American Foundations Research Articles

Private foundation funding of applied communication research

Communication researchers increasingly have a primed and attentive audience in private foundations. Yet most foundations are quite dissimilar to the types of organizations that we as communication scholars know and understand. Here we discuss private foundation funding for applied communication research, including how funding priorities are set, and how potential grantees may position themselves for foundation funds. In doing so, we focus on five norms that characterize American private foundations and their program staff: (1) social betterment, (2) organizational interdependency, (3) personal commitment, (4) future orientation, and (5) external generalizability. How well you and your proposal match up with these norms will affect your success with private foundations.

La recherche en dehors de l’Université dans l’Italie des années soixante et soixante-dix : le cas des sciences sociales

Research outside the University in italy in the 1960s and 1970s : the case of the social sciences The Consiglio Nazionale delle Richerche (CNR) was created just after the First World War so that Italy could be represented in plans for new international organizations. Presided over by the mathematician Vito Volterra, the CNR was dedicated to the development of technological research. Confirmed in these priorities since the end of the war, considerable development occurred at the beginning of the 1960s under the presidency of Giovanni Polvani. The question of the place of the social sciences in the research university arose with urgency at this time. In particular, there was the question of the development of economic and administrative sciences. This interest appeared to bring together intellectuals and industrialists who, like Adriano Olivetti, had worked in the immediate post-war years to open the Italian debate to ideas being developed in other countries. At the initiative of the Olivetti Foundation, with the aid of American foundations, in particular the Ford Foundation, education and research institutes were created to train young people in social science research methodology, in order to « fertilize » the University training, which remained prisoner to theoretical and/or ideological debates. The CNR was considered an organization that could, by close liaison with the world of the university, to promote change from within universities. The opposition of academics was strong and caused serious obstacles to the development of cooperation between CNR's committees and the committees on social and political sciences created by the Olivetti and the Ford Foundations.

Wie Neues nicht entsteht: Die Gründung des Instituts für Höhere Studien in Wien durch Ex-Österreicher und die Ford Foundation

On the basis of recently discovered sources the author is able to rewrite the prehistory and early history of the Viennese Institut fuer Hoehere Studien as a complex story of communications decision-making and revising decisions within a small group of Austrian emigrees (among them: Friedrich von Hayek, Paul Lazarsfeld, and Oskar Morgenstern), American foundations, Austrian government officials and a group of Austrian social scientists profiting from the development. The Austrians sides in many ways apparently unable to transscend their own interest of the day produced a series of obstacles and barriers to establish this new institute. Thus, the massive impact of American money apparently produced a variety of unintended effects and consequences.

AMERICAN PHILANTHROPY IN REPUBLICAN TURKEY: THE ROCKEFELLER AND FORD FOUNDATIONS

Through the vvork of missionary organizaions, American charity and philanthropy have had a long history in Turkey. Early in the tvventieth century, hovvever, charity and philanthropy vvithin the United States undervvent a dramatic change vvith the development of scientific philanthropy. Such efforts aimed, through investigation and careful use of financial contributions, to attack the heart of social ills rather than to relieve suffering or provide religious instruction. A host of Rockefeller philanthropies, the largest of vvhich vvas the Rockefeller Foundation RF-cstablished in 1913 , vvere in the forefront of scientific philanthropy in education, public health nursing and medical education, and support for scientific research. During the 1950s the Ford Foundation surpassed the RF in the size of its assets and soon rivaled the scope of its vvork internationally. This essay vvill examine the vvork of these tvvo American philanthropies in Turkey since the declaration of the republic. Among the questions to be addressed are the relationship betvveen private American foundations and the US and Turkish governments, the nature of philanthropic programs in Turkey and vvhether these changed över time, the cultural and political contexts to these philanthropic programs. Finally, the essay vvill assess vvhat impact the vvork of these foundations has had in Turkey

Caring for the Future: Making the Next Decades Provide a Life Worth Living

This book puts forward the findings of a 4-year investigation by an independent global commission. The ambitious remit of the commission was funded by seven governments, the United Nations, the World Bank, and five American foundations. The report presents the most recent demographic and socioeconomic data and useful summaries of global economic and ecological challenges. The text presents coherent systematic arguments leading toward a series of fresh responses and suggestions. The strategies for achieving sustained improvement in the quality of life echo the Global 2000 Report to the President commissioned by Carter and draw extensively on some 60 studies prepared for the commission. Innovative approaches in assessing the quality of life are put forward, and the carrying capacity of the earth is discussed clearly and informatively. The greatest contribution of this work lies in its humanity and the call for us to return through understanding to caring. Parts of<i>Caring</i>

Policy and Vulnerability: American Foundations in Twentieth-Century Health Affairs

Policy and Vulnerability: American Foundations in Twentieth-Century Health Affairs

From government to grass-roots reform: the Ford Foundation's population programmes in South Asia, 1959–1981

This article traces the history of Ford's involvement in population work in South Asia from the 1950s to the mid-1980s. The primary focus is on the transition from large-scale technical assistance programmes rooted in government and academe, to work with grass-roots women's groups and community-based non-governmental organisations (NGOs). In the process, the Foundation also moved from quantitative efforts designed primarily to distribute contraceptives, to a more holistic approach focusing on maternal and child health. The article concludes by relating these trends to a larger shift from a belief in the power of ‘disinterested expertise’ and university-based policymaking that marked the efforts of the major American foundations since the Progressive era, to a new emphasis on ‘self-interested expertise’ and grass-roots social activist and development NGOs that emerged in the 1970s. Changing development paradigms, political trends and a growing disillusionment with large-scale technical assistance all contributed to this transition.

The regulation of American foundations: Looking backward at the Tax Reform Act of 1969

The American Tax Reform Act of 1969 represented a major watershed in the law of philanthropy, introducing a new classification scheme —one that sharply distinguished between ‘private foundations’ and other charitable organisations- and, for the private foundation category, a new regulatory system, new regulatory sanctions, a new tax on investment income and new restricitons on the deductibility of property gifts. After briefly tracing the origins of this legislation, the paper sets forth five norms that should characterise the legislative process, and proceeds to explore, albeit in abbreviated fashion, the extent to which each of these norms was respected by the Congress in 1969. The paper then turns from an examination of regulatory principles to a consideration of regulatoryimpacts, dealing with several ways in which the 1969 Act appears to have caused diversion of resources, including: diversion of charitable giving from foundations to non-foundation charities (with consequences for the ‘birthrate’ of foundations); diversion of resources from charitable to non-charitable uses; diversion of funds from charitable channels to the US Treasury; and a diversion of resources from certain grantees to others. The mitigating effects of recent forms of deregulation are described, followed by the suggestion that more deregulation is desirable, in order to sustain the health and strength of America's private foundation sector.

Towards Cultural Diffusion:

Issues in the history of archives and the archival profession are explored, in particular the role of American foundations and consultants abroad. This is a case study of the earliest archival project sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation: a survey of the holdings of libraries and archival repositories in Central America and the West Indies during the 1930s. The project reflected the Foundation's groping for a policy of "cultural diffusion." By emphasizing the needs of North American scholars, rather than those of indigenous societies, the project touched on but failed to grasp an opportunity to establish the potentially larger cultural, social, and political impact of archives in the region.

The metamorphosis of Latin America's intellectuals

In Latin America twenty years ago it was virtually impossible to find a leftist intellectual willing to accept financing from externally funded foundations. Today it is rare to find a researcher connected with any established institute who is not financed by one of the major or minor European or North American foundations.' For most of those who are not funded, it is not because they object but because they have not yet established the proper contacts or connections.

Getting the End of the Cold War Wrong

Gaddis has done the field of international relations theory a great service by pointing out that its practitioners were unable to predict the peaceful end of the Cold War. However, I believe that Gaddis has misdiagnosed the problem, and that therefore he has suggested solutions that are unlikely to produce better predictions for theories of international relations in the future. Gaddis argues that the stock of theories available to scholars was lacking in the kinds of theories that could have permitted the prediction of peaceful Soviet imperial collapse. Moreover, the methodologies implied by these theories were obstacles to understanding the complexities of international politics and Soviet domestic developments. His recommendation is that students of international relations must expand their theoretical repertoire to encompass non-linear causal relationships and insights from all the disciplines within world politics-behavioralism, structuralism, and evolutionism. Gaddis' recommendations should be welcomed in any case, because, if followed, they would enrich the field of international relations. But I do not believe they address the problem for which he offers them, because the failure to predict how the Cold War ended was not a product of inadequate theorizing or constraining methodologies. Indeed, the problem is far more fundamental, because its roots are sociological. American social scientists did not look at the problem and then attack it with inappropriate theories and methods; they simply failed to look at the problem at all. And the reason they did not raise the nowobvious questions is that the research programs within which they worked did not have room for such revolutionary science. A kind of intellectual hegemony was exercised by American academic institutions, foundations, and governmental agencies, a hegemony which deterred the investigation of questions such as how a peaceful imperial decline might occur within the Soviet empire. If what I argue is true, then the kinds of theoretical and methodological improvements suggested by Gaddis, while perhaps welcome on other grounds, will not affect the prospects for better predictions in the field of

Appendix A: Cabrini's European and Latin American Foundations and Works1 1891–1915

Appendix A: Cabrini's European and Latin American Foundations and Works¹ 1891–1915

American Foundations and the Development of the Social Sciences between the Wars: Comment on the Debate between Martin Bulmer and Donald Fisher

This paper comments on the debate between Martin Bulmer and Donald Fisher, which appears in an earlier issue of this journal, concerning the influence of Rockefeller philanthropy on the social sciences between the wars. Three central issues of contention are distinguished and rival claims are evaluated. I argue that new empirical evidence drawn from the foundations' archives does not support some of their arguments although each interpretation has its merits.

Who Are the Family Foundations' Findings from the Foundation Management Survey

The Council on Foundations surveys American foundations biennially about their staff, policies, and operations. This report presents the data from the 1990 survey, focusing on the 39 percent of the sample that have been defined as family foundations. The analysis finds that family foundations differ from the general population of foundations in average size, board composition, limits on board service, and work demands on staff and trustees. The authors suggest questions for further research.

Genetic conservation of radiata pine and coast redwood

This paper is a personal history of how 1962 and 1964 research collections of radiata pine ( Pinus radiata D. Don) were first perceived as, and then converted into, genetic-conservation collections. It recounts an early period of financial support from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and from those most likely to benefit in Australia and New Zealand, and of both financial and organizational support from the University of California (UC). Then came a period of contesting philosophies and reordering priorities. Support from UC was reduced, and NSF support was withdrawn. New Zealand institutions redirected their support to radiata-pine collections deployed in New Zealand, with the goal of securing a broad genetic base taking precedence over the 1962–1964 California collections' primary goal of conserving genetic architecture. Several American foundations excluded forest trees from their support portfolios, so that their genetic-conservation activities could be focused on more traditional agricultural species. Then came a period of renewed interest in non-agricultural species. Additional collections of native radiata pine were made in 1978. In the period between 1964 and 1978, basic research had been producing more complete and more reliable information on the genetic architecture of radiata pine with each passing year, resulting in a revised conservation strategy for the 1978 collections. During each episode of neglect, however, substantial portions of the 1962–1964 California collections were irretrievably lost. Finally, a more recent genetic-conservation collection of coast redwood ( Sequoia sempervirens [D. Don] Endl.) is described. Unlike the radiata pine collection, the redwood collection has support from an endowment established by the Save The Redwoods League.

The Metamorphosis of Latin America's Intellectuals

In Latin America twenty years ago it was virtually impossible to find a leftist intellectual willing to accept financing from externally funded foundations. Today it is rare to find a researcher connected with any established institute who is not financed by one of the major or minor European or North American foundations.' For most of those who are not funded, it is not because they object but because they have not yet established the proper contacts or connections.

The Role of Foundations in American Society

The Role of Foundations in American Society

American foundations and academic social science, 1945-1960.

American foundations and academic social science, 1945-1960.

International Council on Archives and UNESCO Meetings, September and November, 1986

This meeting, lasting most of the day, focused on reports of the developing countries and their archival needs and some of the projects they are trying to accomplish. With less UNESCO funds, there is a serious shortfall of money for archival projects to these third world nations. Naturally they look with hope to the United States. About the best hope is to encourage them to seek unilateral funding if they have projects that are attractive to individual American foundations. There is little chance of U.S. government money flowing into this kind of activity, and as long as the United States remains out of the UNESCO those funds will be short as well.

Science, foundations, and American universities in the 1920s.

Previous articleNext article No AccessScience, Foundations, and American Universities in the 1920sRobert E. KohlerRobert E. Kohler Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Osiris Volume 3, Number 11987 Published for the History of Science Society Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/368664 Views: 13Total views on this site Citations: 16Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1987 The History of Science Society, Inc.PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Catriel Fierro An ‘ingenious system of practical contacts’: Historical origins and development of the Institute of Child Welfare Research at Columbia University's Teachers College (1922–36), History of the Human Sciences 35, no.11 (Jul 2021): 56–86.https://doi.org/10.1177/09526951211023315Andrea Walton The History of Philanthropy in Higher Education: A Distinctively Discontinuous Literature, (Apr 2019): 479–533.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03457-3_11Gerhard Sonnert Social science and Sozialwissenschaft: Categorical and institutional boundaries of knowledge, Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences 54, no.33 (May 2018): 178–197.https://doi.org/10.1002/jhbs.21909Lion Murard Influence subie, influence exercée, Revue d’études comparatives Est-Ouest N° 1, no.11 (Dec 2017): 209–239.https://doi.org/10.3917/receo1.491.0209 Anhang, (Nov 2017): 503–557.https://doi.org/10.13109/9783666301759.503Shaul Katzir “In war or in peace:” The technological promise of science following the First World War, Centaurus 59, no.33 (Aug 2017): 223–237.https://doi.org/10.1111/1600-0498.12161Chay Brooks The apostle of internationalism: Stephen Duggan and the geopolitics of international education, Political Geography 49 (Nov 2015): 64–73.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2015.05.007Michael A. Dennis Universities and Science and Technology: United States, (Jan 2015): 762–766.https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.85053-9Jonathan Liebenau, Justin Gundlach Modernizing the Business of Health: Pharmaceuticals in Britain, in comparison with Germany and the United States, 1890–1940: Table 1, Industrial and Corporate Change 22, no.33 (May 2013): 807–847.https://doi.org/10.1093/icc/dtt010 Natalia Vogeikoff-Brogan The Carnegie Appropriations to the American School of Classical Studies: Gifts Wrapped Up in Successful Social Networking, Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 82, no.11 (Jan 2013): 131.https://doi.org/10.2972/hesperia.82.1.0131Tom Scheiding Boundary Institutions for Reconciliation of Academic Chemistry to Industry: Germany vs. The United States, SSRN Electronic Journal (Jan 2011).https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1912161Terri Kim Shifting patterns of transnational academic mobility: a comparative and historical approach, Comparative Education 45, no.33 (Aug 2009): 387–403.https://doi.org/10.1080/03050060903184957Stephen Petrina Luella Cole, Sidney Pressey, and Educational Psychoanalysis, 1921?1931, History of Education Quarterly 44, no.44 (Dec 2004): 524–553.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-5959.2004.tb00019.xSalma Ahmad American Foundations and the Development of the Social Sciences between the Wars: Comment on the Debate between Martin Bulmer and Donald Fisher, Sociology 25, no.33 (Jul 2016): 511–520.https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038591025003011Allan A. Needell The Carnegie Institution of Washington and Radio Astronomy: Prelude to an American National Observatory, Journal for the History of Astronomy 22, no.11 (Jul 2016): 55–67.https://doi.org/10.1177/002182869102200107 John Neu One Hundred Thirteenth Critical Bibliography of the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences, Isis 79, no.55 (Oct 2015): 5–273.https://doi.org/10.1086/354915