Eileen R. Heisman

Eileen R. Heisman, ACFRE is a nationally recognized expert on charitable and planned giving. Eileen has been interviewed about philanthropy and donor-advised funds on CNBC, PBS, NPR, CNN International and Bloomberg TV, and by nearly every national newspaper and major trade publication, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Bloomberg, CBS MarketWatch, Financial Advisor, and Investment News. She has been named ten times by NonProfit Times as one of their Power and Influence Top 50, an annual listing of the 50 most influential executives in the philanthropic sector, most recently in 2023. She is currently listed as one of ONE HUNDRED’s top influencers in philanthropy and is the recipient of a 2019 Carnegie Mellon University Alumni Achievement Award. At the invitation of the Chinese government, Eileen spoke to their emerging nonprofit sector about American philanthropy. She was the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP)’s 2014 Outstanding Fundraising Professional, the highest award granted by AFP to recognize effective, creative and stimulating leadership, and the practice and promotion of ethical fundraising. She was also among the first fundraising professionals to earn the distinguished ACFRE certification. 

Eileen currently teaches a graduate course in philanthropy at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice and is also a member of the faculty at LEADERSHIP Philadelphia. She is on the Governance Committee for the Nonprofit Leadership Program at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice. She is a periodic lecturer for the Nonprofit Board Leadership Program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. Eileen is a lecturer and member of the National Advisory Board at the University of Michigan School of Social Work and serves on Carnegie Mellon University’s Dietrich College Board of Advisors (formerly College of Humanities and Social Science). She served as founding chair of Culture Works Philadelphia for seven years. 

Eileen received a master’s degree in Social Work with a concentration in Social Program Evaluation from the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree with honors in psychology from Carnegie Mellon University.  She is a member of the third Wharton Fellows Class at the University of Pennsylvania and completed the Executive Program for Philanthropy Leaders at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.