Peter Karoff

Peter Karoff founded The Philanthropic Initiative (TPI) and led the organization for 12 years. He spearheaded many of TPI’s major philanthropy promotion and field-building initiatives, and continues to work closely with TPI clients. Prior to founding TPI, Peter spent 25 years in the insurance and real estate businesses. He has served on the boards of more than 30 nonprofit organizations and foundations including Synergos Institute, Business Executives for National Security, Massachusetts Business Roundtable, Massachusetts Association for Mental Health, New England Foundation for the Arts, Management Sciences for Health, Blackside Productions (producer of Eyes on the Prize, the PBS history of the Civil Rights movement), and the WGBH Educational Foundation. Current board affiliations include Ascent Private Capital Management, GHR Foundation, Robina Foundation, THRIVE (a Santa Barbara County public/private education collaborative) and Big Picture Learning. Peter is a poet, has written extensively on the moral and ethical purpose of philanthropy in society, and his most recent book is The World We Want – New Dimensions in Philanthropy and Social Change (AltaMira Press, 2008). He teaches in the Global and International Studies Program at the University of California Santa Barbara. A graduate of Brandeis University and Columbia University, Peter received an Honorary Degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, from Lesley University in 2002. He was made a Fellow of the McDowell Colony in 1989 and in 2006 became a Purpose Prize Fellow.