Center for Social Innovation

Published: July 26, 2009 Download  25 minutes, 11.6mb, recorded 2008-10-08

Online giving represents one of most exciting developments in philanthropy today. In this presentation at the Online Giving Marketplaces Conference hosted by the Stanford Center for Social Innovation's magazine, the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Peter Hero, who has grown and scaled online markets, talks about opportunities and challenges in this arena. He considers how philanthropy is changing globally, and the implications of such developments for online giving. He also addresses what's still missing from online giving in its current form. Finally, he reflects on the globalization of community foundations that are offering opportunities for online giving to be more effective, sustainable, and higher impact in helping build cultures of civic engagement around the world.

Peter deCourcy Hero is the former president of Community Foundation Silicon Valley (CFSV). During his 17-year tenure, he grew CFSV’s assets from less than $10 million to more than $1 billion. Prior to joining CFSV, Hero was president of the Maine College of Art. Hero is the founding chairman of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Foundation and currently sits on the boards of the Skoll Foundation, eBay Foundation, PBS, Stanford University’s Haas Center for Public Service, and the American India Foundation. He also chairs the World Bank Advisory Committee on global community foundation development. Hero lectures at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and is a visiting fellow at the School’s Center for Social Innovation.