Stanford University Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society

06/12/2026

Former Stanford PACS PhD Fellow Salma Mousa is an assistant professor of political science at UCLA, where she serves on the Bedari Kindness Institute’s faculty advisory committee and leads research on social cohesion, religious integration, and conflict resolution.

As the kicks off this week, Salma's work includes research into how soccer can build trust and tolerance, including increasing empathy and reducing hate crimes among communities and players from opposing sides of a conflict.

Read her faculty spotlight from UCLA to catch up with Salma and her work. ⤵️

🔗 https://bit.ly/4xmc8PT

The UCLA political science professor talks empathy, soccer — and how little people know about the Middle East.

06/10/2026

What responsibilities accompany extraordinary wealth in an era of declining trust, social cohesion, and civic engagement?

In a new essay for Stanford Social Innovation Review, Stanford PACS Executive Director Priya Shanker discusses the potential for civic leadership in today's evolving era of billionaire —and why the cross-sector, coalition-building work of legacy foundations may point the way forward.

Drawing on the lessons of the past, the next generation of philanthropists must "see philanthropy not simply as a mechanism for social problem solving but as a means of broadening the agency of communities and strengthening their capacity to shape their own futures."

Read more ⤵️

🔗 https://bit.ly/4akEJem

06/03/2026

"The Supreme Court has moved from saying that partisan gerrymandering is unconstitutional, to saying that...it may be unconstitutional, but we don’t know what the right remedy is, to where we are today, which is that partisan gerrymandering is a legitimate state practice."

Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, Stanford PACS Faculty Affiliate Nathaniel Persily joined Pam Karlan on the Stanford Legal Podcast to discuss the decision and its implications for racial representation, partisan gerrymandering, and anti-discrimination law.

Listen to the conversation or read the transcript, via Stanford Law School.

🔗 https://stanford.io/4uMU4fP

Pamela Karlan and Nathaniel Persily on the Supreme Court’s latest decision on redistricting and minority representation.

06/02/2026

"The fundamental beginning point of a conversation for me about these highly capable and accelerating AI models is that we should not trust the companies to grade their own homework."

Stanford PACS Faculty Advisor and former Faculty Co-Director Rob Reich joined the Council on AI Governance’s AI Rules podcast to discuss the evolving landscape of governance, the national security risks posed by frontier models, how to involve in setting standards, and more.

Listen to the conversation or read the transcript. ⤵️

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Explore responsible AI governance through insightful conversations with leading experts.

05/28/2026

How can help scale mental health care to close the gap between awareness and access?

We spoke with Neerja Birla, founder and chairperson of Aditya Birla Education Trust, about her work to embed mental health support within education systems and advance early intervention models that can operate at scale in resource-constrained contexts.

"Mental health support must begin before a crisis and be embedded in the institutions people already trust."

Read the conversation for practical takeaways for strengthening mental health systems globally. ⤵️

🔗 https://stanford.io/4325Kzf

05/20/2026

How will AI reshape politics—and political science?

A new volume co-edited by Stanford PACS Faculty Affiliate Nathaniel Persily and Joshua A. Tucker brings together contributions from more than 50 political scientists and scholars to explore the intersections of AI with democracy, elections, public opinion, race and gender, national security, and more.

While the volume is scheduled to be published later this year, the pre-print was released early this month due to the rapidly evolving nature of the subject.

“We hope that this volume generates a society-wide conversation on the political implications of AI," Nate said. "Of equal importance, we hope the book captures the state of the discipline of political science as it grapples with new research opportunities and teaching challenges presented by this revolutionary technology.”

Learn more via Stanford Law School and explore the volume ⤵️

🔗 https://stanford.io/4tOqhCq

STANFORD, Calif., May 6, 2026 — As artificial intelligence reshapes political campaigns, public administration, national security, public opinion, a

05/05/2026

"Collaboratives offer a glimpse of how the next era of could take shape, one rooted in collective giving that unlocks capital toward impact more effectively and efficiently."

Collaborative funds are emerging as a powerful, yet underutilized, philanthropic asset class. A new article by Neha Dalal, Kimberly Dasher Tripp, and Alison Powell explores how collaboratives enable donors to access specialized expertise, share risk, and pursue impact at a scale most could not achieve alone.

Read via The Bridgespan Group: https://bit.ly/4n8CTCJ

Collaborative funds could mature into a coherent, high-impact marketplace—enabling donors to move further, faster, together.

05/04/2026

“Modern philanthropy underwrites the architecture of resistance.”

Arguing against the proposition that modern is a tool for reputation laundering, former Stanford PACS PhD Fellow Megan Tompkins-Stange, now associate professor of public policy at the University of Michigan, led a winning debate team at The Oxford Union, the distinguished debating society at the University of Oxford.

Read the news spotlight via the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy ⤵️
🔗 https://bit.ly/4eYzdBc

Watch Megan's portion of the debate ⤵️
🔗 https://bit.ly/42f2UXd

13 likes. "Megan Tomkins-Stange - THB that Modern Philanthropy is a Tool for Reputation Laundering - Opposition"

04/22/2026

What role can play in efforts to tackle the gravest risks of climate change?

On this , we're resharing a post on our Philanthropy Innovation Summit blog by Mike Schroepfer, Founder of Gigascale Capital and Outlier Projects.

Offering a case study of the catalytic power of private capital, Mike details his efforts to invest in underfunded, high-potential tools and strategies for managing the risks of overshoot.

Read more ⤵️
https://stanford.io/3FXrNiP

About five years ago, stuck at home during the pandemic, I began researching what I could personally do to help address climate change. There were and are many ways to help reduce emissions, which we need to do faster and better. But after a career in Silicon Valley focusing on how to scale technolo...

04/17/2026

Congratulations to Stanford PACS Faculty Co-Director Robb Willer for his appointment as a 2026 Guggenheim Fellow!

Robb is among the 223 accomplished individuals chosen for the 101st class of Guggenheim Fellows from a highly competitive pool of nearly 5,000 applicants.

“Our new class of Guggenheim Fellows is representative of the world’s best thinkers, innovators, and creators in art, science, and scholarship,” said Edward Hirsch, President of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.

Read the announcement ⤵️

🔗 https://bit.ly/48snCqj