History
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) was founded in 1904, and is one of four trusts established by Joseph Rowntree. Then known as the Joseph Rowntree Village Trust, its original purpose was to build and manage the garden village of New Earswick, York.
Joseph Rowntree wanted his money to be used to tackle the root causes of social problems, rather than treating their symptoms. His Memorandum of 1904 stated: "I feel that much of the current philanthropic effort is directed to remedying the more superficial manifestations of weakness or evil, while little thought or effort is directed to search out their underlying causes ... to search out the under-lying causes of weakness or evil in the community, rather than ... remedying their more superficial manifestations."
In 1988, Richard Best became director of JRF, holding the post until 2006. In 1989, Roland Hurst, a Quaker, joined as Director of Information Services. He sought to disseminate and publicise the results of JRF-funded research. To achieve this, he introduced the "Findings" series which summarised research reports in a four-page summary paper.
Today, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation spends around £10 million a year on its research and development programme and on taking forward key messages. The majority of JRF-funded research is available to download free of charge from the JRF website.
Read more about this topic: Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“There is a history in all men’s lives,
Figuring the natures of the times deceased,
The which observed, a man may prophesy,
With a near aim, of the main chance of things
As yet not come to life.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Hence poetry is something more philosophic and of graver import than history, since its statements are rather of the nature of universals, whereas those of history are singulars.”
—Aristotle (384–322 B.C.)
“We know only a single science, the science of history. One can look at history from two sides and divide it into the history of nature and the history of men. However, the two sides are not to be divided off; as long as men exist the history of nature and the history of men are mutually conditioned.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)