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 preeminent journal Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR).

Our work…

Stanford PACS is a research center for students, scholars and practitioners to explore and share ideas that create social change. Its primary participants are Stanford faculty, visiting scholars, postdoctoral scholars, graduate and undergraduate students, and nonprofit and foundation practitioners.

As publisher of Stanford Social Innovation Review, Stanford PACS informs policy and social innovation, philanthropic investment and nonprofit practice.  SSIR is shared intellectual space where scholars and practitioners publish inter-disciplinary and cross sector research and ideas to advance social change.  The journal is complemented by a website, blog, conferences, webinars and podcasts.

Stanford PACS has relationships with five schools at Stanford University (Humanities & Sciences, Engineering, Education, Business, and Law) and twenty departments, and we leverage the intellectual assets of a diverse, world-class faculty across the University.  This provides a unique platform to share our work with the nonprofit and for profit community in Silicon Valley and globally.

Stanford PACS offers postdoctoral fellowships, PhD fellowships and financial support for undergraduates completing honors thesis work. Additionally, Stanford PACS sponsors a regular public speaker series and other symposia and salons that include speakers who are well known academic, foundation or nonprofit leaders.

Our leadership…

Paul Brest, Professor of Law, Emeritus and Former Dean of the School of Law, and former President of The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation; and

Woody Powell, Professor of Education and by courtesy Sociology, Organizational Behavior, Management Science and Engineering, and Communication;

Rob Reich, Professor of Political Science and, by courtesy, of Philosophy and at the Graduate School of Education; Faculty Director of the Center for Ethics in Society.

Stanford PACS is led by Kim Meredith, its Executive Director who came to the Center with deep nonprofit sector experience, and by distinguished Faculty Co-Directors who teach a quarterly PhD graduate student workshop in addition to their ongoing research, speaking and publishing.

 

Stanford PACS was founded in 2006 by Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen and faculty co-directors Woody Powell & Debra Meyerson. The Center welcomed our first cohort of four PhD Fellows the same year.

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