The Foundation Center

The Foundation Center was founded in 1956 and "is the nation's leading authority on philanthropy and is dedicated to serving grantseekers, grantmakers, researchers, policymakers, the media, and the general public." It's "mission is to strengthen the nonprofit sector by advancing knowledge about U.S. philanthropy." They:


 * "Collect, organize, and communicate information on U.S. philanthropy
 * "Conduct and facilitate research on trends in the field
 * "Provide education and training on the grantseeking process
 * "Ensure public access to information and services through our Web site, print and electronic publications, five library/learning centers, and a national network of Cooperating Collections."

Leadership

 * as of February 2008

Board of Directors

 * Audrey R. Alvarado
 * Melissa A. Berman
 * M. Christine DeVita, Chairman
 * Susan Lajoie Eagan, Vice Chairman
 * Robert C. Elliott
 * Sara L. Engelhardt, President
 * Michael F. Hayes
 * Nancy S. Kami
 * George Penick
 * Nancy Roberts
 * Ralph R. Smith
 * Maureen H. Smyth
 * Barron M. Tenny
 * Thomas E. Wilcox

Top 50 Recipients of Foundation Grants for Community Improvement and Development, circa 2003
The top 50 recipients of Foundation Grants for Community Improvement and Development, circa 2003:

Statistics on grantmakers and grantees
Source: http://fdncenter.org/findfunders/statistics/

Publications

 * 2005 Annual Report

Contact
Web: http://fdncenter.org/

Books critical of foundations

 * Robert F. Arnove (ed.), [Philanthropy and Cultural Imperialism: The Foundations at Home and Abroad], Boston: G. K. Hall, 1980).
 * Edward Berman, The Ideology of Philanthropy: The Influence of the Carnegie, Ford, and Rockefeller Foundations on American Foreign Policy, (SUNY Press, 1983)
 * Irene L. Gendzier, [Development Against Democracy: Manipulating Political Change in the Third World], (Hampton, CT: Tyrone, 1995).
 * Mark Dowie, Losing Ground: American Environmentalism at the Close of the Twentieth Century, (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1995).
 * Mark Dowie, American Foundations: An Investigative History, 2002.
 * Joan Roelofs, Foundations and Public Policy: The Mask of Pluralism, (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2003).

Articles critical of foundations

 * Joan Roelofs, "The Third Sector as a Protective Layer for Capitalism", Monthly Review, 47(4), pp.16-25., 1995.
 * Michael Barker, "The Liberal Foundations of Media Reform? Creating Sustainable Funding Opportunities for Radical Media Reform", Global Media Journal, June 2008. (Evolution of the means to manufacture consent.)
 * Michael Barker, "The Liberal Foundations of Environmentalism: Revisiting the Rockefeller-Ford Connection", Capitalism Nature Socialism, 19 (2), pp. 15-42. (For full paper email author)

Related SourceWatch

 * Frank Emerson Andrews - founding director
 * Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action
 * Canadian Centre for Philanthropy
 * Council on Foundations
 * Foundations and Funders
 * Funding Exchange (Progressive foundations)
 * Liberal Foundations and the Environmental Movement
 * Philanthropy Australia
 * Lorie A. Slutsky - former vice chair