The Workers' Educational Association (WEA) has supported adult learning for over 120 years. Participating in adult learning brings a range of benefits for individuals and communities. These go much wider than solely education benefits and include better health, increased participation in community activities, and increased confidence and critical…

A new discourse is being deployed by the English learning and skills sector's new professional body, the Education and Training Foundation (ETF). This discourse repositions learning within a specific vision of corporate expectations. With a focus on deregulation in the sector and employer engagement, this repositioning deploys the terminology and…

This paper examines an "experimental" program in African American adult education that took place at the Harlem branch of the New York Public Library in the early 1930s. The program, called the Harlem Experiment, brought together a group of white funders (the Carnegie Corporation and the American Association for Adult Education)--who…

At the dawn of a new presidential election, we are reminded that what separates the United States from the rest of the world are the immigrants who came here in the pursuit of the American Dream. These immigrants do not just come to the United States as workers, but also as consumers and entrepreneurs who contribute to the American economy, and…

This publication is only available as a downloadable file. See who's giving and getting grants in your field. Strengthen your search for funds with the Foundation Center's digital edition of "Grants for Employment." This new "Grant Guide" reveals the scope of current foundation giving in the field. You'll find descriptions of 4,129 grants of…

The infrastructure for arts and cultural support in the United States is complex and adaptive. Citizens who enjoy the arts can choose from a wide array of drama, visual and media arts, dance, music, and literature available in formal and informal settings--theaters, museums, and concert halls, but also libraries, schools, places of worship,…

Good Vibrations is a charity that runs gamelan projects with offenders in prison and on probation. A recent Birmingham City University study investigating the short-, medium- and long-term impact of the project found that participation in a Good Vibrations project acted as a catalyst for positive change. The research found that not only did…

In a period such as this, marked by extreme political partisanship and apparent gridlock at the federal level, it would be tempting to throw up one's hands in frustration. But this is just the time that a foundation like Joyce can add the most value--because the Joyce team members are non-partisan, not subject to the pressures of political and…

Universities transform lives. Going to university leads to new ways of seeing the world, to new horizons and networks, and to significantly enhanced job opportunities, but not everyone benefits in the same way. Fewer students from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds go to university, and when they do they tend not to do as well as…

This paper examines the significance of the Dominion and Colonies Fund under the presidency of Frederick Paul Keppel and details ways in which the Carnegie Corporation worked to internationalize American educational theories and practices. It challenges previous scholarship claims that grants made were largely extensions of the Corporation's…

This paper examines the reasons why, in the first half of the twentieth century, Australian librarians were encouraged to adopt professional work practices and educational standards based on US models of "democratic" librarianship. The promotion of US models of library education and association occurred both directly through government…

Like many grant-making philanthropies in Canada, the Winnipeg Foundation for years had no history of giving directly to schools, fearing that could let governments off the hook for public education. In 2003, the Winnipeg Foundation invested $3 million over five years in one of the city's most impoverished neighbourhoods, with a local school as the…

There are thousands of caring and financially capable individuals across the United States who want to experience the joy and elation of donating to a worthy cause. Many of those individuals want to invest in causes that change people's lives, not just give their money away. There are few causes more worthy and life-altering than giving to the…

The Carnegie Corporation found its first great manager in Frederick Paul Keppel (1875-1943). Keppel's career is important to historians of education because interwar Carnegie initiatives, articulated through the Corporation's Dominions and Colonies Fund and Teachers College, Columbia University, internationalised American educational theories and…

Among the great strengths of a policy-oriented foundation like Joyce is the willingness to take a long view, to be patient investors in ideas that take time to have impact, and to take chances on projects that may not work out. But in times of crisis, Joyce team and partners also have an obligation to be responsive to immediate challenges in their…