American Foundations

Roles and Contributions

Helmut K. Anheier, David C. Hammack, Helmut K. Anheier, David C. Hammack

• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9780815703396
• eBook ISBN: 9780815704577
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politik & Internationale Beziehungen
• Subtopic: Öffentliche Ordnung

Foundations play an essential part in the philanthropic activity that defines so much of American life. No other nation provides its foundations with so much autonomy and freedom of action as does the United States. Liberated both from the daily discipline of the market and from direct control by government, American foundations understandably attract great attention. As David Hammack and Helmut Anheier note in this volume, ""Americans have criticized foundations for... their alleged conservatism, liberalism, elitism, radicalism, devotion to religious tradition, hostility to religion—in short, for commitments to causes whose significance can be measured, in part, by the controversies they provoke. Americans have also criticized foundations for ineffectiveness and even foolishness.""
Their size alone conveys some sense of the significance of American foundations, whose assets amounted to over $530 billion in 2008 despite a dramatic decline of almost 22 percent in the previous year. And in 2008 foundation grants totaled over $45 billion. But what roles have foundations actually played over time, and what distinctive roles do they fill today? How have they shaped American society, how much difference do they make? What roles are foundations likely to play in the future?
This comprehensive volume, the product of a three-year project supported by the Aspen Institute's program on the Nonprofit Sector and Philanthropy, provides the most thorough effort ever to assess the impact and significance of the nation's large foundations. In it, leading researchers explore how foundations have shaped—or failed to shape—each of the key fields of foundation work.
American Foundations takes the reader on a wide-ranging tour, evaluating foundation efforts in education, scientific and medical research, health care, social welfare, international relations, arts and culture, religion, and social change.

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Copyright Information
• Table of Contents
• List of Tables and Figures
• Acknowledgments
• Part I: Introduction
• American Foundations: Their Roles and Contributions to Society
• Part II: Exploring Roles and Contributions
• Foundations and the Making of Public Education in the United States, 1867-1950
• Catalysts for Change? Foundations and School Reform, 1950-2005
• The Partnerships of Foundations and Research Universities
• Foundations and Higher Education
• Foundations and Health: Innovation, Marginalization, and Relevance since 1900
• The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Efforts to Improve Health and Health Care for All Americans
• Foundations and Social Welfare in the Twentieth Century
• The Role of Foundations in Shaping Social Welfare Policy and Services: The Case of Welfare Reform
• The State and International Philanthropy: The Contribution of American Foundations, 1919-1991
• For the World's Sake: U.S. Foundations and International Grant Making, 1990-2002
• Foundations as Cultural Actors
• Roles of Foundations and Their Impact in the Arts
• The Role of Foundations in American Religion
• Foundations, Social Movements, and the Contradictions of Liberal Philanthropy
• Consolidating Social Change: The Consequences of Foundation Funding for Developing Social Movement Infrastructures
• Part III: Conclusion
• Foundations and Public Policy
• Looking Forward: American Foundations between Continuity and Change
• Appendix A: Data Sources
• Appendix B: Cleaning the Foundations Data Set for Chapter 3
• References
• Contributors
• Index
• Back Cover