Russell Sage Foundation

One of the oldest American foundations, the Russell Sage Foundation was established by Mrs. Margaret Olivia Sage in 1907 for "the improvement of social and living conditions in the United States." In its early years the Foundation undertook major projects in low-income housing, urban planning, social work, and labor reform. The Foundation now dedicates itself exclusively to strengthening the methods, data, and theoretical core of the social sciences as a means of diagnosing social problems and improving social policies. The Russell Sage Foundation is an operating foundation directly involved in the conduct and dissemination of social science research. In its effort to improve the social effectiveness of social research, the Foundation - Invites individual scholars and collaborative groups working in areas of Foundation interest to participate in the Foundation's Visiting Scholar Program to pursue their research and writing projects; - Provides support for scholars at other institutions to pursue research projects that advance the Foundation's research programs; - Ensures widespread access to the research that the Foundation supports through its own book publishing program; - Sponsors special seminars and working groups aimed at developing new topics in social science; - Participates in the planning of each study or program as an active partner and reserves the right to publish any resulting manuscripts; - Collaborates with other foundations, granting agencies and academic institutions in studies of social problems. WHAT WE DO The Russell Sage Foundation is the principal American foundation devoted exclusively to research in the social sciences. The foundation serves as a research center for academics and journalists, a funding source for studies by scholars at other academic and research institutions, and an active member of the nation’s social science community. The foundation also publishes books and a journal that derive from the work of its grantees and visiting scholars. HISTORY One of the oldest American foundations, the Russell Sage Foundation was established in 1907 for "the improvement of social and living conditions in the United States" by a gift of $10 million from Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage (1828–1918), widow of railroad magnate and financier Russell Sage. Mrs. Sage directed the foundation to pursue its mission through a broad set of activities, including "research, publication, education, the establishment and maintenance of charitable or benevolent activities, agencies and institutions, and the aid of any such activities, agencies, or institutions already in existence." What We Do The Russell Sage Foundation was established by Margaret Olivia Sage in 1907 for "the improvement of social and living conditions in the United States." RSF funds social science research that extends the methods, data, and theories of the social sciences as a means of better documenting and understanding the nation’s most pressing social, political, and economic problems. The foundation supports visiting scholars in residence and publishes books and a journal under its own imprint. It also funds researchers at other institutions and supports programs intended to develop new generations of social scientists. Funding Innovative Social Science Research RSF funds research projects in four principal programs—Behavioral Economics; the Future of Work; Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration; and Social, Political, and Economic Inequality—and in a number of special initiatives. RSF also hosts working groups that develop and cultivate original social science research in new or understudied fields. Visiting Scholars, Researchers, and Journalists The foundation’s Visiting Scholar Program, first established over thirty years ago, is a unique opportunity for social scientists to pursue research projects that investigate essential questions on social, economic, and political life in the United States while in residence at RSF. The program fosters the exchange of ideas in a vibrant interdisciplinary environment and promotes collaborations between researchers. The foundation has also established shorter term residencies for Visiting Researchers and Visiting Journalists who work alongside RSF’s visiting scholars on projects related to the foundation’s principal research areas. Publishing Under its own imprint, the foundation publishes books that derive from the work of its grantees and visiting scholars. RSF publications have been the recipients of prominent book awards in the social sciences and are regularly featured in the media. In 2015 the foundation launched a peer-reviewed, open-access academic journal, RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, that brings together original empirical research articles by both established and emerging scholars.