History of the Center

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Founded in 1986, the Center's activities are interdisciplinary, with a particular emphasis on multicultural philanthropy---the patterns of giving and voluntarism by different:

• religious
• ethnic
• racial
• gender groups
• economic groups
• foundations and corporations, both nationally and internationally.

Situated in one of the most cosmopolitan cities and university systems in the world, the Center is located at the mid-Manhattan campus of The Graduate Center of The City University of New York. CUNY is the nation's third largest university system, and the largest urban system.

.Director's Bio and Publications

The City University of New York (CUNY), which traces its beginnings to 1847, is the nation's largest urban public university. It consists of twenty-two colleges, including The Graduate Center. Established in 1961, The Graduate Center is the doctorate-granting institution of CUNY. An internationally-recognized center for advanced studies and a national model for public doctoral education, The Graduate Center offers over thirty doctoral programs in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and the natural sciences, as well as a number of master’s programs. Many of its faculty members are among the world’s leading scholars in their respective fields. The school currently enrolls approximately 4000 students from throughout the United States, as well as from about eighty foreign countries, and its alumni hold major positions in industry and government, as well as in academia. The Graduate Center is also home to twenty-eight interdisciplinary research centers and institutes focused on areas of compelling social, civic, cultural, and scientific concerns. Through its extensive array of public lectures, exhibitions, concerts, and theatrical events, The Graduate Center has become a vital part of New York City’s intellectual and cultural life.

The Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society is uniquely positioned to serve as a laboratory for developing programs to promote research, education, and public discourse about philanthropy among a wide variety of constituencies.