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  • "The process of involving people, even if they have different points of view, maybe conflicting points of view, is very important."

    Svetlana Chernikova

  • Coping With the Cost of Health Care:

    What Is The Public Voice?

    Video Podcast

  • "We can improve the conversation and that directly impacts people's lives."

    Martin Carcasson

  • DDEX

  • Ibtesam, Rhanda Slim

    Mideast Network

  • "In our research, we look at what ideas community leaders have about the role of the public in deliberating issues and forming policy."

    Alberto Olivas

  • "When I'm working with the different Pacific Island communities, I must make sure that their way of being is always respected and regarded."

    Moerangi Falaoa

  • "You can't sustain an urban community without the voice of its citizens."

    Louise Spiegel

  • "Students have more of a sense that 'maybe we can do that, too.'"

    Katy Harriger

Podcasts

  • David Mathews discusses Education Research
  • Speaking of Politics Interview

Philanthropy in Democracy

Democracy in the United States has unquestionably been affected by philanthropic institutions. In the 1990s, Kettering collaborated with foundations that invested in experiments to expand the civic capacity of communities, or the capacity to do public work. Those making these civic investments, Kettering learned, had decided that their professionally planned grant programs were not having the intended effects because of weaknesses in local civic infrastructure.

Today, this explicitly democratic objective seems to be less of a priority. Kettering is researching whether grantmakers still have an interest in civic-capacity building, see the public as more than a source of programmatic support, or want to align their institutional routines more closely with democratic practices.

The foundation is also investigating grantmakers’ tendency to look inward, perhaps because of pressure from boards to demonstrate measurable impact. Recent studies show that boards have become focused more on internal financial and legal responsibilities than on obligations to democratic self-rule.

Explore Research in this Area


Philanthropy and Public Life: A Question of Civil Investing
Civil investing has emerged as one of the most important new developments in American philanthropy. Not quite a philosophy, not quite a grantmaking strategy, and not quite a type of grant, but something of all three, civil investing can be broadly defined as the use of philanthropic resources for building community and strengthening public life.

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