Download Foundations Catalyzing Change

Tackling Global Problems:
The Role of Foundations
Second OECD Forum on Statistics,
Knowledge and Policy
June 27, 2007
Evolution of Foundations
• Originated by Andrew Carnegie, John D.
Rockefeller, Margaret Olivia Sage
• Foundations differ within and among countries
– US: corporate, community, family
foundations
– Europe: large number of operating, rather
than grant-making, foundations
• US still has highest concentration of
foundations (50,000), Europe (> 90,000)
Foundations Play
Two Important Roles
• Society’s R&D
Catalyze
Change
• Identify and fund the development of
ideas, demonstrations, pilot programs
• Take risks and challenge convention
Promote
EvidenceBased
Learning
• Systematically examine problems
and possible solutions
• Gather and analyze data
• Disseminate knowledge of what
works
Foundations Catalyzing Change:
Development of Public Libraries
• Idea of equal access to books and
educational materials was
revolutionary and controversial
• By the 1920s, funding from
Carnegie and his foundation, the
Carnegie Corporation of New
York, had led to the creation of
1,679 libraries in the US alone
• Andrew Carnegie created more
than 2,500 libraries worldwide
Foundations Catalyzing Change
• Creation of U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics
• Creation of Social Science Research
Council
• Social Security study group
• Green Revolution--agricultural
research centers in the 1960s in
response to threat of widespread
starvation in developing countries
Foundations Catalyzing
Change: 911
• 1970s: the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
provided 44 grants in 32 states for regional
emergency medical services
• RWJF program demonstrated the concept of a
regionalized, systematic approach
• The federal government made a series of grants that
resulted in today's USA-wide 911 system
By investing in data and evidence
foundations help:
• Enhance public accountability
• Enable informed evaluation of alternatives to
understand tradeoffs among competing
issues
• De-politicize decision making
• Advance information over ideology
The Role of Foundations in
Evidence-Based Learning
• Provide research fellowships
• Sponsor research, data collection and analysis
• Fund program evaluation, esp. random
assignment (Hope VI and Opportunity NYC)
• Provide support for devoted, data-driven
projects such as Key National Indicators
Initiative: State of the USA
Evidence-Based Learning: Key
National Indicators Initiative (KNII)
• National Academies: State of the USA
• Robust set of independent and balanced
indicators designed to quantify the position
and progress of the US on multiple dimensions
(economic, social, environmental)
• Designed for scientific credibility as well as
broad accessibility
• Available for free on the internet
State of the USA
• Broaden understanding of changing conditions
• Enrich civic dialogue and enhance public
accountability for national progress
• Enable informed evaluation of alternatives to
understand tradeoffs among competing issues
• Enhance collaboration and problem solving by
providing data that foster rational priorities
• De-politicize decision making
• Information over ideology