Search for Common Ground

Search for Common Ground (SFCG) was founded in 1982, and "works to transform the way the world deals with conflict - away from adversarial approaches and towards collaborative problem solving. We work with local partners to find culturally appropriate means to strengthen societies' capacity to deal with conflicts constructively: to understand the differences and act on the commonalities." 

Common Ground Awards

"In partnership with Refugees International, SFCG began what became the Great Lakes Policy Forum. In October, it held its 100th meeting, featuring Ambassador Aldo Aiello, Special Representative of the European Union. The Council on Foreign Relations, the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars have now become partners in the forums, which have provided a model for other forums. In 1996, SFCG launched a similar group in Brussels. In 1999, it began the Conflict Prevention and Resolution Forum in Washington, along with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Conflict Management Program at SAIS, the Conflict Prevention Project of the Woodrow Wilson International Center, the Center for Preventative Action at the Council on Foreign Relations, and Partners for Democratic Change. Then, in 2002, SCFG organized the NGO Working Group on Angola that has grown into the Washington Roundtable on Angola."

Examples of funding
In FY04 Search for Common Ground received $1,268,620 from the Middle East Partnership Initiative to strengthen independent Palestinian media and "build their capacity in promoting transparency, accountability, and broader political reform within Palestinian society . The program also trains and supports independent media professionals by teaching principles of free and independent journalism and offering the opportunity to apply newly acquired skills." 

They have received a number of grants from the National Endowment for Democracy for their work all in Africa. They also received an $25,000 NED grant in 2005 for their work in Nepal: "To promote practical and cooperative strategies for resolving conflict in Nepal. SFCG will carry out a two-week-long mission to Nepal to assess the situation and provide the groundwork for the development of a long-term conflict resolution program."

Their website notes all their funders, some of which include: the Center for Middle East Peace, Funding Network, Open Society Institute, Ploughshares Fund, Rapoport Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Save the Children, United States Institute of Peace, Chevron, Nestle, US Agency for International Development, European Union. 

In 1994 they received a $100,000 grant from the NED to work "to initiate a comprehensive program aimed at defusing potential inter-ethnic conflict in the former-Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia."

Funding (selected)

 * Carnegie Corporation of New York
 * Compton Foundation
 * Fetzer Institute
 * Foundation for West Africa
 * Funding Network
 * William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
 * Hunt Alternatives Fund
 * Institute for Sustainable Communities
 * National Democratic Institute
 * National Endowment for Democracy
 * Nuclear Threat Initiative
 * Ploughshares Fund
 * Rapoport Foundation
 * Rockefeller Brothers Fund
 * Save the Children
 * Alan B. Slifka Foundation
 * United States Institute of Peace
 * Whitehead Foundation
 * Berry Moorman
 * Booz Allen Hamilton
 * Chevron
 * Goldman Sachs
 * UK Department for International Development (DFID)
 * US Agency for International Development (USAID)
 * US Department of State
 * European Union
 * World Bank

Senior Management

 * John Marks, SCG - President and Founder
 * Susan Collin Marks - Senior Vice President
 * Sandra D. Melone - Executive Director
 * Steve Utterwulghe - Vice President, International Development
 * Frances Fortune
 * Robert Fuller - Director, Human Resources and Operations
 * Carole Frampton - Director of the Institutional Learning Team
 * Jack Deeds - Chief Financial Officer

Directors
Source
 * Ted L. Howard, Board Chair, Director, The Democracy Collaborative, University of Maryland
 * Ambassador (ret) George Moose, Board Vice Chair, Former US Assistant Secretary of State
 * Andrea Bartoli, US representative, Community of Sant' Egidio, Founding Director CICR, Columbia University
 * Roger Berliner, President, Berliner Law PLLC
 * Ambassador (ret.) Elinor Constable, Former US Assistant Secretary of State
 * Ambassador (Ret.) Andre de Schutter, President, Federation of International Associations in Belgium
 * Patrick DeWolf, Partner, DeWolf & Partners
 * Gary DiBianco, Partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
 * John Grossman, Assistant Attorney General, Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General, USA
 * Jo-Anne Hart, Professor, Lesley University, Research Faculty, Brown University
 * Shamil Idriss, Deputy Director, Secretariat of the Alliance of Civilizations, United Nations
 * Michael Lewis, Mediator and Arbitrator, JAMS
 * Tom Manley, Partner, Hunton & Williams
 * Ambassador (ret) Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, Special Representative for UN Secretary General for West Africa
 * David L. Phillips, Executive Director, Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity
 * Carol Realini, Founder and CEO, Obopay
 * David S. Ross, Esq., Mediator and Arbitrator, JAMS, Adjunct Professor Columbia University School of Law
 * Abdul Aziz Said, Director, Peace & Conflict Resolution Division; Director, Center for Global Peace; and M.S. Farsi Professor of Islamic Peace, The American University
 * Cathrine Steck
 * Simone Susskind, President, Actions in the Mediterranean
 * Prince Alfred Von Liechtenstein, Chairman of the Advisory Board, International Peace Foundation, President, The Vienna Academy for the Study of the Future
 * Jennifer Jandak Wood, Partner, Vista Clara Films, Inc.. Biomedical Engineering Inventor, Philanthropist
 * Randy Wright, Partner, Berry Moorman
 * Dov Zakheim, Vice President, Booz Allen Hamilton


 * Julia Pitner was a former Regional Director and then Director of Search for Common Ground’s Middle East program.

Advisory Board for Washington DC Office
Source
 * Russell Baker, Former U.S. Attorney
 * Robert Borosage, Co-Director, Campaign for America's Future
 * Taylor Branch, Pulitzer Prize-winning Author
 * Edmund Cabot, M.D. Cabot-Wellington, LLC
 * Antonia Chayes, Former Under Secretary of the U.S. Air Force
 * Lawrence Chickering, Former Executive Director Institute for Contemporary Studies
 * Dick Clark, Former U.S. Senator Iowa
 * Alton Frye, Council on Foreign Relations
 * John Gilligan, Former Governor Ohio
 * Richie Havens, Entertainer and Producer
 * John Mack, Psychiatrist and Pulitzer Prize-winning Author
 * Jessica T. Matthews, President Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
 * Ambler Moss, Former U.S. Ambassador to Panama
 * Michael Murphy, Co-founder Esalen Institute
 * John Naisbitt, Auhtor Megatrends Limited
 * Tom Powers, Pulitzer Prize-winning Author
 * Paula Stern, Former Chair U.S. International Trade Commission
 * Federick Taft, Partner Spieth, Bell, McCurdy & Newell
 * W. Scott Thompson, Former Associate Director [[U.S. Information Agency
 * Sir Brian Urquhart, Former United Nations Under Secretary General
 * W. Bruce Weinrod, Former Foreign Policy Director Heritage Foundation
 * Akiko Yamanaka, United Nations University, Tokyo and Former Member, Japanese Diet

United States Consensus Council Roster
"The USCC serves as a steering committee for the policy consensus and related work of SFCG-USA." [http://www.sfcg.org/Programmes/us/us_consensus.html
 * Honorable Steve Bartlett
 * Lawrence Bathgate II
 * Stuart Butler
 * Jessica Dibb
 * Maria Echaveste
 * Wilson Goode
 * Robert Goodwin
 * Christopher Harte
 * Stephen B. Heintz
 * Khalil Jahshan
 * Kelly D. Johnston
 * Bernard Rapoport
 * Dennis Ross
 * Faith Roessel
 * David Saperstein
 * Harris Wofford

Founding Co-Chairs Source
 * Marc Racicot*Dan Glickman

Contact
Search for Common Ground Headquarters 1601 Connecticut Avenue, NW Suite 200 Washington, DC 20009 United States Phone: (+1 202) 265-4300 Fax: (+1 202) 232-6718 Web: http://www.sfcg.org

Related SourceWatch articles

 * U.S.-Muslim Engagement Project
 * Nancy Bearg
 * John Oliver Kollie
 * Richard Eisendorf
 * Amy Smythe
 * John Steiner - founding board member