The Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership – now called the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy – was founded at Grand Valley State University in 1992. It seems fitting, then, on the occasion of its 30th anniversary, to look back at what things looked like at the beginning – as well as at the remarkable transformation and growth of the field since then.

This blog is the first in a series of four that not only reminds what things looked like in 1992, but also reveals how the practices of giving, the makeup and number of institutions, and the intensity and breadth of research and teaching about philanthropy have all expanded and changed in dramatic ways. For instance, megadonors have become much more mega, the lines between the sectors have blurred more than anyone expected, and most institutions for research about this field – and most university degree programs – have been established in the past three decades. Still, many other aspects of the field and its institutions have endured – and not always for the better.

The publication allows to explore what a difference 30 years can make in philanthropy.