U.S. National Library of Medicine

Introduction to Health Services Research : A Self-Study Course

Module 3: Selected Players (Federal and Private) (Page 23 of 27)

Pew Charitable Trusts

The Pew Charitable Trusts (http://www.pewtrusts.com), a Philadelphia-based foundation with approximately $4.9 billion in assets, invested over $250 million in 206 nonprofit organizations in 1999. In fiscal year 2005 the Trusts plans to invest $177 million to provide organizations and citizens with fact-based research and practical solutions for challenging issues in policy, information and civic life.

The Trusts grantmaking effort was originally organized into six program areas, including culture, education, environment, health and human services, public policy and religion, as well as a Venture Fund that supports independent projects that take an interdisciplinary approach to broad issues of significant interest or concern.

The Health and Human Services program was designed to promote the health and well-being of the American people and to strengthen disadvantaged communities. A search through the Search engine retrieves several publications dealing with public health, environmental health, and new biomedical technologies.

The Trust began in 1948 with the creation of The Pew Memorial Foundation. On January 1, 2004, the Trusts underwent a change in legal structure in order to better carry out their core mission of serving the public interest. On that date, the Trusts began operating as an independent public charity.

Pew Foundation's Interests

Today the Trusts are concerned with three key areas:

• Improving public policy
• Imforming the public
• Stimulating civic life

The items in parentheses are links to descriptions of the supported initiatives.

Notification Services

To track issues of interest, add your name to the e-alerts signup form linked from the bottom of the left-hand navigation bar. This will take you to a longer form where you can select from the list of topics the areas that interest you and the format you wish to receive the e-alerts in.

Discussion Questions

1. The three areas of grants supported by the Trusts include advancing policy solutions, informing the public and supporting civic life. How can you best make use of the information you find on the site?
2. What section of the site might your researchers be most interested in? Why? Does the Trusts have an alerting system that you can use to get information on content of interest to you and your researchers?
3. How useful is Stateline.org in your work? Describe how you use Stateline.
4. In general, is it a good idea to keep track of certain foundation and trust Web sites? Why or why not?
5. Why would a librarian or researcher care about The Pew Internet & American Life Project's content? Explain what the project does and the implications for providing health information with a "connected" group of potential clients.