Developing a transparent, diverse and sustainable funding base over time - with both public and private participation - is a fundamental priority for The State of the USA (SUSA). Earning a new level of confidence from the American people requires not just the credibility of the information and the usability of the website, but also a diverse funding base that reinforces accountability as well as appropriate independence from political influence. Funding for SUSA must be based on a public/private partnership with various sources of revenue, including contributions from the public, business leadership, government, individual philanthropy, foundation support and value-added services.
To achieve this, the State of the USA works in close partnership with leaders of nonprofit groups, foundations, business, academia, the media and government. Many institutions and individuals have contributed valuable time and energy, investing financial or in-kind resources and providing important leadership, advice, skills and expertise. Vital strategic ideas, relationships and start-up funding for the State of the USA's work to date have been provided by a coalition of national foundations and key individual philanthropists.
State of the USA funders include:
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has been making grants since 1967 to support educational and cultural institutions and to help solve serious social and environmental problems. The foundation has grant-making programs in education, the environment, global development, the performing arts, philanthropy and population, and it also makes grants to aid disadvantaged communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. Since its inception, the Hewlett Foundation has made grants of over $2.5 billion to thousands of organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area, across the United States and around the world.
The Rockefeller Foundation
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. With assets of more than $3.7 billion, it is one of the nation's largest private foundations. The foundation supports work around the world to expand opportunities for poor or vulnerable people and to help ensure that the benefits of globalization are shared more widely.
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation supports creative people and effective institutions committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. In addition to selecting the MacArthur Fellows, the Foundation works to defend human rights, advance global conservation and security, make cities better places, and understand how technology is affecting children and society. More information is at www.macfound.org.
Carnegie Corporation of New York
Carnegie Corporation of New York was founded by Andrew Carnegie, the great steel baron-turned-philanthropist, in November of 1911. At that time, the corporation was the largest single philanthropic trust that had ever been established. With its original $135 million endowment (equivalent to roughly $2 billion today) the corporation has made grants totaling more than $1.4 billion.
Carnegie envisioned the corporation as a foundation to promote "the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding." In keeping with this mandate, the corporation's work incorporates an affirmation of its historic role as an education foundation but also honors Carnegie's passion for international peace and the health of our democracy. While Carnegie's primary aim was to benefit the people of the United States, he later determined to use a portion of the funds for members of the British overseas Commonwealth. Currently, this area of grant making focuses on selected countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
Carnegie dedicated his foundation to the goal of doing "real and permanent good in this world" and deemed that its efforts should create "ladders on which the aspiring can rise." In current-day grantmaking, the corporation continues to carry out this mission through programs and initiatives that address today's problems by drawing on the best ideas and cutting-edge strategies that draw strength from deep knowledge and scholarship. "History guides us and the present informs us, but our work looks always toward the future."
The F.B. Heron Foundation
The mission of The F.B. Heron Foundation is helping people and communities to help themselves. The Heron Foundation makes grants and investments within three wealth creation strategies to support our mission: Home Ownership: Advancing and preserving home ownership in low- and moderate-income communities; Enterprise Development: Supporting enterprise development in distressed communities; Access to Capital: Increasing access to capital and preserving assets for low-income families and communities. The Foundation also supports research and policy efforts that advance these strategies:
- Demonstrably incorporate people with disabilities as beneficiaries of the wealth-creation strategies on which the Foundation is focused.
- Develop systems and approaches for reliable, credible data, research and technology systems that inform and expand practice and policy in wealth creation.
- Encourage effective practices in philanthropy, specifically to expand social impact through mission-related investing, as well as to promote core support funding, practical means of assessing impact, and high quality customer service to our partner grantees and investees.
- Provide financial or technical assistance to community-based development organizations or coordinate practitioner networks to exchange lessons learned.
Charles H. Revson Foundation
Charles H. Revson Foundation was founded in 1956 by Charles H. Revson, the founder of Revlon, Inc., as a vehicle for his charitable giving. Mr. Revson willed half his estate to the Foundation upon his death in 1975. The initial board of directors, chaired by Judge Simon H. Rifkind, decided to ground the Foundation's giving in the founder's personal philanthropy, which expressed, as Judge Rifkind put it, Mr. Revson's commitment "to the spread of knowledge" and "the improvement of human life." With Mr. Revson's giving as a guide, the board established four program areas: urban affairs, Jewish philanthropy and education, biomedical research and education.
Peter G. Peterson Foundation
Peter G. Peterson Foundation is dedicated to increasing public awareness of the nature and urgency of several key challenges threatening America's future, and to accelerating action on them. To address these challenges successfully, it works to bring Americans together to find sensible, long-term solutions that transcend age, party lines and ideological divides in order to achieve real results.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people's health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people — especially those with the fewest resources — have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, Washington, the foundation is led by CEO Jeff Raikes and Co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.
The Atlantic Philanthropies
The Atlantic Philanthropies are dedicated to bringing about lasting changes in the lives of disadvantaged and vulnerable people. Atlantic focuses on four critical social problems: Ageing, Children & Youth, Population Health, and Reconciliation & Human Rights. Programmes funded by Atlantic operate in Australia, Bermuda, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, South Africa, the United States and Viet Nam. To learn more, visit: