Don Eberly

Author, Civic Entrepreneur, Advocate

Don Eberly is an award winning author, former senior policy official, and consultant in the area of governance and community development.

Don is a widely noted author or co-author of 8 books, including The Essential Civil Society Reader, a widely cited text on American concepts of civil society. One of his books, "Building a Community of Citizens: Civil Society in the 21st Century," has been published in Arabic and is in wide circulation in the Middle East. A recent award-winning book, "The Rise of Global Civil Society: Building Communities and Nations from the Bottom Up," details the powerful rise of philanthropy, volunteerism and public-private partnerships in contributing to global political and economic development. His latest book "Liberate and Leave: Fatal Flaws in the Early Post-War Strategy," has been critically acclaimed.

Influence Domestically

His career includes a decade serving in senior policy positions in the Congress and in the White House under two Presidents, and another decade advocating for and creating non-profit organizations to strengthen community and civic life. Don has served in key international policy positions, including as Senior Counselor for International Civil Society at USAID, and as Director of Private Sector Outreach and Coordination for tsunami reconstruction at the State Department.

Influence Abroad

Eberly served for two years in senior reconstruction positions in post-war Iraq, first as a Senior Ministry Advisor in Baghdad (for the Ministry of Youth and Sports) immediately following the invasion where he reorganized nationwide youth programs and community services, and coordinated an extensive national rebuilding program for Iraq sports that led to Iraq reentering the Olympic games in 2004. Later, as the Director of Social Policy and Private Assistance for Iraq at the Pentagon and State Department, he coordinated hundreds of millions of dollars in private sector donations for rebuilding Iraqi universities and social service systems. For his service in Iraq, he earned the most distinguished medal for civilian service under joint military-civilian command.

Movement Founder and Scholar

Don spent much of the 1990s as a social entrepreneur, founding several nationally recognized non-profit organizations, including the Civil Society Project, which promotes innovation in community development and offers technical assistance for new non-profit start ups. In 1994, he founded the National Fatherhood Initiative, a national non-partisan civic organization whose mission is to improve the well-being of children by increasing the number of children raised by committed, engaged fathers.

The Praise of Others

Eberly’s work and extensive writings on civil society have been widely praised by leading journalists and scholars. E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post has said "Few know or care more about civil society than don Eberly." Francis Fukuyama, one of the nation’s leading intellectuals, has said "Don Eberly has been at the center of this movement throughout the decade, both as an organizer and a writer and thinker."

About his latest book, John Bridgeland, who Directed the President’s volunteerism office, The Freedom Corps, said "no one in America is better positioned to tell this story than Don Eberly, who has worked both in the trenches of communities around the world and at the highest levels of our government."

In addition to writing, Don is working as a consultant on innovative new development projects in Africa, such as building private sector health care systems based upon a micro-franchising model. He has also served the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Business Civic Leadership Council as a Senior Consultant for Global Corporate Citizenship.

He holds graduate degrees in government from George Washington University and Harvard University, and has done doctoral studies at Penn State University.