Kettering Foundation

Kettering Foundation The Kettering Foundation is an American research organization devoted to studying democratic practice and civic engagement. It operates as an independent nonprofit think tank and convening body, producing research, testing methods of public deliberation, and advising practitioners and institutions involved in civic life. The foundation has been associated with efforts to strengthen citizen deliberation alongside scholars, practitioners, and institutions across the United States and internationally.

History

Founded in 1927 by Eugene C. Kettering in Dayton, Ohio, the foundation developed amid twentieth-century civic reform movements involving figures like John Dewey, Robert M. La Follette, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, and Herbert Hoover. During the New Deal and postwar eras it intersected with debates featuring Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson, and policy networks connected to Brookings Institution, Rand Corporation, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Ford Foundation. In the 1960s and 1970s the foundation engaged intellectual currents linked to Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Saul Alinsky, and community organizing groups in cities such as Chicago and Detroit. Later decades saw dialogue with civic innovators influenced by the work of Elinor Ostrom, Robert Putnam, Amitai Etzioni, and scholars at Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, University of Michigan, and Stanford University. The foundation’s history also intersected with policy debates involving Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama as civic renewal and participatory democracy debates evolved. Institutional developments have involved partnerships and exchanges with League of Women Voters, National Civic League, American Association of Retired Persons, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Endowment for the Arts, Smithsonian Institution, and regional organizations in Ohio and Midwest cities.

Mission and Philosophy

The foundation’s mission emphasizes the role of citizens in addressing public problems, drawing on philosophical and practical traditions associated with Aristotle, John Locke, Thomas Jefferson, Alexis de Tocqueville, Benjamin Franklin, and James Madison. Its philosophy has engaged civic theorists such as Hannah Arendt, Jürgen Habermas, H.L.A. Hart, Isaiah Berlin, Michael Sandel, Amy Gutmann, and Joseph Raz. The foundation frames civic deliberation in conversation with constitutional debates involving Federalist Papers, U.S. Constitution, landmark cases like Brown v. Board of Education, policy moments such as the Civil Rights Movement, and deliberative strands seen in Nuremberg Trials. It stresses practical inquiry methods akin to action research practiced alongside practitioners linked to Community Action Program, Peace Corps, Teach For America, and municipal networks such as ICMA and National League of Cities.

Research and Programs

Research programs have explored topics intersecting with elections and civic life related to Presidential elections in the United States, partisan realignment episodes like those in 1968 United States presidential election and 1994 United States elections, and institutional reforms debated in contexts such as Voting Rights Act of 1965 and Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Studies draw on comparative work referencing Parliament of the United Kingdom, Bundestag, European Parliament, Indian National Congress, Brazilian National Congress, and municipal experiments in Porto Alegre and Copenhagen. Programs include deliberative forums modeled on practices used in commissions such as Warren Commission-type inquiry designs, citizens’ assemblies inspired by Icelandic constitutional reform, and participatory budgeting linked to innovations in Brazil. The foundation collaborates with university centers like Harvard Kennedy School, Yale School of Management, Columbia University, University of Chicago, Georgetown University, and research networks including American Political Science Association, Association of Public Policy Analysis and Management, and International Association for Public Participation. It runs training and fellowship initiatives echoing models from Fulbright Program, MacArthur Fellows Program, Carnegie Scholars Program, and professional exchange formats used by Center for American Progress and Cato Institute.

Publications and Media

The foundation publishes monographs, briefings, and reports engaging topics covered by journals and outlets connected to American Political Science Review, Journal of Democracy, Public Administration Review, Harvard Business Review, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. Its media strategy has intersected with broadcasters and platforms such as NPR, PBS, BBC, C-SPAN, ABC News, NBC News, CBS News, Reuters, and wire services like Associated Press. Major publications have featured contributions by scholars associated with MIT Press, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and have been cited in works by authors like Cass Sunstein, Robert Putnam, Seymour Martin Lipset, Arlie Russell Hochschild, and Theda Skocpol. The foundation also produces audio and video content paralleling documentary traditions exemplified by producers linked to Ken Burns and public affairs programming hosted by figures such as Bill Moyers.

Partnerships and Influence

The foundation sustains partnerships with civic organizations including League of Women Voters of the United States, National Civic League, Alliance for Innovation, National Conference on Citizenship, Civic Hall, and networks like Everytown for Gun Safety and March For Our Lives where deliberation and civic action intersect. It has influenced public deliberations around policy arenas covered by legislation such as Affordable Care Act, debates over Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, and regulatory reform dialogues involving Administrative Procedure Act. International collaborations have involved institutions such as European Commission, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, UNESCO, United Nations Development Programme, World Bank, and municipal partnerships with cities like Paris, Tokyo, Toronto, and Cape Town. Alumni and affiliates include leaders who have worked with U.S. Congress, state legislatures like Ohio General Assembly, municipal governments including City of Dayton, Ohio, nonprofit sectors associated with Independent Sector, and philanthropic networks exemplified by Gates Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, and Lilly Endowment.

Category:Non-profit organizations based in Ohio