Alan Abramson

Alan J. Abramson is a Professor of Government and Politics in the School of Policy, Government, and International Affairs at George Mason University, and Founding Director of Mason’s Center for Nonprofit Management, Philanthropy, and Policy. Alan is also currently a Senior Fellow at the Aspen Institute and an Affiliated Scholar at the Urban Institute. In these several positions, he teaches, conducts research, and works with leaders on a broad range of nonprofit and philanthropic issues. For more than a decade, Alan directed the Aspen Institute’s nonprofit program, overseeing the Nonprofit Sector Research Fund and other initiatives that helped to build the nonprofit research field in the U.S., strengthen nonprofit and foundation leaders, and deepen the understanding of policymakers about nonprofit activities. Before joining the Aspen Institute, Alan Abramson was on the research staff of the Urban Institute, where he worked on a variety of domestic public policy issues. Alan Abramson received his Ph.D. in political science from Yale University and his B.A. from Wesleyan University. He is the author and co-author of numerous books and articles, and his work has twice won awards from the American Political Science Association. Alan has also been named among the 50 most influential leaders in the U.S. nonprofit sector. Knowledgeable about a broad range of nonprofit issues, Alan’s major, current interests are: nonprofit-government relations; foundation policy and practice; social enterprise and social entrepreneurship; and shared governance, the engagement of all three sectors – nonprofit, government, and business – in addressing social problems. In 2015-2016, Alan is serving as President of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA), the nation’s premier association of university-based and other nonprofit researchers.