Urban Institute - History and Funding

History and Funding

The Institute was established in 1968 by the Lyndon B. Johnson administration to study the nation’s urban problems and evaluate the Great Society initiatives embodied in more than 400 laws passed in the prior four years. Johnson hand-selected well-known economists and civic leaders to create the non-partisan, independent research organization. Their ranks included Kermit Gordon, McGeorge Bundy, Irwin Miller, Arjay Miller, Richard Neustadt, Cyrus Vance, and Robert McNamara. William Gorham, former Assistant Secretary for Health, Education and Welfare, was selected as its first president and served from 1968-2000.

Gradually, the Institute's research and funding base broadened. Today, federal government contracts provide about 55% of the Institute’s operating funds, foundations another 34%, and state and local governments and private individuals the rest. Some of the Institute’s more than 100 private sponsors and funders include The Atlantic Philanthropies, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation.