View source for MacArthur Foundation

{{Short description|American private foundation}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox organization
| logo                     = MacArth primary logo stacked.svg
| logo_size                = 
| leader_title             = President
| leader_name              = [[John Palfrey]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.macfound.org/about/people/john-palfrey|title = President - MacArthur Foundation}}</ref>
| key_people               = [[John D. MacArthur]] (co-founder) <br /> [[Catherine T. MacArthur]] (co-founder)
| subsidiaries             = 
| footnotes                = 
| name                     = The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
| founded_date             = {{start date and age|1970}}<ref name="AboutOurHistory">{{Cite web |url=http://www.macfound.org/about/our-history/ |title=MacArthur Foundation: Our History |publisher=MacArthur Foundation |access-date=July 14, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Nicas |first=Jack |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424053111903374004576580873957522748 |title=The New Class of 'Geniuses' |date=September 20, 2011 |work=The Wall Street Journal |access-date=June 12, 2015}}</ref>
| founder                  = 
| location                 = [[Marquette Building (Chicago)|Marquette Building]], Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
| origins                  = 
| area_served              = 
| product                  = 
| focus                    = Climate change, nuclear challenges, non-profit journalism, local issues in Chicago
| method                   = 
| revenue                  = 
| endowment                = $8&nbsp;billion (2022)<ref>{{Official URL}}</ref>
| num_volunteers           = 
| num_employees            = 
| num_members              = 
| owner                    = 
| homepage                 = {{Official URL}}
| dissolved                = 
| type                     = [[501(c)3 organization]]
| tax_id                   = 23-7093598
}}

The '''John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation''' is a [[private foundation]] that makes grants and [[impact investment]]s to support [[non-profit organization]]s in approximately 117 countries around the world. It has an endowment of $7.6&nbsp;billion and provides approximately $260&nbsp;million annually in grants and impact investments.<ref>[https://www.macfound.org/media/article_pdfs/audited-financials-macarthurfoundation_fs-aug22.pdf JOHN D.AND CATHERINE T. MACARTHUR FOUNDATION Consolidated Financial Statements]$7.6 billion Net Assets</ref><ref name="inside">{{Cite news |url=http://www.insidephilanthropy.com/fundraising-in-chicago/macarthur-foundation-chicago-grants.html |title=MacArthur Foundation: Chicago Grants |work=Inside Philanthropy |access-date=June 3, 2015 |archive-date=June 14, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150614113239/http://www.insidephilanthropy.com/fundraising-in-chicago/macarthur-foundation-chicago-grants.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.macfound.org/about/financials/ |title=Program Budgets |publisher=MacArthur Foundation |access-date=June 21, 2016}}</ref> It is based in [[Chicago]], and in 2014 it was the 12th-largest private foundation in the United States.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://data.foundationcenter.org/#/foundations/all/nationwide/top:assets/list/2014 |title=Top 100 U.S. Foundations by Asset Size |publisher=Foundation Center |access-date=June 3, 2015}}</ref> It has awarded more than US$8.27&nbsp;billion since its first grants in 1978.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Financials - MacArthur Foundation |url=https://www.macfound.org/about/financials/ |access-date=2024-08-12 |website=www.macfound.org}}</ref>

The foundation's stated purpose is to support "creative people, effective institutions, and influential networks building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world".<ref name=inside/><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.macarthur.org/about/ |title=About Us |publisher=MacArthur Foundation |access-date=June 21, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150630203131/http://www.macarthur.org/about/ |archive-date=June 30, 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref> MacArthur's grant-making priorities include mitigating [[climate change]], reducing jail populations, decreasing nuclear threats, supporting nonprofit journalism, and funding local needs in its hometown of Chicago.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Daniels |first=Alex |url=https://philanthropy.com/article/Q-A-Inside-MacArthur-s/234874 |title=Inside MacArthur's Rapid Strategic Shift to 'Big Bets' |date=January 11, 2016 |work=The Chronicle of Philanthropy |access-date=June 23, 2016}}</ref> According to the [[OECD]], the foundation's financing for 2019 development increased by 27% to US$109&nbsp;million.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/2dcf1367-en/1/3/3/18/index.html?itemId=/content/publication/2dcf1367-en&_csp_=177392f5df53d89c9678d0628e39a2c2&itemIGO=oecd&itemContentType=book |title=Development Co-operation Profiles – John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation |website=OECD iLibrary |date= |access-date= }}</ref>
The [[MacArthur Fellows Program]], commonly referred to as the "genius" award,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Montevideo |first=Mickey Y. |date=2011-10-03 |title=Alumna receives MacArthur Foundation's 'genius award' |url=https://news.uga.edu/macarthur-foundations-genius-award/ |access-date=2020-06-25 |website=UGA Today |language=en-US}}</ref>{{Efn|The MacArthur Foundation does not use the term "genius" to describe its fellows and has asked the media to stop using it.<ref>{{cite web |title=MacArthur Fellows Frequently Asked Questions |url=https://www.macfound.org/fellows-faq |website=MacArthur Foundation |access-date=16 October 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Conrad |first1=Cecilia A. |author1-link=Cecilia Conrad |title=Five Myths About the MacArthur 'Genius Grants' |url=https://www.macfound.org/press/commentary/five-myths-about-macarthur-genius-grants |website=MacArthur Foundation |access-date=16 October 2023 |date=20 September 2013}}</ref><ref name=Collins>{{cite news |author1=Jim Collins |author1-link=James Collins (bioengineer) |title=It isn't easy being a genius |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/19/opinion/it-isnt-easy-being-a-genius.html |access-date=16 October 2023 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=19 September 2005 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150418105755/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/19/opinion/19collins.html |archive-date=18 April 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author1=Viet Thanh Nguyen |author1-link=Viet Thanh Nguyen |title=Don't call me a genius |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/14/opinion/sunday/dont-call-me-a-genius.html |access-date=16 October 2023 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=14 April 2018}}</ref>}} annually gives $800,000 no-strings-attached grants to around two dozen creative individuals in diverse fields<ref name="myths">{{Cite news |last=Conrad |first=Cecilia |date=September 20, 2013 |title=Five Myths about the MacArthur 'Genius Grants' |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-the-macarthur-genius-grants/2013/09/20/833963b8-213f-11e3-b73c-aab60bf735d0_story.html |access-date=June 23, 2016}}</ref> "who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits".<ref name=":0" /> The foundation's ''100&Change'' competition awards a $100&nbsp;million grant every three years to a single proposal.<ref>{{Cite web |title=100&Change |url=https://www.100andchange.org/ |access-date=2020-11-19 |website=100&Change |language=en}}</ref>

==History==
[[John D. MacArthur]] owned [[Bankers Life and Casualty]] and other businesses, as well as considerable property holdings in Florida and New York. His wife, [[Catherine T. MacArthur|Catherine]], held positions in many of these companies. Their attorney, [[William T. Kirby]], and Paul Doolen, their chief financial officer, suggested that the family create a foundation to be endowed by their vast fortune. 

When MacArthur died on January 6, 1978, he was worth in excess of a billion dollars. He left 92 percent of his estate to found the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Its first board of directors, per MacArthur's will, also included [[J. Roderick MacArthur]], John's son from his first marriage, two other officers of Bankers Life and Casualty, and radio commentator [[Paul Harvey]].<ref name=AboutOurHistory/> [[Jonas Salk]], the inventor of the polio vaccine, later joined the board of directors.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sherrow |first=Victoria |title=Jonas Salk |date=2009 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=9781438104119 |edition=Revised |page=99 <!-- |access-date=September 1, 2016-->}}</ref>

The elder MacArthur believed in the free market.<ref name="chronicle">{{Cite news |last=Husock |first=Howard |url=https://www.philanthropy.com/article/Opinion-Trust-Chan-and/234491 |title=Trust Chan and Zuckerberg to Decide How to Spend Their Money for the Public Good |date=December 4, 2015 |work=The Chronicle of Philanthropy |access-date=October 12, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hauer |first=Peter W. |title=The Big Picture: The Past, The Present, & Your Children's Future |date=2011 |publisher=Author House |isbn=9781420815351 |page=355}}</ref> However, he did not direct how foundation money was to be spent after he died. MacArthur told the board of directors, "I figured out how to make the money. You fellows will have to figure out how to spend it."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Frantz |first=Douglas |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1985/07/07/charitable-patronage-still-gets-foundations-work-done/ |title='Charitable Patronage' Still Gets Foundation's Work Done |date=July 7, 1985 |work=Chicago Tribune |access-date=October 12, 2016}}</ref>

Between 1979 and 1981, John's son, an ideological opponent of his father with whom the elder MacArthur had an acrimonious relationship, waged a legal battle against the foundation for control of the board of directors.<ref name="Nielsen">{{Cite book |last=Nielsen |first=Waldemar |url=https://archive.org/details/insideamericanph0000niel |title=Inside American Philanthropy: The Dramas of Donorship |date=1996 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=9780806128023 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/insideamericanph0000niel/page/132 132]–34 |access-date=September 1, 2016 |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> The younger MacArthur sued eight members of the board, accusing them of mismanagement of the foundation funds. These court cases were dismissed by each jurisdiction for lack of merit.

In 1984, MacArthur again sued the board of directors including William Kirby, his father's trusted attorney, asking a [[Cook County]] circuit court to liquidate the entire MacArthur Foundation. He dropped the suit later that year when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kleban Mills |first=Barbara |url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20088625,00.html |title=The MacArthur 'Genius' Awards Are Jeopardized as the Dying Patron Attacks the Foundation |date=September 10, 1984 |work=People (magazine)|access-date=September 1, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Browning |first=Graeme |url=http://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/07/27/The-son-of-the-man-who-established-the-15/2082459748800/ |title=The son of the man who established the $1.5&nbsp;billion foundation |date=July 27, 1984 |access-date=September 1, 2016 |work=United Press International}}</ref>

==Leadership==
[[John E. Corbally]], the first president of the foundation and later board chairman from 1995 to 2002, was followed in 1989–99 by [[Adele Simmons]], who was the first female dean at [[Princeton University]].<ref name="presidents">{{Cite web |url=http://www.macfound.org/about/our-history/past-presidents/ |title=MacArthur Foundation: Past Presidents |publisher=MacArthur Foundation |access-date=July 14, 2015}}</ref><ref name="johncorbally">{{Cite web |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2004/07/26/dr-john-corbally-79/ |title=Dr. John Corbally, 79: First President Helped Establish MacArthur Foundation Identity |last=Fellers |first=Li |date=July 26, 2004 |website=Chicago Tribune |access-date=July 14, 2015}}</ref> [[Jonathan Fanton]], president of [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]], served as the foundation's next president.<ref name=presidents/><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/people-in-the-news-4-20-14-appointments-and-promotions |title=People in the News (4/20/14): Appointments and Promotions |date=April 20, 2014 |website=Philanthropy News Digest |access-date=June 26, 2015}}</ref> [[Robert Gallucci]], formerly dean of [[Georgetown University]]'s School of Foreign Service, served as the foundation's fourth president from 2009 to 2014.<ref name=presidents/><ref>{{Cite news |last=Spector |first=Mike |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123665286020579843?mod=todays_us_page_one |title=Former Diplomat to Lead MacArthur Foundation |date=March 10, 2009 |work=The Wall Street Journal |access-date=March 10, 2009 |page=A2}}</ref> Gallucci was fired in 2014.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Callahan |first=David |url=http://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2014/5/3/why-did-mac-sack-bob.html |title=Why Did Mac Sack Bob? |date=May 3, 2014 |work=Inside Philanthropy |access-date=June 12, 2015}}</ref> Julia Stasch, who formerly served as MacArthur's vice president for U.S. Programs, was named the foundation's president in 2015.<ref name=AboutOurHistory/> Stasch had been chief of staff to Chicago mayor [[Richard M. Daley]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Callahan |first=David |url=http://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2015/3/13/julia-stasch-atop-macarthur-change-or-more-of-the-same-maybe.html |title=Julia Stasch Atop MacArthur: Change or More of the Same? Maybe Both |date=March 13, 2015 |work=Inside Philanthropy |access-date=June 12, 2015}}</ref> She announced that she would step down in 2019.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Johnson |first=Steve |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/museums/ct-ent-macarthur-president-stasch-retire-0925-story.html |title=MacArthur Foundation President Julia Stasch to step down next year |date=September 25, 2018 |access-date=December 20, 2018 |work=Chicago Tribune}}</ref> In March 2019, [[John Palfrey]] was named president, effective September 1, 2019.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.macfound.org/press/press-releases/john-palfrey-named-new-macarthur-president/ |title=John Palfrey Named New MacArthur President |access-date=March 15, 2019 |publisher=MacArthur Foundation}}</ref>

==MacArthur Fellowship==
{{main|MacArthur Fellows Program}}

The [[MacArthur Fellows Program|MacArthur Fellowship]] is an award issued by the MacArthur Foundation each year, to typically 20 to 30 citizens or residents of the United States, of any age and working in any field, who "show exceptional merit and promise for continued and enhanced creative work". The program was initiated in 1981.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Reich |first=Howard |url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-macarthur-fellows-program-unveils-events-20160111-column.html |title=MacArthur Fellows Program unveils wide-ranging events |date=January 12, 2016 |work=Chicago Tribune |access-date=September 1, 2016}}</ref> According to the foundation, the fellowship is not a reward for past accomplishment, but an investment in a person's originality and potential. {{as of|2015}}, MacArthur Fellows receive $625,000 each, which is paid out in quarterly installments over five years.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Calamur |first=Krishnadev |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2015/09/2015-macarthur-genius-grants-announced/407758/ |title='Geniuses' Revealed |date=September 29, 2015 |work=[[The Atlantic]] |access-date=September 1, 2016}}</ref> The [[Chicago Foundation for Women]] was one of the nonprofit organizations to receive a US$1&nbsp;million four-year grant in 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/lgbt/Chicago-Foundation-for-Women-Awarded-1-Million-MacArthur-Foundation-Grant/59815.html |title=Chicago Foundation for Women Awarded $1 Million MacArthur Foundation Grant - Gay Lesbian Bi Trans News Archive |website=Windy City Times |date=July 17, 2017 |access-date=May 6, 2019}}</ref> No one can apply for the program, and, generally, no one knows whether they are being considered as a candidate. Nominators, serving confidentially, anonymously and for a limited time, are invited to recommend potential Fellows. Candidates are reviewed by a selection committee whose members also serve confidentially, anonymously and for a limited time. Ultimately, the selection committee makes recommendations to the foundation's board of directors for final approval.<ref name=myths/>

==Specific funding and projects==
===Stalker Human Rights Film Festival===
{{Progressivism}}The foundation awarded a total of around $850,000 in six separate grants to the [[Russian Guild of Film Directors]] between 2005 and 2014 to support the [[Stalker (film festival)|Stalker Human Rights Film Festival]] in [[Moscow]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Moscow Guild of Theater and Screen Actors | website=MacArthur Foundation | date=22 November 2021 | url=https://www.macfound.org/grantee/moscow-guild-of-theater-and-screen-actors-39243/ | access-date=4 September 2022}}</ref>

===100&Change===
In June 2016, the foundation requested "proposals promising real progress toward solving a critical problem of our time in any field or any location". The winning proposal would receive a $100&nbsp;million grant. Almost 2,000 proposals were submitted. In December 2017, the foundation announced that the winning proposal was submitted by the [[Sesame Workshop]] and the [[International Rescue Committee]]. The grant was applied to the education of Middle Eastern refugee children.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Johnson |first=Steve |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/museums/ct-ent-sesame-wins-macarthur-100-million-dollar-grant-challenge-1221-story.html |title=Sesame Workshop child refugee plan wins first MacArthur $100M challenge |date=December 20, 2017 |access-date=December 20, 2018 |work=Chicago Tribune}}</ref>

===The Just Home Project===
In May 2022, The MacArthur Foundation, partnered with the Urban Institute announced the launch of a housing stability program designed to break the links between housing instability and jail incarceration. The Just Home Project will provide the communities of Charleston County, South Carolina; Minnehaha County, South Dakota; the city and county of San Francisco; and Tulsa County, Oklahoma with $5 million in grant funding to create a unique plan to bring together government officials, non-profit partners, and impacted communities members to develop innovative approaches to this issue. MacArthur has awarded $3.2 million in support of the work in the selected communities and an additional $1.8 million will support the Urban Institute's technical assistance work.<ref>{{cite journal|date=20 May 2022|url=https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/macarthur-foundation-urban-institute-launch-housing-stability-program|title=MacArthur Foundation, Urban Institute launch housing stability program|journal=Philanthropy News Digest|access-date=20 May 2022}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of wealthiest charitable foundations]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
<!-- Don't add links to, or names of, recipients IN THIS ARTICLE. A complete list, lk'd to the WP bios, makes up the bulk of the article [[MacArthur Fellows Program]]. -->
*{{official website}}
*{{ProPublicaNonprofitExplorer|237093598}}

{{MacArthur Foundation}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T.}}
[[Category:Foundations based in the United States]]
[[Category:Non-profit organizations based in Chicago]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1970]]
[[Category:1970 establishments in Illinois]]
[[Category:501(c)(3) organizations]]