Our Work

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The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation examines enduring and urgent problems of violence, such as war, crime, and human aggression. Through basic and applied research, we aim to understand the causes, manifestation, and control of violence. We spread this knowledge to inform policy, practice, and public discourse and to advance scholarship. 

A mission to create and disseminate knowledge against violence

The Foundation awards research grants to support distinguished and emerging scholars studying urgent matters of violence in the United States and around the world. We likewise conduct and commission original research and publish relevant research and policy reports. We host conferences, research seminars, and public conversations on topics of violence, often in collaboration with peers in academia, philanthropy, and civil society.

The Foundation does not accept unsolicited requests for support.

OUR HISTORY

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In 1929, Harry Frank Guggenheim (1890-1971), a business leader, diplomat, and newspaper publisher, created the Foundation for general philanthropic purposes.

Some 30 years later, Mr. Guggenheim centered the Foundation’s work on problems of violence, believing that humanity had failed to match its progress in science, technology, medicine, and industry with similar improvements in human relations. In doing so, Mr. Guggenheim, who had served as a naval aviator in both World Wars, sought to apply science to universal problems, such as war and aggression. He recognized the depth of the challenge, saying,

“Undoubtedly the improvement of man’s relation to man will require much original thought and many years of research. I believe that is a job which deserves support.”

On Mr. Guggenheim’s death in 1971, a bequest to the Foundation initiated our current program of research grants to scholars. Over the last 50 years, the Foundation has shifted from exploring the evolutionary roots of human aggression to the study of civil and interpersonal violence. Across this broad area of inquiry, we are committed to funding scholarly research, both basic and applied, into the causes and amelioration of violence.

RESEARCH PRIORITIES

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The Foundation prioritizes research addressing urgent, contemporary problems of violence — what produces it, how it operates, and what works to prevent or reduce it. Problems that particularly interest the Foundation concern violence and aggression in relation to a number of subjects, including:

• War
• Terrorism
• Crime
• Family and intimate-partner relationships
• Climate instability and natural resource competition
• Racial, ethnic, and religious conflict
• Political extremism and nationalism

The Foundation’s work is advanced through research grants and fellowships, reports and policy briefs, and convenings. Signature programs include: 

• The Harry Frank Guggenheim Distinguished Scholars
• The Harry Frank Guggenheim Emerging Scholars
• The Harry Frank Guggenheim African Fellows
• The Harry Frank Guggenheim Distinguished Fellow of Practice
• The Harry Frank Guggenheim Research Fellow at Pembroke College, University of Cambridge

OUR PARTNERS

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The Foundation partners with mission-aligned organizations to support and conduct research into violence and broadly share such findings.