The American College of Greece
Not to be served, but to serve.
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Pre-K, secondary, university education, graduate education
Founded 150 years ago by American women, ACG has evolved into the oldest and largest American-accredited nonsectarian, nonprofit co-educational institution in Europe. Today, ACG remains grounded in its founders’ commitment to service and equitable, inclusive education, enrolling more than 7,000 students in its comprehensive pre-K – graduate-level system, providing financial assistance to the majority of students, and investing in refugee student scholarships. Undergraduate and graduate studies are housed at the 64-acre main campus on Mt. Hymettus overlooking Athens. A new campus in nearby Spata serves pre-K and elementary, and Alba Graduate School of Business is located in downtown Athens.
In Greece, ACG’s difference is providing a comprehensive education rooted in the American values of innovation, equity, and meritocracy that links students to the regional marketplace and global opportunities.
Where we work
Awards
STARS Gold Rating 2021
AASHE
Affiliations & memberships
Junior Achievement Worldwide 2019
External reviews
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of participants in study abroad and exchange programs
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Pre-K, secondary, university education, graduate education
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of students who receive scholarship funds and/or tuition assistance
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Pre-K, secondary, university education, graduate education
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Total dollar amount of scholarship awarded
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Pre-K, secondary, university education, graduate education
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of academic scholarships awarded
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Pre-K, secondary, university education, graduate education
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Moving toward its 150th year in 2025, ACG continues to build on the school’s historic mission: To add distinctive and sustainable value to its students, Greece, American education, Hellenic heritage, and the global community through transformative teaching, scholarship and service.
ACG aims to continue its tradition of academic excellence while making substantial, tangible contributions to the economic and social fabric of Greece and the cultural continuity of the Greek diaspora.
ACG's top four goals strategic goals through 2025:
1. Achieve high standards of performance across all educational programs and make a material diffrence in Greece's economy and public health.
2. Cultivate high performance, sustainable organizational culture based on transparency, mutual support, collegiality and continuous improvement.
3. Establish ACG's educational leadership position; build a culture of constituency engagement and philanthropy.
4. Assure a comprehensive, sustainable financial and infrastructure model.
Priorities for the future include:
1. Develop the two main campuses, two education and research centers in Athens, and the new ACG Innovation Hub @ Demokritos (Greece’s National Centre of Scientific Research, adjacent to our Aghia Paraskevi campus).
2. Develop The Institute for Hellenic Culture and the Liberal Arts, the Institute for Hellenic Growth and Prosperity, the Institute of Public Health, and the Institute of Global Affairs and their affiliated centers of excellence as pillars of ACG’s expanded, comprehensive curriculum and economic, cultural and social impact initiatives.
3. Grow total enrollment to 10,000 in both traditional, face-to-face and online formats.
4. Expand community outreach, professional and Executive Education programs.
5. Support faculty research and development.
6. Enhance support for student financial aid.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Strategies to advance Goal 1: Enhance ACG's educational experience; diversify and strengthen enrollment - qualitatively and quantitatively; triangulate initiatives to boost Greece's economy, improve public health and promote civic engagement.
Strategies to advance Goal 2: Establish collegial governance rooted in a highly functioning board of trustees, faculty and staff; assure externally competitive and internally equitable compensation.
Strategies to advance Goal 3: Invest in targeted marketing and communications, advancement (e.g. alumni engagement, fundraising) and public affairs initiatives.
Strategies to advance Goal 4: Strengthen financial management; diversify revenue sources; develop and expand physical and technological resources; implement comprehensive sustainability intiative.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
ACG's capabilities include:
1. 7,100 enrolled students from 70 countries
2. 600 faculty
3. 62,000 global alumni
4. $300M endowment/reserves fund
5. Three educational divisions
6. Deree, Europe’s largest U.S.-accredited college
7. Alba, Greece’s premier independent graduate business school
8. Pierce, Greece’s leading independent PK – 12 school
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Over the last decade, despite operating in the Greek economic crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic, ACG has achieved impressive institutional growth and significantly expanded our individual, economic, cultural, and social impact.
In just ten years, ACG has:
1. Increased total enrollment by 93%, from 3,688 to 7,100
2. Added 40 new undergraduate and graduate degree programs
3. Launched the Pierce International Baccalaureate Diploma Program and P-K-Grade Six Elementary School
4. Acquired and developed a new, 27 acre East Campus
5. Increased the percentage of financial aid recipients from 23% to 56% of the student body
6. Organized and licensed the ACG – Research Center to support faculty research and participation in EU funding projects
Partnering with organizations across Greece and the U.S., including National Hellenic Society, The Hellenic Initiative, the Behrakis Foundation, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, SEV (Hellenic Federation of Enterprises), the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation, the U.S. Embassy in Athens, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), ACG has:
1. Exposed 500 Greek American students to their roots through Heritage Greece
2. Helped launch 27 Greek startups
3. Educated over 50,000 Greek youth about the dangers of smoking, Greece now leads the EU in smoking reduction
4. Supported 200 refugees in educational programs at Pierce, Deree and Alba
5. Established a model program at Pierce to support European Jewish communities devastated by the Holocaust
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
The American College of Greece
Board of directorsas of 02/06/2023
Ambassador Dan Bennett Smith
U.S. Department of State
Term: 2022 - 2025
Alexandros Aldous
Chef's Warehouse
William Antholis
University of Virginia
Michael Bapis
Rockefeller Capital Management
Drake Behrakis
Marwick Associates
Spiros Bouas
Lite-Cap Private Equity
George Casey Diploma
Shearman and Sterling
John Chachas
Methuselah Advisors
Alma DeMetropolis
J.P. Morgan
Susan Fuhrman
Columbia University
Matt Glendinning
Moses Brown School
Dena Haritos Tsamitis
Carnegie Mellon University
Martha Kanter
New York University
Hariclia Karis
Kirkland and Ellis
Nikos Koumettis
The Coca-Cola Company
Lee Ann Leahy
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Angelo Manioudakis
Two Lantern Investment Partners
Dan Miller
The Urban School of San Francisco
Helena Mitchell
Georgia Institute of Technology
Lisa O'Donnell
BlackRock Inc.
Milton Sipp
Riverdale Country School
Daniel Bennett Smith
U.S. State Department
Lena Triantogiannis
Egon Zehnder
Deborah Wince-Smith
Council on Competitiveness
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
Transgender Identity
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 01/05/2023GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.