Peter G. Peterson Foundation
OVERVIEW: The Peter G. Peterson Foundation’s grantmaking supports research, policy development and education on the “key fiscal challenges threatening America’s future.”
IP TAKE: The Peter G. Peterson Foundation focuses exclusively on fiscal challenges facing the U.S. government and makes grants that support research, education and policy to promote fiscal responsibility. In recent years, a significant portion of grantmaking dollars has supported research and policy aimed at reforming U.S. healthcare practice and spending. Grantees tend to be well-established organizations and institutions with budgets of over $1 million rather than smaller or grassroots outfits. This foundation also conducts its own research and holds conferences and summits on economic fiscal challenges annually.
Prospective grantees may email letters of inquiry to the foundation at any time and can expect to hear back in about six to eight weeks if selected to submit a full proposal.
PROFILE: Based in New York City, the Peter G. Peterson Foundation was established in 2008. Peter G. Peterson, who died in 2018, was an investment banker who also served as the U.S. Secretary of Commerce under Richard Nixon. Peterson’s financial career includes serving as chair and CEO of Lehman Brothers and co-founding the Blackstone Group. This foundation aims “to increase public awareness of the nature and urgency of the key fiscal challenges threatening America’s future and to accelerate action on them.” Grantmaking areas of interest include civic engagement and democracy, public health, human rights and higher education. In addition to grantmaking, the Peter G. Peterson Foundation conducts its own research, education programs and conferences to promote “a strong and sustainable fiscal and economic future.”
Grants for Civic Engagement and Democracy
The Peterson Foundation’s civic engagement and democracy funding focuses on projects and organizations that promote its core goal: to promote fiscal responsibility and public understanding of its role in governance and the nation’s future. In a recent year, the foundation supported the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation’s Up to Us initiative, which empowers “college students to educate and engage their peers on America’s fiscal challenges and the impact on their future.” Other grantees include the Urban Institute, which used for programs “to increase awareness and improve understanding of the drivers of America’s fiscal challenges,” and the Volcker Alliance, which developed “annual scorecards” that rate state governments on transparency and integrity.
Grants for Public Health
A significant portion of Peterson’s funding funds projects and organizations involved in researching and reforming U.S. healthcare practice and infrastructure. Research grantees include a study of “effective strategies to improve the quality and lower the cost of healthcare for high-need Medicare patients at Brown University, and similar projects on healthcare effectiveness and cost at Harvard University, Stanford University and Dartmouth College. Other public health grantees include the Catalyst for Payment Reform, which helps employers develop “value-based healthcare purchasing strategies,” and Project Hope which publishes information on “spreading and scaling value-improving healthcare practices.”
Grants for Global Security and Human Rights
Global security and human rights represent a much smaller proportion of Peterson’s grantmaking. Over the past several years, the foundation has maintained an interest in nuclear demilitarization and has supported the Nuclear Threat Initiative’s Nuclear Materials Security Index, which reports nuclear security conditions of various nations.
Grants for Higher Education
The Peter G. Peterson Foundation’s higher education grants mainly support research on healthcare and health spending at leading institutions of higher education in the U.S. Recent grants have gone to Harvard University, Stanford University, the University of Washington and Dartmouth College. The Peterson Foundation has also supported Yale University’s Program on Financial Stability, which aims to develop “fiscal, monetary, and regulatory measures to aid in the prevention, management, and resolution of financial crises.”
The Peterson Foundation also supports a broad range of named internship programs at organizations including the Mercatus Center, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. It also funded Fiscal Challenge, an organization that runs “a competition for college students to develop budget plans that stabilize federal debt as a share of the economy over the long term.”
Important Grant Details:
The Peter G. Peterson Foundation made over $27 million in grants in a recent year. makes over $15 million a year in grants ranging from $5,000 to over $1million. The foundation’s average grant size is about $50,000. Grants generally support only those organizations conducting research, education or policy development in areas of high interest to the foundation and supporting its overarching message of fiscal responsibility on the national level. For additional information about past grantmaking, see the foundation’s featured grants page or its recent tax filings.
This funder generally supports organizations that “have been in existence for at least two years, with annual operating budgets of at least $1 million.” The foundation accepts letters of inquiry at any time via email and contacts potential grantees within six to eight weeks with requests for full proposals. Grantseekers should read the foundation’s eligibility requirements page before submitting letters of inquiry. Keep up with new opportunities by signing up for the foundation’s newsletter.
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