The Randolph Foundation is a
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
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Places United Kingdom
* ...
-based charitable foundation that first operated in 1972 as the H. Smith Richardson Charitable Trust. It transitioned to independence from the
Smith Richardson Foundation
The Smith Richardson Foundation is a private foundation based in Westport, Connecticut that supports policy research in the realms of foreign and domestic public policy.
According to the foundation's website, its mission is "to contribute to imp ...
, assuming the name of The Randolph Foundation from 1991–1993, and was reconstituted as a NY
non-profit corporation
A nonprofit corporation is any legal entity which has been incorporated under the law of its jurisdiction for purposes other than making profits for its owners or shareholders. Depending on the laws of the jurisdiction, a nonprofit corporation ma ...
in 2002. The foundation provides funding primarily for
public policy
Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a Group decision-making, decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to Problem solving, solve or address relevant and problematic social issues, guided by a conceptio ...
related projects.
Heather Higgins (née Richardson) is its President.
Creation and mission
The Randolph Foundation was established as a charitable trust under the will of H. Smith Richardson in 1972. H. Smith Richardson was an heir of
Lunsford Richardson
Lunsford Richardson (December 29, 1854 - August 21, 1919) was an American pharmacist from Selma, North Carolina, and the founder of Vick Chemical Company (which became Vicks, Richardson Vicks Inc.).
Early life
Lunsford Richardson was born in 1 ...
, founder of the
Vicks chemical company.
Chartered with a broad mandate, it was operated under the aegis of the
Smith Richardson Foundation
The Smith Richardson Foundation is a private foundation based in Westport, Connecticut that supports policy research in the realms of foreign and domestic public policy.
According to the foundation's website, its mission is "to contribute to imp ...
's public policy arm, making grants that were, for the most part, indistinguishable from the focus of the Smith Richardson Foundation ''per se''.
In the spring of 1991, the Randolph Foundation began to operate as an organization—under new Executive Director Heather Higgins—and in 1993 became wholly separate from the Smith Richardson Foundation. As of 2005, the foundation held just under $70 million in assets.
["IRS Form 990PF: The Randolph Foundation." Hosted by the Foundation Center. August 2006]
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Notable projects
The Randolph Foundation sponsors numerous projects that examine current public policy
Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a Group decision-making, decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to Problem solving, solve or address relevant and problematic social issues, guided by a conceptio ...
and offer policy alternatives. Such projects include television programs, films, books, and academic studies.
Television and film
Through its funding of New River Media, the foundation serves as a major source of sponsorship for Public Broadcasting Service, PBS's weekly ''Think Tank
A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...
'', which features commentator Ben J. Wattenberg. ''Think Tank'' episodes have featured discussion on such issues as gun control
Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms and ammunition by civilians.
Most countries allow civilians to own firearms, bu ...
and controversies in modern feminism
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
.
Again working with New River Media and the team from ''Think Tank'', the foundation provided funding for '' Heaven on Earth: the Rise and Fall of Socialism''. The 2005 film was shown as a three-part mini-series on PBS and is a companion film to the 2002 book of the same name by Joshua Muravchik
Joshua Muravchik (born September 17, 1947, in New York City) is a neoconservative political scholar. He resides in Washington, DC based World Affairs Institute, he is also an adjunct professor at the DC based Institute of World Politics (sinc ...
. A PBS synopsis of the film portrayed its central ideas as follows:
:''As an idea that changed the way people thought, socialism's success was spectacular. As a critique of capitalism that helped spawn modern social safety nets and welfare states, its success was appreciable. As a model for the development of post-colonial states, the socialist model proved disappointing, fostering economic stagnation among millions of the world's poorest people. And in its most violent forms, socialism was calamitous, claiming scores of millions of lives and helping to make the twentieth century the bloodiest ever.''
The Randolph Foundation was one source of funding for ''God and the Inner City'', a one-hour 2003 documentary chiefly backed by the Pew Charitable Trusts
The Pew Charitable Trusts is an independent non-profit, non-governmental organization (NGO), founded in 1948.
Pew's stated mission is to serve the public interest by "improving public policy, informing the public, and invigorating civic life". ...
which examined both faith-based and secular charities operating in inner-city environs. The foundation also provided financial support to Free to Choose Media for ''The Power of Choice'', a 2007 film biography of Chicago School economist
An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics.
The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...
Milton Friedman
Milton Friedman (; July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) was an American economist and statistician who received the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and ...
.
Books
In 1993, the foundation began providing support to Marquette University
Marquette University () is a Private university, private Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It was established as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, by John Henni, the first Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Ar ...
political scientist
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...
Christopher Wolfe for a project that would eventually culminate in his 2006 book, ''Natural Law Liberalism''. In ''Natural Law Liberalism'', Wolfe advances the position that American public policy should be based on classical natural law
Natural law (, ) is a Philosophy, philosophical and legal theory that posits the existence of a set of inherent laws derived from nature and universal moral principles, which are discoverable through reason. In ethics, natural law theory asserts ...
theory in the Thomist
Thomism is the philosophical and theological school which arose as a legacy of the work and thought of Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), the Dominican philosopher, theologian, and Doctor of the Church.
In philosophy, Thomas's disputed questions ...
tradition, which he argues results in policies characteristic of political liberalism
Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, the right to private property, and equality before the law. ...
.
TRF was also a source of funding for a book produced by the free-market environmentalist Property and Environment Research Center (PERC). ''Eco-nomics: What Everyone Should Know about Economics and the Environment'' was penned by agricultural economist Richard L. Stroup and published by the Cato Institute
The Cato Institute is an American libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Ed Crane, Murray Rothbard, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Koch Industries.Koch ...
in 2003. The book, which won a 2004 award from the Atlas Economic Research Foundation
Atlas Network, formerly known as Atlas Economic Research Foundation, is a non-governmental, non-partisan 501(c)(3) organization based in the United States that provides training, networking, and grants for libertarian, free-market, and Conserva ...
, targets the "educated lay person," offering public policy recommendations in keeping with the private, market approach to conservation.
Naomi Schaefer Riley received a grant from the foundation for her book, ''God on the Quad: How Religious Colleges and the Missionary Generation Are Changing America''. The 2004 St. Martin's Press
St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan in New York City. It is headquartered in the Equitable Building (New York City), Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishe ...
offering was the result of research conducted by Riley at twenty higher education institutions affiliated with a religious group. The book examines classes and student life at institutions including Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...
, Baylor University
Baylor University is a Private university, private Baptist research university in Waco, Texas, United States. It was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Te ...
, and Bob Jones University
Bob Jones University (BJU) is a private university in Greenville, South Carolina, United States. It is known for its Conservatism in the United States, conservative and Evangelicalism in the United States, evangelical cultural and religious posit ...
and discusses the potential impact of these schools' growing attendance on those interested in "bringing faith into the professional world."
Currently, TRF is funding a Council on Foreign Relations
The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank focused on Foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is an independent and nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organi ...
book project by CFR senior fellow Max Boot. The project, which has been in progress since 2003 and is also sponsored by several other organizations,
:''...examines four major technological revolutions of the past 500 years (Gunpowder, Industrial, Mechanization, and Computerization) and how they transformed warfare and the international balance-of-power.... In addition, Mr. Boot applies the lessons of history to current dilemmas, examining crucial questions such as how long America's military advantage will last, and what the United States can do to preserve its hegemony.''
Research
Besides the research performed by Riley for ''God on the Quad'', other studies funded by the Randolph Foundation examined higher education in the United States. A controversial 2004 study by TRF-supported scholars found that "72 percent of teachers at American colleges and universities identify themselves as liberal, compared with 15 percent who describe themselves as conservative, with the liberal tilt greatest at elite schools and in humanities and social sciences departments." This study was cited by various columnists including Cal Thomas. Its methodology and conclusions were criticized by the American Association of University Professors
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is an organization of professors and other academics in the United States that was founded in 1915 in New York City and is currently headquartered in Washington, D.C. AAUP membership inc ...
.
TRF is funding a six-year University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...
study examining parental leave
Parental leave, or family leave, is an employee benefit available in almost all countries. The term "parental leave" may include maternity, paternity, and adoption leave; or may be used distinctively from "maternity leave" and "paternity leave ...
policies in United States universities and their possible effect on gender roles
A gender role, or sex role, is a social norm deemed appropriate or desirable for individuals based on their gender or sex.
Gender roles are usually centered on conceptions of masculinity and femininity. The specifics regarding these gende ...
. According to a description on the university's website, the fundamental questions to be addressed by the study relate to the fact that,
:''There is an ongoing quarrel in the academic literature between evolutionary psychologists
Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...
and most feminists. The evolutionary psychologists believe that there are deep-seated hormonal and other reasons why women have done and probably always will do the vast majority of baby care. Most feminists believe that society constructs for women the role of baby care and that, with effort, this can be changed.''["Project Description: Parental Leave & Gender in U.S. Universities." OSCAR. ]University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...
Organizations funded
In addition to sponsoring the projects noted above, TRF has also served as a source of funding for a number of other organizations,["Randolph Foundation Grant Recipients." Media Transparency](_blank)
including:
Policy and advocacy organizations
Educational institutions
Notes
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1972 establishments in New York (state)
Political and economic research foundations based in the United States
Non-profit organizations based in New York City
Organizations established in 1972