @robbwiller.bsky.social, who spoke about the common mistakes we make in trying to persuade others of our point of view—and how to break out of our echo chambers.

Listen to the conversation and explore the research:

Territoriality and the Emergence of Norms During the COVID-19 Pandemic1 | American Journal of Sociology: Vol 130, No 5 Although social norms are critical for regulating behavior, the emergence of new norms is rarely studied in consequential real-world settings. Thus, the conditions under which norms arise in certain c...

Read the full research paper via the American Journal of Sociology:

Well-established New York City neighborhoods were more likely to embrace and enforce measures to prevent COVID-19 | USAPP How does where and how we live affect the rules we follow? In new research, Patrick Bergemann and Christof Brandtner look at why certain communities in New York City were more likely to follow and enf...

CLCL Senior Research Fellow @cbrandtner.bsky.social and co-author Patrick Bergemann shared takeaways from their new research investigating why certain communities in NYC were more likely to follow and enforce the changing social norms around measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in 2020.

Digital Civil Society Lab 2024-25 Practitioner Fellows Project Highlights - Stanford PACS From reclaiming Indigenous knowledge in digital design to mapping queer care systems across Latin America, the 2024–25 cohort of Digital Civil Society Lab (DCSL) Practitioner Fellows supported in part...

The 2024–25 cohort of Digital Civil Society Lab Practitioner Fellows—Jepchumba Cheluget, Melquiades (Kiado) Cruz, @andreramiro.bsky.social, Cristina Vélez Vieira, and @seleneyang.bsky.social‬—are advancing bold, community-centered visions for a more just digital future.

Read about their projects:

How Philanthropy Can Help Tackle the Worst-Case Climate Change Scenarios - Stanford PACS About five years ago, stuck at home during the pandemic, I began researching what I could personally do to help address climate change. There were and are many ways to help reduce emissions, which we ...

In this month's #Philanthropy Innovation Summit blog, Mike Schroepfer, Founder of Gigascale Capital and Outlier Projects, describes his approach to investing in flexible, fit-for-purpose teams to investigate high-potential strategies for averting the worst effects of #climate change.

Stanford PACS Education for Philanthropy Professionals - Stanford PACS November 3 – 7 (in person) and November 12, 13, 19, and 20 (virtual), 2025 ABOUT THE PROGRAM The Effective Philanthropy Learning Initiative (EPLI) at the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Soci...

Learn more about our EPP course, now accepting applications for Fall 2025:

Exploring AI and Strategic Foresight in Philanthropy with Rhodri Davies - Stanford PACS Rhodri Davies, a leading thinker on philanthropy and technology, recently joined Stanford PACS’ Education for Philanthropy Professionals (EPP) program to discuss the role of artificial intelligence in...

New on our blog, @rhodridavies.bsky.social reflects on his session on #AI in the #nonprofit sector for our Education for Philanthropy Professionals (EPP) course and how #philanthropy professionals can bridge the gap between knowledge and action in an era of rapid change.

Read the interview:

Apply now for our Fall 2025 Education for #Philanthropy Professionals course to earn your Certificate in Effective Philanthropy!

Learn best practices, explore the latest trends, and connect with peers and leaders in the field.

Details and application: stanford.io/3l4C2ma

Fantastic piece from @robbwiller.bsky.social and @owasow.bsky.social on nonviolent resistance published in the @nytimes.com. Bravo!

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/17/o...