Director - Indiana Nonprofits Project: Scope & Community Dimensions
Distinguished Professor of Public Affairs Emerita - O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs - Bloomington
Efroymson Chair in Philanthropy - Lilly Family School of Philanthropy - IUI (2001-2020)
Phone: (812) 855-8835
Email: kgronbj@iu.edu
Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1974
M.A., University of Chicago, 1970
B.A., Pitzer College, Claremont, CA, 1968
Dr. Kirsten Grønbjerg is a nationally recognized scholar on nonprofit and public sector relationships. She has been with O'Neill since 1997 and is also an adjunct professor in the Sociology Department. In addition, Grønbjerg has held the Efroymson Chair in Philanthropy at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy (2001-2020) at Indiana University, located at Indiana University Indianapolis (IUI), where she is also professor of Philanthropic Studies.
For the last two decades, Grønbjerg has directed the Indiana Nonprofits Project: Scope and Community Dimensions, analyzing and disseminating information about Indiana nonprofits and their contributions to the state and local community. The project aims to help community leaders and public policy makers develop effective and collaborative solutions to community needs. She officially retired from IU in January 2024, but continues to direct the Indiana Nonprofits Project.
Her other research and publications focus on nonprofit funding relations, nonprofit capacity, nonprofit data sources, and the American welfare system.
In 2016, Grønbjerg was named a National Academy of Public Administration Fellow. In 2005, she received the Award for Distinguished Achievement and Leadership in Nonprofit and Voluntary Action Research from the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA).
She is active in public service as a member of the Giving USA Advisory Council for Methodology since 2000, the Research Advisory Board for the ALICE project, and in the Nonprofit Open Data Collective which seeks to advance quality nonprofit data sources. She is also a member of the Board of United Way of South Central Indiana.
Fellow, National Academy of Public Administration, 2016
Beth Wood Distinguished Service-Learning Faculty Award, 2013
Distinguished Achievement and Leadership in Nonprofit and Voluntary Action Research, 2005. Awarded by Association of Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action, Washington, D.C., November 18.
Outstanding Article Award, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 2001
Founding Faculty Chair, Governance and Management Faculty, O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University.
O'Neill Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, 1997-2001; Interim Dean, July 1-September 30, 2000
