Higher Education and Philanthropy Workshop Summary 2023: Opportunity and Innovation

Abstract

The Lilly Family School of Philanthropy launched the Higher Education and Philanthropy Initiative to generate useful knowledge on how philanthropy engages higher education. The Initiative connects researchers, funders, and practitioners to work together on learning how philanthropy can better contribute to higher education and its public purpose. After an exploratory workshop in 2022, the school convened a second substantive discussion to advance the initiative in 2023.

In 2023, the school hosted a conversation about opportunity and innovation in higher education in Washington, DC. The one-day conversation explored the roles philanthropy has played in higher education, as well as where research and practice overlap. Case studies were used to drive discussion and to create a sense of what is known in the field, revealing patterns and possibilities that could contribute to a better understanding and implementation of philanthropy in higher education. The workshop concluded with a keynote address by Nasser Paydar, Assistant Secretary, Office of Postsecondary Education, U.S. Department of Education.

The workshop consisted of three sessions organized around the themes of context, opportunity, and innovation. Teams of writers and discussants presented drafts of cases for feedback and refinement from an invited group of commentators. The cases and the day’s discussion are summarized in what follows.