Newsroom
ASU Lodestar Center featured in Philanthropy Magazine
Giving by degrees: Practitioners look at academic programs in philanthropy
by Daniel P. Smith, Philanthropy magazine
Summer 2019
Philanthropy is an emerging field on campus. There are now hundreds of classes, many minors and majors, and some graduate degrees. Some emphasize fundraising, others take the perspective of donors, a few focus on broad research about voluntary action in America. They are housed in business schools, within law faculties, in public-administration departments, under social-work umbrellas, or in a few cases in dedicated philanthropy centers. Even The Fund for American Studies has built a service and citizenship track into its existing curriculum for interns. Below, we hear from faculty, graduates, donors to, and observers of these college programs. [...]
Lois Savage, President, Lodestar Foundation
In 2007, Lodestar Foundation made a $5 million gift to Arizona State University to enhance innovative philanthropic and nonprofit education.
Students who’ve gone through the Arizona State program are adding a nice boost to the field. They’re getting relevant, appropriate training in a multibillion-dollar industry. There are important things to learn about financials, dealing with boards, strategy, and the like.
Some of the research coming out of ASU and other academic centers is reinforcing the work we do at the Lodestar Foundation to help charitable organizations work together. It’s heartening to see post-graduate students studying collaborations among nonprofits. [...]
Patricia Lewis, Lodestar Center for Philanthropy at Arizona State
A past president of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Lewis previously taught nonprofit work at Arizona State University and George Mason University.
There are different philosophies underlying business, government, and nonprofit work. Our students begin to understand the forces of philanthropy and how the field has grown. We teach that it is the greater good that matters, and provide grounding in the why of the sector, not just what it is. We teach how to tell your story, how to use research and data, and what accountability means. Our students know they have to validate their work.
Michael Hughes, CEO, A New Leaf
Hughes’s Arizona social-service agency has worked with the ASU Lodestar Center frequently, including to train its staff.
As we’ve grown exponentially over the last decade, expanding our mission and taking new agencies under our wing, we had problems with staff turnover. We turned to Arizona State to help us retain and develop employees with leadership training. ASU tailor-made the program to fit our needs, and we enrolled 26 staff directors. It was a strong curriculum with classes on finance, fundraising, governance, effective supervision, and more. Our staff became more invested, because they saw we were investing in them. Most of those staff remain with us. Another two dozen or so have gone through the program since.