:Urban Institute
{{Short description|Washington, D.C.–based think tank}}
{{Hatnote|Not to be confused with The Urban Institute (of Edinburgh), nor with the land development organization The Urban Land Institute.}}
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{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2023}}
{{Use American English|date=November 2023}}
{{Infobox organization
| name = The Urban Institute
| image = Urban Institute Front Lobby.jpg
| abbreviation = Urban
| formation = {{start date and age|1968}}
| type = Public policy think tank
| headquarters = 500 L'Enfant Plz SW
| location = Washington, D.C., U.S.
| leader_title = President
| leader_name = Sarah Rosen Wartell
| revenue = $111,892,483{{cite web | url=https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/2021/11/01/2020-annual-report.pdf | title=Annual Report 2020 | publisher=Urban Institute | access-date=8 March 2022 }}
| revenue_year = 2016
| expenses_year = 2016
| website = {{URL|urban.org}}
}}
The Urban Institute is a Washington, D.C.–based think tank that conducts economic and social policy research to "open minds, shape decisions, and offer solutions".{{cite web |url=http://www.urban.org/about/|title=About the Urban Institute |publisher=Urban Institute}} The institute receives funding from government contracts, foundations, and private donors.
The Urban Institute has been categorized as "nonpartisan",{{cite magazine |url=https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2014/12/12/the-inner-workings-of-think-tanks-transparify-gives-us-a-good-look/ | title=The Inner Workings of Think Tanks: Transparify Gives Us a Good Look | last=Cohen | first=Rick | magazine=Nonprofit Quarterly | date=2014-12-12 | access-date=2018-08-20 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160531025115/https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2014/12/12/the-inner-workings-of-think-tanks-transparify-gives-us-a-good-look/ | archive-date=2016-05-31 | url-status=live | quote=... the Urban Institute, and others are typically considered nonpartisan or middle of the road.}}{{cite web | url=http://www.khi.org/news/2014/nov/20/kansas-hospitals-continue-campaign-medicaid-expans/ | title=Kansas hospitals continue campaign for Medicaid expansion | last=McLean | first=Jim | publisher=Kansas Health Institute | date=2014-11-20 | access-date=2018-08-20 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141216091154/https://www.khi.org/news/2014/nov/20/kansas-hospitals-continue-campaign-medicaid-expans | archive-date=2014-12-16 | url-status=live | quote=... the nonpartisan Urban Institute ...}} "liberal",{{cite news | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-06-12-mn-7095-story.html | title=Urban Institute, Leading Liberal Think Tank, Marks 20th Birthday | last=Rich | first=Spencer | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=1988-06-12 | access-date=2018-08-20 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100701055658/http://articles.latimes.com/1988-06-12/news/mn-7095_1_urban-institute | archive-date=2010-07-01 | url-status=live}} and "left-leaning".{{cite web |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/350935-gop-sees-fresh-opening-with-dems-single-payer-embrace/ |title=GOP sees fresh opening with Dems' single payer embrace |last=Hellmann |first=Jessie |date=September 16, 2017 |website=The Hill |access-date=April 6, 2022 |quote=A 2016 estimate from the left-leaning Urban Institute found a previous plan from Sanders would cost $32 trillion over 10 years.}} In 2020, the Urban Institute co-hosted the second annual Sadie T.M. Alexander Conference for Economics and Related Fields with The Sadie Collective in Washington, D.C.{{cite web |publisher= UMBC News|title= UMBC students Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman and Olusayo Adeleye co-create 1st U.S. conference for Black women economists|url=https://news.umbc.edu/1st-sadie-alexander-conference/ |date=March 6, 2019}}{{Cite web |url=https://equitablegrowth.org/black-economists-are-missing-from-the-federal-reserve-and-the-u-s-economics-profession/ |title=Black economists are missing from the Federal Reserve and the U.S. economics profession |last=Sahm |first=Claudia |date=2020-02-28 |publisher=Equitable Growth}}
History and funding
The Urban 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 economists and civic leaders such as Kermit Gordon, McGeorge Bundy, Irwin Miller, Arjay Miller, Richard Neustadt, Cyrus Vance, and Robert McNamara.{{cite web | url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=28822 | title=Remarks at a Meeting With the Board of Trustees of the Urban Institute | date=26 April 1968 | publisher=The American Presidency Project | access-date=18 June 2018 }} William Gorham, former Assistant Secretary for Health, Education and Welfare, was selected as its first president and served from 1968 to 2000.
Gradually, Urban's research and funding base broadened. In 2013, federal government contracts provided about 54% of Urban's operating funds, private foundations another 30%, and nonprofits, corporations and corporate foundations, state and local governments, international organizations and foreign entities, individuals, and Urban's endowment the rest.{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150213004935/https://www.urban.org/about/report/upload/2013-financial.pdf|url=https://www.urban.org/about/report/upload/2013-financial.pdf|title=2013 Financials |archive-date=13 February 2015|publisher=Urban Institute|date=2013}} Some of Urban's more than 100 private sponsors and funders include the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation.{{cite web|url=https://www.urban.org/about/report/upload/2013-sources.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150212233349/https://www.urban.org/about/report/upload/2013-sources.pdf|title=Sources of Support – Fiscal Year 2013 Revenue: Funding Sources|publisher=Urban Institute|archive-date=12 February 2015|date=2013}} Public funding as of the 2020 fiscal year comes from various branches of the United States government including the Department of Justice, Department of Health and Human Services, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the United States Department of Agriculture.{{Cite web |last=Wartell |first=Sarah Rosen |date=2020 |title=2020 Annual Report |url=https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/2021/11/01/2020-annual-report.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630041643/https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/2021/11/01/2020-annual-report.pdf |archive-date=2022-06-30 |access-date=2022-06-30 |website=Urban Institute}}
Organization
Urban Institute's staff of approximately 450 works in several research centers and program areas: the Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy; Metropolitan Housing and Community Policy Center; Health Policy Center; the Center on Education Data and Policy; Income and Benefits Policy Center; Housing Finance Policy Center, the Justice Policy Center; the Labor, Human Services, and Population Center, Research to Action Lab, the Office of Race and Equity Research, and a Statistical Methods Group.{{Cite web |title=Policy Centers |url=https://www.urban.org/policy-centers |access-date=2023-10-21 |website=Urban Institute |language=en}} The institute also houses the Urban Institute – Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center, the National Center for Charitable Statistics and the Urban Institute Press in partnership with Rowman & Littlefield.{{Cite web |title=Urban Institute titles |url=https://rowman.com/Action/Imprint/R18 |access-date=2023-10-21 |website=Rowman & Littlefield }}{{Cite web |title=Urban Institute Press |url=https://www.urban.org/about/urban-institute-press |access-date=2023-10-21 |website=Urban Institute |language=en}} In 2021, Urban developed a Race and Equity Framework and a Chief Diversity Officer was installed in 2022.{{Cite web |title=DEI Journey and Data |url=https://www.urban.org/about/diversity-equity-and-inclusion |access-date=August 20, 2023 |website=Urban Institute}}
The Institute works with the Association of Fundraising Professionals to produce the Fundraising Effectiveness Project. This report provides a summary of data from several different donor software firms and other data providers such as Bloomerang, DonorPerfect, NeonCRM, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, DataLake, DonorTrends, {{Proper name|eTapestry}}, ResultsPlus, and ClearViewCRM. According to the report, donors gave 3% more in 2016 than 2015, but getting $100 cost nonprofits $95.{{Cite news|url=http://www.thenonprofittimes.com/news-articles/report-net-100-giving-just-5/|title=Report: Net On $100 In Giving Is Just $5 – The NonProfit Times|work=The NonProfit Times|access-date=2017-05-04|language=en-US}}
= Staff =
Sarah Rosen Wartell, a public policy executive and housing markets expert, became the third president of the Urban Institute in February 2012.{{cite web|url=http://www.urban.org/publications/901469.html|title=Urban Institute Press Release: Sarah Rosen Wartell, Think Tank Executive and Housing Finance Expert, to be the Urban Institute's Third President}} She succeeded Robert D. Reischauer, former head of the Congressional Budget Office. Reischauer succeeded William Gorham, founding president, in 2000.
Most Urban Institute researchers are economists, social scientists, or public policy and administration researchers. Others are mathematicians, statisticians, city planners, engineers, or computer scientists. A few have backgrounds in medicine, law, or arts and letters. Since at least 2015, the institute's DEI program has resulted in staff being approximately 60% female identifying, and 25% minority staff.[https://www.urban.org/about/diversity-equity-and-inclusion/dei-journey-and-data Urban Institute – Journey and Data]
In 2021, the Urban Institute Employees Union (UIEU) was formed and is affiliated with the Nonprofit Professional Employees Union (NPEU), a local of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers.{{Cite web |date=2021-04-13 |title=Urban Institute Employees Form Union |url=https://npeu.org/news/2021/4/13/urban-institute-employees-form-union |access-date=2025-02-26 |website=Nonprofit Professional Employees Union |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |last=Rainey |first=Rebecca |date=April 13, 2021 |title=Unions eye Brookings, Urban Institute as push to organize think tanks grows |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/13/unions-brookings-urban-institute-organized-labor-481116 |access-date=February 26, 2025 |work=Politico}} In 2024, ratification of the first collective bargaining agreement (CBA) was reached.{{Cite web |date=December 2, 2024 |title=Urban Institute and Urban Institute Employees Union Reach Historic Collective Bargaining Agreement |url=https://www.urban.org/press-releases/urban-institute-and-urban-institute-employees-union-reach-historic-collective |access-date=February 26, 2025}}
= Board of trustees =
{{As of|2022|post=,}} the board members were: Jamie S. Gorelick (chair), N. Gregory Mankiw (vice chair), Annette L. Nazareth (vice chair), Anthony A. Williams (vice chair), J. Adam Abram, Kenneth Bacon, Karan Bhatia, Stacy Brown-Philpot, Mary C. Daly, Shaun Donovan, Diana Farrell, Margaret A. Hamburg, Bill Haslam, Antonia Hernndez, Heather Higginbottom, W. Matthew Kelly, Mary J. Miller, Michael A. Nutter, Eduardo Padrón, Charles H. Ramsey, John Wallis Rowe, Arthur I. Segel, J. Ron Terwilliger, Ashley Swearengin, David A. Thomas, Sarah Rosen Wartell.{{cite web | url=https://www.urban.org/aboutus/who-we-are/board-trustees | title=Board of Trustees | publisher=Urban Institute | access-date=19 June 2018 }}
= Political stance =
The Urban Institute has been referred to as "nonpartisan", "liberal", and "left-leaning". A 2005 study of media bias in The Quarterly Journal of Economics ranked UI as the 11th most liberal of the 50 most-cited think tanks and policy groups, placing it between the NAACP and the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals.[http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/polisci/faculty/groseclose/pdfs/MediaBias.pdf Groseclose, Tim & Milyo, Jeffrey. (2005). "A Measure of Media Bias"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140308041847/http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/polisci/faculty/groseclose/pdfs/MediaBias.pdf |date=2014-03-08 }} The Quarterly Journal of Economics Vol. CXX November Issue 4, pp. 1191–1237. According to a study by U.S. News & World Report most political campaign donations by Urban Institute employees go to Democratic politicians. Between 2003 and 2010, Urban Institute employees' made $79,529 in political contributions, none of which went to the Republican Party.{{cite web | url=https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2011/03/03/think-tank-employees-tend-to-support-democrats | title=Think Tank Employees Tend to Support Democrats | last=Kurtzleben | first=Danielle | date=3 March 2011 | website=U.S. News & World Report| access-date=18 June 2018 }}
Assets
=Funding details=
{{col-begin}}{{col-break}}Funding details as of 2020:
{{col-break}}{{Pie chart
| thumb = right
| caption=Operating Revenue as of 2020: $111,892,483
| other =
| label1 = Federal government
| value1 = 34.5
| label2 = Foundations
| value2 = 33.8
| label3 = Corporations
| value3 = 19.0
| label4 = Nonprofits and universities
| value4 = 5.6
| label5 = Urban Institute endowment support
| value5 = 2.9
| label6 = State and local governments
| value6 = 2.3
| label7 = Individuals
| value7 = 2.0
| label8 = International organizations and foreign entities
| value8 = 0.02
}}{{col-break}}
{{Pie chart
| thumb = left
| caption=Research Expenses as of 2020: $95,000,130
| other =
| label1 = Health Policy Center
| value1 = 20.7
| label2 = Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center
| value2 = 14.2
| label3 = Center on Labor, Human Services, and Population
| value3 = 14.1
| label4 = Justice Policy Center
| value4 = 12.0
| label5 = Income and Benefits Policy Center
| value5 = 10.5
| label6 = Tax Policy Center
| value6 = 9.6
| label7 = Research to Action Lab
| value7 = 7.7
| label8 = Executive Office Research
| value8 = 2.9
| label9 = Center on Education Data and Policy
| value9 = 2.9
| label10 = Housing Finance Policy Center
| value10 = 2.7
| label11 = Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy
| value11 = 2.5
| label12 = Statistical Methods Group
| value12 = 0.1
| label13 = Office of Technology and Data Science
| value13 = 0.1
}}
{{col-end}}
References
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External links
- {{Official website|http://www.urban.org/}}
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Category:Liberalism in the United States
Category:Organizations based in Washington, D.C.
Category:Political and economic think tanks in the United States