Who Funds Pew Research Centers?
Pew research centers provide information on social issues, public opinion and demographic trends that shape the world. They conduct public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research.
Pew is a nonpartisan “fact tank” that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It also does not take policy positions.
The Pew Charitable Trusts
The Pew Charitable Trusts is a public charity that began as seven foundations established in 1948 by Joseph Newton and Mary Anderson Pew, the founders of Sun Oil Company. In 2003, the IRS ruled that the trusts could merge to become one public charity, saving them $4 million in excise taxes.
The organization operates the Pew Research Center, a research institution that focuses on questions of public policy and national culture. Its mission is to improve public policy and stimulate civic life by applying a rigorous, analytical approach.
Pew also sponsors a number of other research initiatives that address topics such as health care, environmental issues, social justice, education, and international affairs. These initiatives are typically funded by a variety of sources.
For example, the organization received a $22 million grant from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation to study pension reform in 2011. It has also received grants from other foundations to support its work on health care and environment.
In addition, the foundation has received many millions of dollars in donations from individuals and corporations to support its research on climate change and other issues related to energy.
Another of its projects is the Pew Oceans Initiative, which seeks to improve ocean governance by promoting healthy oceans and sustainable fisheries. The initiative also seeks to promote research on climate change, ocean science and technology, and environmental sustainability.
According to the Foundation Center’s rankings, the Pew Charitable Trusts is the eleventh largest private foundation in the United States. The organization has earned a 100% for the Accountability & Finance beacon, which provides an assessment of the organization’s financial health (financial efficiency, sustainability, and trustworthiness), as well as its commitment to governance practices and policies.
The Pew Research Center is a research institution that conducts social science and opinion polling, as well as analysis of news coverage, surveys, and other data. Its research is divided into seven areas: religion, politics, public health, society and the economy, media and communications, the environment, and global security. The Centre is a subsidiary of the Pew Charitable Trusts.
The Pew Research Center
The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. The organization conducts public opinion polling, demographic research and media content analysis. It also hosts forums, briefings and other information events. The nonprofit organization, a subsidiary of the Pew Charitable Trusts, receives most of its funding from the Trust.
The foundation’s mission is to provide information that can help citizens understand the nation and world, and strengthen the public dialogue. They accomplish this by conducting rigorous analysis, linking diverse interests to pursue common cause and insisting on tangible results.
One of their major information projects is the Pew Religion & Public Life Project, which surveys attitudes about religion and public life. Other programs include science and society, media and journalism, Internet and technology, Hispanic trends, global attitudes and U.S. social and demographic trends.
For example, the science and society program has surveyed Americans’ feelings on how automation is changing their lives, whether people should be “enhanced” by technology and the cultural differences between Protestants and Catholics 500 years after the Reformation. The media and journalism program has surveyed how Americans consume news, what they believe about media coverage and the influence of social media on American culture.
Another program is the Election Initiatives, which brings an evidence-based and technocratic focus to improving elections systems. This program has brought together a network of county and state elections officials, major technology companies and academic experts who are working to improve the voting system by making it more efficient and user-friendly.
A third project is the Pew-Templeton Center on Global Religious Futures, which examines the role of religion in foreign policy and in the United States. The center is run by a team of scholars from both the Pew Research Center and the Templeton Foundation.
The Center has three presidents: Andrew Kohut, Alan Murray and Michael Dimock. Kohut served as president from 1995 until his retirement in 2012. His successor Murray is a deputy managing editor at the Wall Street Journal. He became president of the Pew Research Center in 2014.
The Pew Charitable Trusts launched a series of initiatives based on the success of the Times Mirror Center for the People and the Press, which it took over from 1995 until 1998. They kept the center running with a $4.5 million grant and re-named it the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.
The Pew Oceans Initiative
The Pew Oceans Initiative, a project of the Pew Charitable Trusts, advances international ocean policy and science to protect marine life and ecosystems. The work spans five continents and the global ocean and encompasses scientific research, public education, coalition-building and advocacy.
The initiative funds peer-reviewed ocean research by individuals, groups and organizations. It also supports community-based and youth-led projects. Specifically, it seeks to understand the influence of the ocean on human well-being and to advance a culture of marine stewardship through the development of a network of stewardship initiatives.
Using a multi-disciplinary, inclusive approach, the initiative partners with coastal communities and local governments, policymakers, and academics to develop sustainable, science-based policies for marine conservation and fisheries management. These programs empower local communities to have direct control over their resources, thereby enhancing conservation and safeguarding sources of income and nutrition while ensuring long-term sustainability and resilience of coastal ecosystems.
Another project of the initiative focuses on ocean literacy and knowledge transfer. This involves using technology and digital media to share knowledge about ocean conservation, including a massive open online course (MOOC). Its primary end-users are policymakers and marine managers, but it includes components that engage the wider community in ocean learning through outreach activities.
Its founders are driven by the power of knowledge to solve today’s most challenging problems. They apply a rigorous analytical approach to improve public policy, inform the public and stimulate civic life.
As a result, the initiative’s members focus on developing the skills needed for future leadership in promoting the protection of the ocean and advancing international ocean policy and science. For example, the organization has supported a number of initiatives that address illegal fishing.
Moreover, the initiative has supported efforts to better understand ocean noise and its effects on marine life. It has also launched a new effort to encourage bycatch reduction and a project that aims to foster partnerships between Arctic Inuit and the artisanal fisheries community.
While the Initiative has been successful in improving the health of the ocean, it has been limited by stagnant funding for ocean programs. In fact, in 2007, members of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy and the Pew Oceans Commission released a report card on the state of U.S. ocean policy that rated it a “C” overall and a “D+” for new ocean science funding.
The Pew Journalism & Media Project
Pew Journalism & Media is one of the many projects within the research organization that conducts empirical studies on press coverage and other news issues. Its annual State of the News Media report is a comprehensive look at the state of American journalism, including content analyses and economic data.
Among other things, this project surveys journalists to gauge their attitudes toward their jobs and the profession as a whole. It also collects information about the economics of journalism and the public’s preferences for different types of news.
The project also monitors the activities of journalists and news outlets to see how they are responding to changing news environments. Its data and analysis are released in reports and articles, and it makes its findings available to the public.
In a study published in January 2018, the Pew Journalism & Media Project found that a substantial percentage of Americans are abandoning traditional news sources in favor of new ones. This is a major concern to news organizations, which rely on ad revenue to keep their doors open.
These changes are reflected in a number of ways: Newspaper circulation is dropping, newsroom staffs are shrinking and ad revenue is declining. Some of these trends are related to digital technologies and their effect on the business of news, but others are due to social issues or political polarization.
A large share of people say that their news comes from social media. This is a much higher share than what the Pew Research Center has found in the past, but it is still not equal to the share that gets their news from print newspapers.
Despite the decline of print media, television continues to be an important source of news for most Americans. This is a finding that mirrors a recent study by the Associated Press, which reported that a significant portion of Americans are still getting their news from local and cable TV channels.
The project also finds that people who get their news on Twitter are more likely to follow reporters than they are to follow a particular news organization. This is a trend that the Pew Journalism & Media Project believes has been driven by increased use of smartphones and social media platforms.