Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society

The Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society is committed to strengthening civil society through education, research, and leadership training.

An integral part of The Graduate Center (GC), the Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society (Center) focuses on giving, volunteerism, and nonprofit entrepreneurship by individual donors, foundations, and corporations in the United States and around the world.

The Center works to link academic approaches with practitioner needs. Under the leadership of director Kathleen D. McCarthy, its signature International Fellows Programs (Senior International Fellows Program and Emerging Leaders International Fellows Program) for scholar-practitioners presently counts 249 alumni from 72 countries across 6 continents. The program’s alumni have gone on to found new associations and foundations, create university courses and research centers, establish fellowships in philanthropy, and staff and lead many of the institutions and programs spearheading the globalization of modern philanthropy. Program alumni present and publish widely in the field of civil society, helping to create a literature on the field in their own languages.        

Other Center projects include:

• multidisciplinary seminars on civil society for CUNY faculty and advanced graduate students
• global research and edited volumes on women and philanthropy
• multi-volume series to help integrate philanthropy as a topic in college and university curricula and to enhance nonprofit professionals' knowledge in the areas of development and fundraising.

The Center supports GC students via research/travel awards and William Randolph Hearst Graduate Assistantships intended for women and minority students working in philanthropy, civil society, international development and global studies.