Trent Stamp Joins Board of USC’s Center on Philanthropy and Public Policy

May 19, 2010

LOS ANGELES—Trent Stamp, executive director of The Eisner Foundation, has joined the Board of Advisors at The Center on Philanthropy and Public Policy, a research center of the University of Southern California’s School of Public Policy.  The Center on Philanthropy and Public Policy promotes more effective philanthropy and strengthens the nonprofit sector through research that informs philanthropic decision making and public policy to advance public problem solving.

The Center shares its research findings with the philanthropic, nonprofit and policy communities and works to engage these sectors in an exploration of key issues through forums, roundtable discussions, lectures and seminars. The Center also offers a West Coast perspective on key developments in philanthropy and benefits from the multicultural urban "laboratory" of Los Angeles and the global and demographic significance of California and the West. The director of the Center is noted philanthropic scholar, James Ferris. 

“As a member of the Center’s Board of Advisors, Trent will fill a vital role within the school, the community, and the field,” said Jack H. Knott, Dean of the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development, at which the Center is housed. “He will be a great asset to our academic community and I think he will enjoy playing a large role in the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development’s family as we move forward into a very exciting future.”

Prior to joining The Eisner Foundation as executive director in 2008, Trent was the founding President of Charity Navigator, America’s largest charity watchdog.  He wrote extensively on the non-profit sector and was a regular on-air contributor on charitable issues to MSNBC, CNN, and FOX News.  He has also served as Vice-President, Communications for the national non-profit Teach For America, as a Presidential Management Fellow, as a U.S. congressional aide, and as a public school teacher in rural North Carolina.  He has a master’s degree in public policy from Duke University and a bachelor of arts from UC, Santa Barbara. 

“I’m excited to play a small part in helping the Center on Philanthropy and Public Policy be the unquestioned leader in scholarship, convening, and research in the Southern California philanthropic sector,” said Stamp.  “This center is doing great work under the leadership of Jim Ferris and I hope I can help them reach some of their long-term goals for understanding, and subsequently advancing, L.A.’s unique nonprofit marketplace.” 

Stamp’s term begins in the fall of 2010 and will run for three years. 

For more information on The Center on Philanthropy and Public Policy, please visit here.