10 biggest US foundations and what they do

What are the 10 biggest foundations in the United States? Here they are in ascending order, based on their assets, along with a little bit about what social problems each addresses.

9. John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation - $5.7 billion

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, headquartered in Chicago, has $5.7 billion in assets.

Everyone wins when it comes to philanthropy. Yes, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is the organization that awards MacArthur Fellowships –– more commonly known as “genius grants” –– but even non-geniuses benefit from the work of the foundation, which “supports creative people and effective institutions committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world.” Established in 1970 by insurance giant John D. MacArthur and his wife, Catherine, the Chicago-based foundation uses its $5.7 billion in assets (as detailed by the Foundation Center) to award grants for international programs; US programs; media, culture, and special initiatives; and, of course, the MacArthur Fellows Program. Specific projects include human rights and international justice, community and economic development, and public interest media. The foundation’s home city of Chicago is especially supported in the areas of arts and culture, housing, and juvenile justice.

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Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

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