Support the Center

Help Advance Ethics in Public Life 

For nearly four decades, the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics has been a leading voice in research, teaching, and public engagement on the most pressing ethical challenges of our time. With your support, we can continue to nurture the next generation of ethical leaders, expand our work on civil discourse, institutional integrity, and democracy, and bring ethical reasoning into the heart of public life. 

Your contribution makes a difference. 

Ways to Give

General Support 

Gifts to the Center’s general funds provide critical, flexible support across all areas of our work. Your donation helps: 

  • Sustain fellowships for emerging scholars and practitioners 
  • Support cutting-edge research on ethics, democracy, and public policy 
  • Develop public programs and events that foster dialogue and understanding 

  • Bring ethics into classrooms across Harvard and beyond 

     

The Dennis F. Thompson Fund 

To honor the legacy of our founding director, Dennis F. Thompson (1940–2025), we have a fund dedicated to the areas of scholarship and public engagement that defined his career. 

Gifts to the Thompson Fund support: 

  • Fellowships in political ethics and democratic governance 
  • Research on institutional integrity and deliberative democracy 
  • Initiatives that bring ethical reflection into the public square 

 

This is more than a tribute. It’s an investment in principled public life.  Learn more about his legacy on our In Memoriam page  

How to Give

To make a gift online, visit our secure Harvard University Giving Portal and select the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics from the dropdown menu. 

  • To direct your gift to the Dennis F. Thompson Fund, choose it specifically from the giving options. 

  • For assistance with planned gifts, wire transfers, or other ways of giving, please contact us directly. 

     

Donate by check 


Please make your check payable to "President and Fellows of Harvard College," and indicate "Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics" in the memo line. Checks should be mailed to: 

Maggie Lopes 
Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics 
124 Mt. Auburn St., Suite 520N 
Cambridge, MA 02138 
 

Questions?

Please contact Maggie Lopes, Director of Business Operations, by email at mlopes@fas.harvard.edu if you would like more information about donating to the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics. (Please do not email credit card numbers.) 

Your contribution to the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics is tax-deductible. Thank you very much for your generous support!