Foundation Center Creates New Institute for Civil Society and Philanthropy
Foundation Center Creates New Institute for Civil Society and Philanthropy
The New York City-based Foundation Center has announced the creation of the Alexis Institute for Civil Society and Philanthropy and has named Lester M. Salamon, currently professor and director of the Center for Civil Society Studies at Johns Hopkins University, as its founding director. The center's board and staff are committed to raising an initial $10 million for the institute as part of a broader campaign.
The institute will be focused on the rapidly evolving field of philanthropy and civil society in the United States and around the world. In making the announcement, Foundation Center president Sara L. Engelhardt called the institute the keystone to the center's plan to transform the nation's pre-eminent information resource on U.S. foundations and their grantmaking into a knowledge center on the broader field of philanthropy and civil society worldwide. "Philanthropy is undergoing a sea change that is extending its boundaries and re-shaping its contours as we move into the twenty-first century," said Engelhardt. "The field is growing more diverse, more entrepreneurial, more collaborative, and more global. The Foundation Center is committed to enabling all the players — within the larger civil society sector, as well as in the governmental sector and among the engaged public, domestically and around the world — to understand and connect to these new dynamics."
Salamon pioneered the empirical study of the nonprofit sector in the United States and, in recent years, has expanded that work globally. Most recently, he worked with the United Nations Statistics Division to generate the Handbook on Nonprofit Institutions in the System of National Accounts, which is revolutionizing the collection of data on nonprofit organizations, philanthropy, and volunteering by statistical agencies worldwide. "A global associational revolution is under way around the world," said Salamon, "and it is transforming our approach to public problems and stimulating new forms of citizen involvement. The Alexis Institute at the Foundation Center will provide an authoritative and reliable source of knowledge about these developments."
In addition to Salamon's leadership, the institute will operate under the guidance of an advisory board chaired by Reynold Levy, president of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and a former president of the AT&T Foundation.
"The center's Alexis Institute, under Les Salamon's leadership, will fulfill a longstanding goal of the Foundation Center board to create a twenty-first century global think tank for philanthropy and civil society," said M. Christine DeVita, chair of the Foundation Center's board and president of the Wallace Foundation. "We are proud to see this goal become a reality today, and we are committed to a major campaign to help us to bring this initiative to fruition and to assure the resources it needs for the long-term future."
“Foundation Center Creates New 'Alexis Institute for Civil Society and Philanthropy'.”
Foundation Center Press Release
5/16/06.
Primary Subject: Philanthropy and Voluntarism
Location(s): New York, New York City
FC009040
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