Before appointing its first endowed chair, the Center hosted the Waldemar A. Nielsen Issues in Philanthropy Seminar Series.  During the 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 academic years, a variety of distinguished leaders in philanthropy spent a few days at Georgetown. During these visits participants met with faculty and staff, offered consultation regarding the programming and direction of the Chair, and conducted seminars open to students, faculty, and the public, on issues in American philanthropy.

2001-2002 Seminar Series Speakers

Edward Skloot
Executive Director, Surdna Foundation, Inc.
October 5, 2001
Slot Machines, Boat-Building, and the Future of Philanthropy

Stanley Katz
Professor in Public & International Affairs, Woodrow Wilson School of Public Affairs, Princeton University
October 19, 2001
Whatever Happened to the General Purpose Foundation? Who is Thinking About the Big Problems?

Bruce Sievers
Executive Director (1983 - 2002), The Walter and Elise Haas Fund
November 16, 2001
If Pigs had Wings: The Appeals and Limits of Venture Philanthropy

James Allen Smith
Senior Advisor to the President, J. Paul Getty Trust
Waldemar A. Nielsen Visiting Professor in Philanthropy 2003-2004
December 7, 2001
The Historian as Philanthropoid, The Philanthropoid as Historian

David Mathews
President and CEO, The Kettering Foundation
February 1, 2002
Can Philanthropy Strengthen Democracy?

Reynold Levy
President, The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
(at time of talk) President and CEO, International Rescue Committee
February 22, 2002
America’s Foundations: The Troubling Gap Between Their Promise and Performance

Emmett Carson
President and CEO, The Minneapolis Foundation
March 22, 2002
Public Expectations and Nonprofit Sector Realities: A Growing Divide with Dangerous Consequences

Barbara Finberg
Vice President, MEM Associates, Inc.
April 19, 2002
Foundation Grantmaking: Balancing Prescriptiveness and Responsiveness

William White
President & CEO, The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
April 26, 2002
C. S. Mott Foundation: Flint’s Corner Drugstore

2002-2003 Seminar Series Speakers

Anna Faith Jones
President Emeritus, The Boston Foundation, Inc.
September 20, 2002 
New Voices at the Center: Strengthening Commitment to an Inclusive Society

Joel Fleishman
Professor of Law and Public Policy, The Terry Sanford Institute, Duke University
October 4, 2002
Accountability: To Whom and For What Purposes

Joel Orosz
Distinguished Professor of Philanthropic Studies, The Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership, Grand Valley State University
October 18, 2002
Terra Incognita: The Poorly-Understood Challenges and Trade-offs of Foundation Management

Kathleen McCarthy
Director, Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, CUNY
November, 8 2002
Philanthropy and Civil Society

Curtis Meadows,
Executive Director, RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service, University of Texas – Austin
November 22, 2002
Philanthropic Choice and Donor Intent: Freedom, Responsibility, and Public Interest

Terry Odendahl
Waldemar A. Nielsen Visiting Professor in Philanthropy 2004-2005
(at time of talk) Senior Program Officer, Wyss Foundation
January 24, 2003
Over Two Decades of Philanthropic Reform

Michael Bailin
President, Edna McConnell Clark Foundation
February 21, 2203
Re-engineering Philanthropy: Field Notes From the Trenches

Michael Joyce
President & CEO, Americans for Community and Faith-Centered Enterprise
March 28, 2003
Harmonizing Sentiments: Philanthropy and the American Political Imagination

Barry Gaberman
Senior Vice President, Ford Foundation
April 11, 2003
The Importance of Creating the International Infrastructure for Philanthropy

John Simon
Augustus E. Lines Professor of Law, Yale Law School
April 25, 2003
Frontiers of Philanthropy: Agendas for the Academy and for the Law
[Note: Transcript not available]