Public Policy & International Relations

The Starr Foundation has granted more than $46 million to support the work of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. This includes a $15 million award to preserve the U.S. Chamber’s historic headquarters building, an effort that was completed in 2022, and $15 million to support research and programs to educate Americans on the benefits of foreign trade and investment and the importance of corporate social responsibility. Foundation grants have also supported the Chamber’s affiliated Institute for Legal Reform, which advocates for civil justice reform in the United States and abroad, and champions fair legal systems that promote economic growth and opportunity.

The Starr Foundation has donated nearly $12 million to support the Peterson Institute, which provides nonpartisan, evidence-based analyses of trade, finance, and other aspects of globalization. Research areas have included the economic implications of high-tech competition; the global economic impact of public health policies, including supply chains of medical goods; the challenges of labor, gender pay, and opportunity disparities; and the mapping and analysis of China-U.S. economic decoupling.

From 1975 to 2002, The Starr Foundation was a key supporter of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), with total donations of nearly $6 million, including significant gifts in 1990 and 2001 to establish and support the C.V. Starr Research Fund for International Economics. The Starr Research Fund supports a wide range of research projects and NBER annual conferences—in China, Japan, India, Latin America, and Europe—that have enabled an important exchange of ideas and fueled collaborative research among economists and policymakers from around the globe. NBER research has also contributed to U.S. and international economic policy setting, with NBER-affiliated economists chairing the Council of Economic Advisers, the Federal Reserve Board, and the National Economic Council, and serving as Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund, among other key roles.

Business Executives for National Security (BENS) is the primary channel through which senior, American business leaders bring best practices and experience from the private sector to help strengthen U.S. national security. From 2003 to 2022, The Starr Foundation provided nearly $4 million of operating and endowment support to BENS, a nonpartisan, nonprofit nationwide network whose members advise security agencies—including the Department of Defense, Customs and Border Protection, and the Department of Homeland Security, among many others—at no cost to the U.S. government. Focus areas have included modernizing the traditional defense industrial base, developing a skilled and agile national security workforce, using AI to enhance war-gaming, and understanding the national security implications of transitioning to new energy.

The “See No Stranger, See No Enemy” Pluralism Accelerator Fund is a response to rising identity-based hate in the United States, including anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim sentiment, in the wake of October 7, 2023. The Foundation’s gift supports grants to programs that help people respect and embrace their differences, see their shared humanity, and push back on the normalization of hate. Recognizing the escalation of conflict and division on college and university campuses, the Fund’s initial focus is on the campuses of higher education.

The Foreign Policy Association (FPA) is a nonpartisan think tank and publisher dedicated to developing awareness, understanding, and informed opinions on U.S. foreign policy and global issues. The Foundation has provided both general operating support and funding for the award-winning Great Decisions series of programs and journals, which present a broad range of views from the academic, government, nonprofit, and business communities on current foreign affairs.

The Brookings Institution is one of the leading U.S. think tanks for independent, nonpartisan policy research. Foundation support has included funding for Brookings’s Center for Law, Economics, and Politics in 1992, and for a broad range of Asian policy study initiatives, as well as general operating support.

The Innocence Project works to free the wrongfully incarcerated, prevent wrongful convictions, and reform the criminal justice system. The Starr Foundation was a founding donor, with a 2014 gift of $1 million, to the Innocence Project’s Campaign for Justice, a reserve and opportunity fund to secure the organization’s strong future.

The Carter Center was established by former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, to prevent and resolve conflicts, enhance freedom and democracy, and improve health in more than 80 countries around the world. Foundation grants have included funding for election monitoring and eradicating river blindness, and support for the Center’s endowment.

The McCain Institute’s Impact Fund supports programs on American democracy, democracies under threat, human rights, and national security and counterterrorism.