Overview
In the Program on Human and Community Development, policy-related activities — research, analysis, and the education of policymakers and the general public — are included in both the Policy Research program area and also in other grantmaking areas such as Juvenile Justice and Community and Economic Development.
The purposes of MacArthur’s grantmaking in policy research are to: 1) advance the state of knowledge in specific areas, with outcomes that benefit individuals, families and communities, and society as a whole; 2) improve decision making at multiple levels; 3) strengthen the links among research, policy and practice, with each activity informing the others; and, 4) apply policy analysis to and foster transparency of complex political processes.
In 2010, the grant budget for this program area is $14.5 million.
What MacArthur Funds
Institutional Support to Key Organizations
The Foundation provides general operating support to a small portfolio of organizations working on issues that cut across areas of interest to the domestic program. These organizations — both national and in Illinois — conduct research, examine data, and produce independent analyses for use by diverse parties, including public officials, corporations, nonprofit entities, the media, and the general public.
See Recent Grants for examples of grants awarded.
The Foundation is not accepting unsolicited proposals for key policy organizations at this time.
Special Policy Projects
The Policy Research area undertakes special initiatives with broad implications for domestic policy. Currently, there are four underway. Three inter-related projects address economic, social and demographic trends in U.S. society and more data- and evidence-driven policymaking, and a fourth is the capstone to more than a decade of grantmaking in regional policy and practice.
A motivating hypothesis of this project is that effective social policies that invest in individuals who are in need or at-risk not only improve individual life chances, but in many instances benefit the larger society and generate public returns long after assistance has ended. Grants help strengthen the case for social policy-making more firmly grounded in evidence-of-effectiveness and with complementary benefits to recipients and society. More that twenty projects include benefit-cost studies of effective social programs, new methods to make benefit-cost analysis easier to use, and resources for organizations working with government agencies to improve decision making.
This project will bring attention to the country’s current fiscal situation and to the long-run implications for the nation’s fiscal future of demographic, social and economic trends. The National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Public Administration are convening an expert committee that will produce a guiding framework and alternative federal budget scenarios. These will be accompanied by a description of different paths to fiscal stability that reflects the diversity of values and preferences of the American public. Complementary grants will support public education about the content of the report.
This project is exploring the social, institutional and policy implications of an aging society, characterized by a significant increase in disability-free life expectancy and the arrival at retirement age of the 76-million-member “baby boom” generation. These two factors will affect virtually all institutions and relationships in American life, from the family, neighborhood, businesses and civic life to government policies, economic productivity and global competitiveness. A key contribution of the Network will be new U.S. population and mortality projections based on emerging evidence that will be compared to current government forecasts. The projections will forecast mortality under scenarios that take account of advances in bio-gerontology with its life-extending potential as well as the effects of unhealthy life conditions. The projections will have major implications for the development of social, economic, and health policy.
This project aims to develop new knowledge that can be applied to building resilience in U.S. metropolitan regions. The centerpiece of this project is the MacArthur Research Network on Building Regional Resilience, which is designed to help local, regional, and state leaders understand the dynamic demographic, economic, and technological changes affecting major metropolitan areas, and to provide new knowledge and effective, practical strategies to address challenges arising from them.
See Recent Grants for examples of grants awarded.
With the exception of projects related to The Power of Measuring Social Benefits, the Foundation generally does not accept unsolicited proposals for work relating to policy research.
Updated
March 17, 2010
Phone: (312) 726-8000