IAP2 Resources -
Foundations & Think Tanks
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The Benton Foundation works to realize the social benefits made possible by the public interest use of communications. Provides links to online tools for community organizing and community building.
The mission of the Benton Foundation is to articulate a public interest
vision for the digital age and to demonstrate the value of
communications for solving social problems. Current priorities include:
promoting a vision and policy alternatives for the digital age in which
the benefit to the public is paramount; raising awareness among funders
and nonprofits on their stake in critical policy issues; enabling
communities and nonprofits to produce diverse and locally responsive
media content.
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Jean and Steve Case founded the Case Foundation in 1997 to reflect
their family's heartfelt commitment to finding lasting solutions to
complex social challenges. Today, the foundation is pursuing a number
of initiatives, and is particularly focused on three strategies:
- Encouraging collaboration;
- Supporting successful leaders; and
- Fostering entrepreneurship in the nonprofit sector.
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The Ford Foundation is a resource for innovative people and institutions worldwide.
Our goals are to:
- Strengthen democratic values,
- Reduce poverty and injustice,
- Promote international cooperation and
- Advance human achievement
A fundamental challenge facing every society is
to create political, economic and social systems that promote peace,
human welfare and the sustainability of the environment on which
life depends. We believe that the best way to meet this challenge
is to encourage initiatives by those living and working closest
to where problems are located; to promote collaboration among the
nonprofit, government and business sectors; and to ensure participation
by men and women from diverse communities and at all levels of society.
In our experience, such activities help build common understanding,
enhance excellence, enable people to improve their lives and reinforce
their commitment to society. |
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The Kettering Foundation, a research institution, is an operating
foundation rooted in the American tradition of cooperative research.
Kettering's primary research question today is "What does it take to
make democracy work as it should?"
Kettering collaborates with community groups,
government agencies, scholars, and activists around the world. Much of
the foundation's work centers around public deliberation - the work of
weighing the costs and benefits of various approaches for action
against the things people hold most dear. |
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The Pew Charitable Trusts serves the public interest by providing
information, advancing policy solutions and supporting civic life.
Based in Philadelphia,
with an office in Washington, D.C., the Trusts will invest $248 million
in fiscal year 2007 to provide organizations and citizens with
fact-based research and practical solutions for challenging issues.
History
The Trusts, an independent nonprofit, is the sole beneficiary of seven
individual charitable funds established between 1948 and 1979 by two
sons and two daughters of Sun Oil Company founder Joseph N. Pew and his
wife, Mary Anderson Pew.
Three Major Areas of Work:
- Informing the Public
- Advancing Policy Solutions
- Supporting Civic Life
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The Rockefeller Foundation was established in 1913 by John D.
Rockefeller, Sr., to "promote the well-being" of humanity by addressing
the root causes of serious problems. The Foundation works around the
world to expand opportunities for poor or vulnerable people and to help
ensure that globalization’s benefits are more widely shared. With
assets of more than $3.5 billion, it is one of the few institutions to
conduct such work both within the United States and internationally.
As John D. Rockefeller said, “The best philanthropy is constantly in
search of the finalities—a search for a cause, an attempt to cure evils
at their source.” This approach has produced such breakthrough work as
the professionalization of public health, the development of a vaccine
against yellow fever, the “Green Revolution” in Latin American, Asian
and Indian agriculture, and the creation of public-private partnerships
to develop promising new vaccines.
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The Surdna Foundation is a family foundation established in 1917 by John Emory Andrus. The foundation makes grants in the areas of environment, community revitalization, effective citizenry, the arts and the nonprofit sector, with annual grant making of approximately $30 million. The goal of Surdna's Effective Citizenry program is to support young people to take action with others to address meaningful problems in their schools, neighborhoods and the larger society.
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The Walter & Duncan Gordon Foundation aspires to the ideal of a sovereign Canada that is dedicated to the security and well-being of all Canadians and committed tolerance, pluralism and democratic participation. This independent Canadian grant-making foundation is dedicated to the development of sound and innovative public policies, founded on those values fundamental to Canadians, and designed to foster the continuing evolution of a dynamic and independent Canada.
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