Smith Richardson Foundation

About Smith Richardson Foundation

Smith Richardson Foundation Inc. gives substantial general operating support to policy organizations and universities working on U.S. foreign policy, national security, and domestic public policy. In the recent grants list, the foundation repeatedly backed Washington, DC-based institutions such as the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies Inc., the American Foreign Policy Council, and the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, each at the $400,000 level in multiple years. It also supported major research universities and policy centers, including Stanford University, Brown University, the Rand Corporation, the Center for Strategic and International Studies Inc., and the Institute for the Study of War Inc. The pattern suggests a funder that supports research-driven public policy work and institution-level capacity rather than one-off projects. Its active programs reinforce that profile: domestic public policy, international security and foreign policy, and fellowships in world politics, statecraft, strategy, and policy. Across the recent grant list, operating support appears consistently, including awards to organizations studying defense, strategy, fiscal policy, and economic issues. The foundation’s grants also reach institutions outside Washington, with universities and think tanks in California, Rhode Island, Indiana, and elsewhere appearing among its larger awards.

What Smith Richardson Foundation Funds

In international security and foreign policy, Smith Richardson Foundation Inc. gave $321,750 to Institute for the Study of War Inc. for general operating support and $300,000 to Center for Strategic and International Studies Inc. for the same purpose. It also made repeated general operating grants to the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies Inc. and the American Foreign Policy Council, both based in Washington, DC. In economic and fiscal policy, Resources for the Future received $300,000 in 2024 and $300,000 in 2023, both as general operating support, while the Peter G Peterson Institute for International Economics received $300,000 in 2024. The foundation also supports education and research institutions: Brown University received $350,000 in both 2023 and 2024, and Stanford University received several large operating grants across 2023 to 2025. These awards fit the foundation’s stated interest in public policy research and institutional support.

How Smith Richardson Foundation Gives