Theories of Civil Society, Philanthropy, and the Nonporofit Sector
Taught by Bruce Sievers & Vera Michalchik
Department of Political Science, Honors Ethics in Society

Bruce Sievers is a Visiting Scholar and Lecturer in Political Science at Stanford University and a Visiting Scholar at the Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society and the Haas Center for Public Service. Sievers received a Ph.D. in political science from Stanford University and studied at the Freie Universität Berlin as a Fulbright Scholar. He was the founding executive director of the Montana Committee for the Humanities in 1972 and the California Council for the Humanities in 1974, and in 1983, he became CEO of the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, a private foundation in San Francisco. In 2013, he was appointed to the National Council on the Humanities by President Obama. His book, Civil Society, Philanthropy and the Fate of the Commons, was published in 2010, and he is author of many articles and book chapters on civil society and philanthropy, including “If Pigs Had Wings: The Appeal and Limits of Venture Philanthropy,” “Civil Society and Governance: Contemporary Challenges,” “What Civil Society Needs,” and “Philanthropy’s Role in Liberal Democracy.”

Vera Michalchik leads PACS’s research on effective philanthropy and the design of materials, institutes, and consultations for donors, advisors, and others wanting to put into practice principles that can advance impact in the sector. She brings to her role extensive experience in social science research, the learning sciences, and strategic philanthropy, having worked in research-plus-practice positions at SRI International’s Center for Technology in Learning, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, UC Irvine’s Department of Informatics, and Stanford’s Center for Teaching and Learning. She also built a library system on a small island in Micronesia while collecting data there for her dissertation on how knowledge gets managed for social good. She holds a PhD from Stanford, EdM from Harvard, and BA from UC Berkeley—her studies all focused on learning, media, and shaping of cultural norms. 

Casey Toohill – Stanford Philanthropy Lab student – Spring 2018

Selected an organization he was introduced to through the class as his NFL charitable commitment.

“I was approached with the opportunity to partner with an organization called “Pledge It” that works with the NFL combine. I first learned about Hospitality House when doing research for a Stanford class called “Theories and Practices of Civil Society, Philanthropy, and the Nonprofit Sector”. I was part of a group that was tasked with providing a grant to a charitable organization of our choosing. Our team was focused on health and one of our group members had knowledge of Hospitality House and the work that it was doing in the Tenderloin area of San Francisco. After visiting Hospitality House and speaking with its Executive Director Joe Wilson our group decided that Hospitality House was special. It was so much more than a shelter, and looked at the health of its residents in a holistic manner.”