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MacArthur Foundation - Policy Research
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This page documents a now-concluded MacArthur Foundation grantmaking program; it has minimal direct relevance to AI safety but may be of peripheral interest for understanding philanthropic approaches to evidence-based policy research and institutional funding strategies.
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Summary
Overview of the MacArthur Foundation's Policy Research grantmaking program (1995–2016), which awarded 425 grants totaling $214 million to advance evidence-based domestic policymaking. The program supported key policy organizations and special projects, including a major initiative promoting benefit-cost analysis in social policy to improve outcomes for disadvantaged populations.
Key Points
- •From 1995 to 2016, MacArthur made 425 grants totaling $214 million focused on developing more effective domestic policy.
- •Institutional support (~$45M) went to organizations like the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center and Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
- •A major special project (2006–2016, $43M) promoted benefit-cost analysis in social policymaking to foster evidence-based approaches.
- •The program aimed to integrate research, policy, and practice, with a focus on innovative solutions to systemic policy challenges.
- •Early phase emphasized underrepresented perspectives in policy; later phase shifted toward fiscal and budget issues at multiple government levels.
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| Page | Type | Quality |
|---|---|---|
| MacArthur Foundation | Organization | 65.0 |
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# Policy Research
Grantmaking supported the development of more effective domestic policy by working to increase the policy impact of the Foundation’s program strategies.
### Summary
From 1995 to 2016, we made 425 grants totaling $214 million.
Our support for Policy Research started in the mid-1990s, but in 2004, we focused the grantmaking strategy to more intentionally advance the development of more effective domestic policies. We approached this aim by supporting special policy projects, incubating new ideas and cross-cutting research, and providing unrestricted operating support to a small portfolio of effective policy organizations. Our interest in promoting positive change often intersected with that of government, which typically has the ultimate responsibility, resources, and authority to implement systemic and sustainable change. We supported work that integrated research, policy, and practice, with a focus on innovative solutions to policy challenges. Grantmaking focused on two major areas: institutional support to key organizations and special policy projects.
### Institutional Support to Key Organizations
Institutional support grants provided multi-year, general operating grants to a small group of organizations that produced rigorous research and analysis on issues critical to our domestic grantmaking strategies. Grantees then translated that work in ways that enhanced its value to policymakers, the media, and the general public.
The portfolio had two phases, each with a distinct focus, even while the overarching goal and criteria for grantee selection remained the same. In the early phase, from 2002 to 2009, the substantive focus was on strengthening the presence of traditionally underrepresented perspectives in the policy process. Subsequently, the portfolio was adjusted to focus more on fiscal and budget issues at the federal, state, and local levels
From 2004 to 2016, we awarded nearly $45 million in institutional support to grantee organizations that included the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, which continue to conduct policy research to inform policymakers and the public.
### Special Policy Projects
#### The Power of Measuring Social Benefits
* * *
We began work on _The Power of Measuring Social Benefits_ in 2006 to examine the evidence for the hypothesis that effective social and economic policies to addre
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