Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society (PACS Center)
The Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, currently housed at the Haas Center for Public Service, is a program of the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences (IRiSS). The PACS Center thanks the Haas Center for Public Service for hosting its website. To learn more about public service at Stanford, please see the Haas Center's home page.The People Behind PACS
PACS Center Program
PACS Center Research
PACS in the News
Contact Us
Why a Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society?
Civil society - the part of society and our culture independent of both the government and the market - is playing a rapidly expanding role in addressing and defining social problems in the U.S. and the world. As one of the key participants in civil society, the philanthropic sector serves both as a critical supplier of resources for nonprofit institutions and as a catalyst for addressing public needs. And as philanthropists like former President Bill Clinton, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and others take on a more visible and salient role in contributing to solutions to global problems, the sector finds itself undergoing a major transformation.
Philanthropy's Evolving Role
Philanthropy's evolving role, with its potential for increased impact, raises fundamental questions. How do philanthropic institutions, nonprofits and other elements of civil society collaborate to effectively advance the public good? How successful are they at solving problems, particularly compared with government, which historically has been responsible for shouldering that burden? What relationships currently exist among foundations, nonprofits and voluntary activity in realizing collective goals?
Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society Purpose
The Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society (PACS Center) was formed to apply an analytical lens to these hard questions. Surprisingly, even at a time when studies of philanthropy and donative behavior indicate that the next fifteen years and beyond will be characterized by an unprecedented intergenerational transfer of both leadership and wealth, the knowledge base about philanthropy's behavior and impact, including its effectiveness, is quite thin. The PACS Center's mission, therefore, is to engage students, faculty, and practitioners in examining ways in which philanthropic institutions, nonprofit organizations, and other key elements of civil society work to define and address public interests, both in the United States and abroad.
We thank the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation for our founding grant.
Contact Us
Malka Kopell, PACS Center Managing Director, malkak@stanford.edu, (650) 723-7259
back to top