The Pew Charitable Trusts
Encyclopedia
The Pew Charitable Trusts is an independent non-profit
, non-governmental organization
(NGO), founded in 1948. With over US$5 billion in assets, its current mission is to serve the public interest
by "improving public policy
, informing the public, and stimulating civic life."
, Mary Ethel Pew, Joseph N. Pew, Jr.
, and Mabel Pew Myrin—the adult sons and daughters of Sunoco
founder Joseph N. Pew and his wife, Mary Anderson Pew. The Trusts is based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
, with an office in Washington, D.C.
Although today the Pew Charitable Trusts is rigorously non-partisan and non-ideological, Joseph Pew and his heirs were themselves politically conservative. The mission of the J. Howard Pew Freedom Trust was to "acquaint the American people with the evils of bureaucracy
and the values of a free market
and to inform our people of the struggle, persecution, hardship, sacrifice and death by which freedom of the individual
was won." Joseph N. Pew, Jr.
called Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal
"a gigantic scheme to raze U.S. businesses to a dead level and debase the citizenry into a mass of ballot-casting serf
s."
Most of the early beneficiaries were such conservative organizations as the John Birch Society
, the American Liberty League
, and the American Enterprise Institute
, although other beneficiaries included a cancer research institute, a museum, higher education, the American Red Cross
, and historically black colleges. For many years, the Trusts tended to fund charities and conservative causes in Philadelphia.
In 2004, the Pew Trusts applied to the Internal Revenue Service
(IRS) to change its status from private foundation
to non-profit organization
. Since the Pew's change to a charitable foundation, it can now raise funds freely and devote up to 5% of its budget to lobbying the public sector.
The Trusts have supported the relocation of the famed Barnes Art Collection from its longtime home in Lower Merion, PA, to Center City. This has been controversial in the art world. “The Barnes Foundation was established by Albert C. Barnes in 1922 to ‘promote the advancement of education and the appreciation of the fine arts.’...the Foundation is home to one of the world's largest collections of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and early Modern paintings, with extensive holdings by Picasso, Matisse, Cézanne, Renoir and Modigliani, as well as important examples of African sculpture.”
Opponents of relocating the collection to a new museum along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway say the move violates Barnes’ will that the collection stay intact at its present location and not be loaned, transferred or sold. Columnist Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "It is perfectly clear exactly what Barnes specified in his will. It was drawn up by the best legal minds. It is clear that what happened to his collection was against his wishes."
The Trusts became involved with the Barnes Collection when the foundation overseeing the art collection had serious financial trouble, contributing more than $20 million for a new museum. “If these problems had remained unaddressed, the Foundation would have been unable to pay its bills. The physical security of the individual artworks and the integrity of the collection as a whole would have been at risk,” Pew said.
The controversy involving Pew and the collection was the subject of the documentary film, The Art of the Steal. The Trusts did not participate in the film because it believed it would be “severely biased,” The Washington Post said the film “is hostile and has an agenda.”
According to the Pew's 2009 Annual Report, five of the twelve Directors serving on the Board are named Pew. Two of the five are physicians.
and health and human services.
The Trusts, with other groups, backed an effort to create marine protected areas in the Pacific Ocean, near the Mariana Islands. The protected area was officially designated in January 2009, and includes the Mariana Trench, the deepest ocean canyon in the world. Another marine protected area that the Trusts and other groups sought to protect is Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument which was protected by President Bush in 2006.
The mission of the Pew Environment Group, the conservation arm of The Pew Charitable Trusts, is to help meet what they view as one of the seminal challenges of our time: saving the natural environment and protecting the rich array of life it supports.
The aim is to strengthen environmental policies and practices in ways that produce significant and measurable protection for terrestrial and marine systems worldwide. In doing so, the Pew Environment Group works to advance scientific understanding of the causes and consequences of environmental problems, design innovative policy solutions to these problems and mobilize public support for their implementation.
Efforts are focused on reducing the scope and severity of three major global environmental problems:
The work of the Pew Environment Group encompasses two principal activities: fostering a better understanding of environmental problems through science and promoting sound conservation policy.
The Trusts also funds the Pew Research Center
, the third-largest think tank
in Washington DC, after the Brookings Institution
and the Center for American Progress
.
The Trusts have worked closely with the Vera Institute of Justice
on issues related to state correction policies in the "Public Safety Performance Project." In 2008, the Pew Center on the States reported that more than one in 100 adults in the United States is in jail or prison, an all-time high. The cost to state governments is nearly $50 billion a year and the federal government $5 billion more. The report compiled and analyzed data from the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics and Bureau of Prisons and each state's department of corrections.
Pew Center on the States reported in 2009 that "explosive growth in the number of people on probation or parole has propelled the population of the American corrections system to more than 7.3 million, or 1 in every 31 U.S. adults." "One in 31: The Long Reach of American Corrections" examined the scale and cost of prison, jail, probation and parole in each of the 50 states, and provides a blueprint for states to cut both crime and spending by reallocating prison expenses to fund stronger supervision of the large number of offenders in the community.
The Trusts funds the Pew Biomedical Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences, intended to support promising early and mid-career scientists investigating human health, both basic and clinical. The awards provide flexible support ($240,000 over a four-year period). Grantees are encouraged to be entrepreneurial and innovative in their research.
The trust also helped fund the Gospel and Our Culture Network, which published books such as Missional Church: A vision for the sending of the Church in North America.
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
, non-governmental organization
Non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
(NGO), founded in 1948. With over US$5 billion in assets, its current mission is to serve the public interest
Public interest
The public interest refers to the "common well-being" or "general welfare." The public interest is central to policy debates, politics, democracy and the nature of government itself...
by "improving public policy
Public policy
Public policy as government action is generally the principled guide to action taken by the administrative or executive branches of the state with regard to a class of issues in a manner consistent with law and institutional customs. In general, the foundation is the pertinent national and...
, informing the public, and stimulating civic life."
History
The Trusts, a single entity, is the successor to, and sole beneficiary of, seven charitable funds established between 1948 and 1979 by J. Howard PewJ. Howard Pew
J. Howard Pew was an American philanthropist and co-founder of Sunoco .Joseph Howard Pew was born in Bradford, Pennsylvania in 1882 and raised as a devout Presbyterian. In 1886 Pew’s father, Joseph Newton Pew, Sr. started an oil business in Pennsylvania, expanding to Texas when oil was discovered...
, Mary Ethel Pew, Joseph N. Pew, Jr.
Joseph N. Pew, Jr.
Joseph Newton Pew, Jr. was an American industrialist and influential member of the Republican Party.-Early life:...
, and Mabel Pew Myrin—the adult sons and daughters of Sunoco
Sunoco
Sunoco Inc. is an American petroleum and petrochemical manufacturer headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, formerly known as Sun Company Inc. and Sun Oil Co. ....
founder Joseph N. Pew and his wife, Mary Anderson Pew. The Trusts is based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, with an office in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
Although today the Pew Charitable Trusts is rigorously non-partisan and non-ideological, Joseph Pew and his heirs were themselves politically conservative. The mission of the J. Howard Pew Freedom Trust was to "acquaint the American people with the evils of bureaucracy
Bureaucracy
A bureaucracy is an organization of non-elected officials of a governmental or organization who implement the rules, laws, and functions of their institution, and are occasionally characterized by officialism and red tape.-Weberian bureaucracy:...
and the values of a free market
Free market
A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...
and to inform our people of the struggle, persecution, hardship, sacrifice and death by which freedom of the individual
Individual
An individual is a person or any specific object or thing in a collection. Individuality is the state or quality of being an individual; a person separate from other persons and possessing his or her own needs, goals, and desires. Being self expressive...
was won." Joseph N. Pew, Jr.
Joseph N. Pew, Jr.
Joseph Newton Pew, Jr. was an American industrialist and influential member of the Republican Party.-Early life:...
called Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
"a gigantic scheme to raze U.S. businesses to a dead level and debase the citizenry into a mass of ballot-casting serf
Serfdom
Serfdom is the status of peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to Manorialism. It was a condition of bondage or modified slavery which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe and lasted to the mid-19th century...
s."
Most of the early beneficiaries were such conservative organizations as the John Birch Society
John Birch Society
The John Birch Society is an American political advocacy group that supports anti-communism, limited government, a Constitutional Republic and personal freedom. It has been described as radical right-wing....
, the American Liberty League
American Liberty League
The American Liberty League was an American political organization formed in 1934 by conservative Democrats to oppose the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt. It was active for just two years...
, and the American Enterprise Institute
American Enterprise Institute
The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research is a conservative think tank founded in 1943. Its stated mission is "to defend the principles and improve the institutions of American freedom and democratic capitalism—limited government, private enterprise, individual liberty and...
, although other beneficiaries included a cancer research institute, a museum, higher education, the American Red Cross
American Red Cross
The American Red Cross , also known as the American National Red Cross, is a volunteer-led, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief and education inside the United States. It is the designated U.S...
, and historically black colleges. For many years, the Trusts tended to fund charities and conservative causes in Philadelphia.
In 2004, the Pew Trusts applied to the Internal Revenue Service
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
(IRS) to change its status from private foundation
Private foundation
A private foundation is a legal entity set up by an individual, a family or a group of individuals, for a purpose such as philanthropy. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest private foundation in the U.S. with over $38 billion in assets...
to non-profit organization
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
. Since the Pew's change to a charitable foundation, it can now raise funds freely and devote up to 5% of its budget to lobbying the public sector.
The Trusts have supported the relocation of the famed Barnes Art Collection from its longtime home in Lower Merion, PA, to Center City. This has been controversial in the art world. “The Barnes Foundation was established by Albert C. Barnes in 1922 to ‘promote the advancement of education and the appreciation of the fine arts.’...the Foundation is home to one of the world's largest collections of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and early Modern paintings, with extensive holdings by Picasso, Matisse, Cézanne, Renoir and Modigliani, as well as important examples of African sculpture.”
Opponents of relocating the collection to a new museum along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway say the move violates Barnes’ will that the collection stay intact at its present location and not be loaned, transferred or sold. Columnist Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "It is perfectly clear exactly what Barnes specified in his will. It was drawn up by the best legal minds. It is clear that what happened to his collection was against his wishes."
The Trusts became involved with the Barnes Collection when the foundation overseeing the art collection had serious financial trouble, contributing more than $20 million for a new museum. “If these problems had remained unaddressed, the Foundation would have been unable to pay its bills. The physical security of the individual artworks and the integrity of the collection as a whole would have been at risk,” Pew said.
The controversy involving Pew and the collection was the subject of the documentary film, The Art of the Steal. The Trusts did not participate in the film because it believed it would be “severely biased,” The Washington Post said the film “is hostile and has an agenda.”
According to the Pew's 2009 Annual Report, five of the twelve Directors serving on the Board are named Pew. Two of the five are physicians.
Current concerns
The Trusts' public policy areas include the environment, state policy, economic policyand health and human services.
The Trusts, with other groups, backed an effort to create marine protected areas in the Pacific Ocean, near the Mariana Islands. The protected area was officially designated in January 2009, and includes the Mariana Trench, the deepest ocean canyon in the world. Another marine protected area that the Trusts and other groups sought to protect is Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument which was protected by President Bush in 2006.
The mission of the Pew Environment Group, the conservation arm of The Pew Charitable Trusts, is to help meet what they view as one of the seminal challenges of our time: saving the natural environment and protecting the rich array of life it supports.
The aim is to strengthen environmental policies and practices in ways that produce significant and measurable protection for terrestrial and marine systems worldwide. In doing so, the Pew Environment Group works to advance scientific understanding of the causes and consequences of environmental problems, design innovative policy solutions to these problems and mobilize public support for their implementation.
Efforts are focused on reducing the scope and severity of three major global environmental problems:
- Destruction of the world's oceans, with a particular emphasis on marine fisheries.
- The loss of large wilderness ecosystems that contain a great part of the world's remaining biodiversity.
- Changes to the Earth's physical and biological systems linked to the buildup of greenhouse gases that are altering the world's climate.
The work of the Pew Environment Group encompasses two principal activities: fostering a better understanding of environmental problems through science and promoting sound conservation policy.
The Trusts also funds the Pew Research Center
Pew Research Center
The Pew Research Center is an American think tank organization based in Washington, D.C. that provides information on issues, attitudes and trends shaping the United States and the world. The Center and its projects receive funding from The Pew Charitable Trusts. In 1990, Donald S...
, the third-largest think tank
Think tank
A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...
in Washington DC, after the Brookings Institution
Brookings Institution
The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C., in the United States. One of Washington's oldest think tanks, Brookings conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics, metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, and...
and the Center for American Progress
Center for American Progress
The Center for American Progress is a progressive public policy research and advocacy organization. Its website states that the organization is "dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through progressive ideas and action." It has its headquarters in Washington D.C.Its President and Chief...
.
The Trusts have worked closely with the Vera Institute of Justice
Vera Institute of Justice
Founded in 1961, the Vera Institute of Justice is an independent nonprofit national research and policy organization. Based primarily out of New York City, Vera also has offices in Washington, DC, and New Orleans...
on issues related to state correction policies in the "Public Safety Performance Project." In 2008, the Pew Center on the States reported that more than one in 100 adults in the United States is in jail or prison, an all-time high. The cost to state governments is nearly $50 billion a year and the federal government $5 billion more. The report compiled and analyzed data from the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics and Bureau of Prisons and each state's department of corrections.
Pew Center on the States reported in 2009 that "explosive growth in the number of people on probation or parole has propelled the population of the American corrections system to more than 7.3 million, or 1 in every 31 U.S. adults." "One in 31: The Long Reach of American Corrections" examined the scale and cost of prison, jail, probation and parole in each of the 50 states, and provides a blueprint for states to cut both crime and spending by reallocating prison expenses to fund stronger supervision of the large number of offenders in the community.
The Trusts funds the Pew Biomedical Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences, intended to support promising early and mid-career scientists investigating human health, both basic and clinical. The awards provide flexible support ($240,000 over a four-year period). Grantees are encouraged to be entrepreneurial and innovative in their research.
The trust also helped fund the Gospel and Our Culture Network, which published books such as Missional Church: A vision for the sending of the Church in North America.
Financial facts
According to the 2009 Annual Report, as of 30 June 2008, the Trusts owned over US$5.8 billion in assets. For the 12 months ending on that date, total revenues were about US$360 million and total expenses were about $250 million, of which about $14 million were for operating costs and fund raising expenses.External links
- Official web site of the Pew Charitable Trusts.
- Pew Environment Group Official web site.
- Official Movie of their Charitable actions.
- Listing of Pew initiatives.
- 2007 Annual Report with financial information.
- History of the Trusts.