Awards

Lilly Family School of Philanthropy Distinguished Alumni Award - 2019

About Bob Grimm, Jr.

The Levenson Family Chair in Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, Robert T. Grimm, Jr. is the founder and director of the university's award-winning Do Good Institute and Maryland's Do Good Campus, which engages students of all majors and colleges in hands-on educational experiences that empower them to make a social impact today.

Grimm earned an M.A. in History and an M.A. in Philanthropic Studies in 1998 from Indiana University. He subsequently returned to IU and earned his Ph.D. in History in 2002. He previously taught and conducted research at what is now the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

Grimm received senior appointments in the administrations of both President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama, and he co-led the creation of the Social Innovation Fund. He served as senior counselor to the CEO (2006-2010) and as director of research and policy development (2004-2010) at the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), which directs AmeriCorps and invested nearly a billion dollars in grants to innovative nonprofits.

Grimm expanded CNCS's annual research funds from $2 million to $10.5 million and directed more than $30 million in program evaluations and research studies. He led the creation of the U.S. government's first, regular data collection on social capital with the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau.

Grimm and the Do Good Institute won the 2017 Voinovich Public Innovation Prize from the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Public Affairs, and Public Administration, and he is the recipient of Monmouth College's 2010 Young Alumnus Award. He has served on the board of directors or advisors for the Food Recovery Network (founding board chair), the Washington Area Women's Foundation, the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation and the National Conference on Citizenship. He is an author of tens of research studies, a widely-cited article on "The New Volunteer Workforce" in the Stanford Social Innovation Review; articles in journals such as Nonprofit & Voluntary Sector Quarterly and the Journal of Policy Analysis & Management; and a book about American philanthropists.