Patrick Rooney

Patrick Rooney is a professor of economics and philanthropic studies and the executive associate dean for academic programs at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. While he served as the executive director of the Center on Philanthropy, he worked closely with the center’s faculty, its board of visitors and the IU administration to watch it become the IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy — the world’s first school of philanthropy.

Rooney also served as the center’s first full-time director of research, building the center into one of the nation’s premier philanthropy research organizations, leading research projects for organizations such as Giving USA, Bank of America, American Express, Gates Foundation, Google and the United Way Worldwide. He has served on the boards and advisory committees of many nonprofits.

A nationally recognized expert on philanthropy and charitable giving, Rooney has published many academic and practitioner-focused papers. He speaks frequently across the country on issues related to philanthropy and nonprofit management and has been quoted by national news media outlets such as PBS’s Nightly Business Report, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and USA Today.

He earned his BA, MA, and Ph.D. in economics at Notre Dame.

Areas of Expertise

Philanthropy, economics, charitable giving, tax policy and giving, taxes and giving, charitable deduction, philanthropy and economics, philanthropy and the economy, charitable giving and the economy, contributions, donations, wealth and giving, donors, donor behavior, motivations for giving, trends in charitable giving, disaster relief, disasters and giving, nonprofits, generational differences in charitable giving, nonprofit overhead costs, fundraising costs, intergenerational transmission of generosity, charity, giving and recessions.