This article may need to be rewritten to comply with Wikipedia's quality standards.(January 2024) |
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Formation | 1949 |
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Founder | Walter Paepcke |
Type | Research institute, think tank |
84-0399006 | |
Headquarters | 2300 N Street, NW, Suite 700 |
Location |
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President & CEO | Daniel R. Porterfield |
Revenue | $160,402,073 [1] (2019) |
Expenses | $147,137,098 [1] (2019) |
Website | www |
The Aspen Institute is an international nonprofit organization founded in 1949 as the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies. [2] It is headquartered in Washington, D.C., but also has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, its original home. [3]
The institute was largely the creation of Walter Paepcke, a Chicago businessman who had become inspired by the Great Books program of Mortimer Adler at the University of Chicago. [4] In 1945, Paepcke visited Bauhaus artist and architect Herbert Bayer, AIA, who had designed and built a Bauhaus-inspired minimalist home outside the decaying former mining town of Aspen, in the Roaring Fork Valley. Paepcke and Bayer envisioned a place where artists, leaders, thinkers, and musicians could gather. Shortly thereafter, while passing through Aspen on a hunting expedition, oil industry maverick Robert O. Anderson (soon to be founder and CEO of Atlantic Richfield) met with Bayer and shared in Paepcke's and Bayer's vision. In 1949, Paepcke organized a 20-day international celebration for the 200th birthday of German poet and philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The celebration attracted over 2,000 attendees, including Albert Schweitzer, José Ortega y Gasset, Thornton Wilder, and Arthur Rubinstein. [5]
In 1949, Paepcke founded the Aspen Institute; and later the Aspen Music Festival and eventually (with Bayer and Anderson) the International Design Conference at Aspen (IDCA). [6] Paepcke sought a forum "where the human spirit can flourish", especially amid the whirlwind and chaos of modernization. He hoped that the institute could help business leaders recapture what he called "eternal verities": the values that guided them intellectually, ethically, and spiritually as they led their companies. Inspired by philosopher Mortimer Adler's Great Books seminar at the University of Chicago, which was later adopted by Encyclopædia Britannica's Great Books of the Western World , Paepcke worked with Anderson to create the Aspen Institute Executive Seminar. [7] In 1951, the institute sponsored a national photography conference. During the 1960s and 1970s, the institute added organizations, programs, and conferences, including the Aspen Center for Physics, the Aspen Strategy Group, Communications and Society Program and other programs that concentrated on education, communications, justice, Asian thought, science, technology, the environment, and international affairs.
In 1979, through a donation by Corning Glass industrialist and philanthropist Arthur A. Houghton Jr., the institute acquired a 1,000-acre (4 km2) campus on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, known today as the Wye River Conference Centers. [8]
In 1983, former United States Senator Dick Clark founded the Aspen Institute's Congressional program, which sought to educate members of Congress on foreign affairs issues. [9]
In 2005, it held the first Aspen Ideas Festival, featuring leading minds from around the world sharing and speaking on global issues. The institute, along with The Atlantic , hosts the festival annually. It has trained philanthropists such as Carrie Morgridge. [10] It has since added additional events such as the Aspen Ideas Health and Aspen Ideas Climate. [11] In 2023, the Aspen Ideas Climate event included Vice President Kamala Harris and famed singer Gloria Estefan. [12]
Since 2013, [13] the Aspen Institute together with U.S. magazine The Atlantic and Bloomberg Philanthropies has participated in organizing the annual CityLab event, a summit dedicated to develop strategies for the challenges of urbanization in today's cities. [14]
Walter Isaacson was the president and CEO of Aspen Institute from 2003 to June 2018. Isaacson announced in March 2017 that he would step down as president and CEO at the end of the year. [15] On November 30, 2017, Daniel Porterfield was announced as his successor. Porterfield succeeded Isaacson on June 1, 2018. [16]
In 2023, Simon Godwin was named Aspen Institute's Harman/Eisner artist in residence. Godwin is the artistic director for the Shakespeare Theatre Company and will serve in a one-year residency at the institute. [17] In June 2023, CAA's Bruno del Granado was named to be head of the Board of the Aspen Institute's Latinos Society Program. [18]
Since 1974, the Aspen Institute has inspired 13 independently-governed and self-funding international partner organizations in 16 countries: Central Europe (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia,) Colombia, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Romania, Spain, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.[ citation needed ]
The Aspen Institute's community program includes lecturers from the Hurst Lecture Series, the McCloskey Speaker Series, and the Murdock Mind, Body, Spirit series. [19]
As of 2019 the Aspen Institute had net assets of $310,055,857. [1]
Funding details as of 2019: [1] | Revenue and support as of 2016: $160,402,073 Project/Grants (48.1%) Contributions (19.9%) Conferences fees (6.8%) Contract revenue (7.2%) Seminar/Event fees (7.1%) Other (10.9%) | Expenses as of 2019: $147,137,098 Policy Programs (45.9%) Campus Activities (12.3%) Public Programs (9.0%) Global Leadership (5.8%) Other Programs (6.0%) General and Administrative (17.9%) Fundraising (3.1%) |
The Institute is largely funded by foundations such as the Carnegie Corporation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Gates Foundation, the Lumina Foundation, and the Ford Foundation, by seminar fees, and by individual donations. [20] Its board of trustees includes leaders from politics, government, business and academia who also contribute to its support. A report by the Center for International Policy's Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative of the top 50 think tanks [21] found that from 2014 to 2018 the Aspen Institute received more than US$8 million in funding from outside the United States, the fifth-highest amount the think tanks. This funding originated primarily in Western democracies but also included "sizeable donations from undemocratic regimes in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates." [22]
In April 2020, the company received approximately $8 million in federally backed small business loans as part of the Paycheck Protection Program. The company received scrutiny over this loan, which meant to protect small and private businesses. The Washington Post noted their large endowment and membership of billionaires made this problematic. Dele Olojede, a fellow at the institute, called it "contrary to the stated purpose of this institute", that "one of America’s most elite institutions thinks it is okay to take the money", going on to say "Those who purport to be values-based and public-spirited leaders cannot at the same time put self interest first, when there is so much human suffering and death". [23] The day after Olojede and the Washington Post highlighted the funding, Aspen Institute announced they would return it, stating "Upon listening to our communities and further reflection, we have made the decision to return the loan". [24]
The Henry Crown Fellowship, established in 1997, educates accomplished entrepreneurs from the private sector to become leaders in community and global development projects. The Aspen Global Leadership Network inducts an annual class of 20-22 candidates between the ages of 30-46 for a two-year training program. Instruction takes place at the Aspen Institute's campus in Aspen, Colorado, and various sites abroad. [25]
The New Voices Fellowship is a year long program for applicants from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Every year, nominations are accepted from August through October. Fellows are selected in December and announced publicly in early January. [26] [27]
The New Voices Fellowship is a non-residential program. During the fellowship year, fellows meet three times for one week sessions. There are no age limitations for fellows. All expenses for participation in the fellowship are covered by the program. At times the program will also cover the cost of "media-related activities and conferences." [28] [27]
Community Colleges which succeed in attaining exceptional results for all students during their time in college and as post-graduates are awarded the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. [29] [30]
Recipients to date include: [31]
The Financial Times called the Faculty Pioneers and Dissertation Proposal Awards the "Oscars of the business school world". These honor business school instructors with an outstanding track record of leadership and risk-taking in ensuring that the MBA curriculum incorporates social, environmental and ethical issues. [34]
Recipients in the Category "Lifetime Achievement" include:
This annual award was created to honor an outstanding leader whose achievements reflect the high standards of honor, integrity, industry, and philanthropy that characterized the life and career of industrialist and philanthropist Henry Crown. Notable recipients include:
The full list of laureates appears on the Award's web page. [36]
Aspen is the Home Rule City that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,004 at the 2020 United States Census. Aspen is in a remote area of the Rocky Mountains' Sawatch Range and Elk Mountains, along the Roaring Fork River at an elevation just below 8,000 feet (2,400 m) on the Western Slope, 11 miles (18 km) west of the Continental Divide. Aspen is now a part of the Glenwood Springs, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Herbert Bayer was an Austrian and American graphic designer, painter, photographer, sculptor, art director, environmental and interior designer, and architect. He was instrumental in the development of the Atlantic Richfield Company's corporate art collection until his death in 1985.
The Brookings Institution, often stylized as Brookings, is an American think tank that conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics, metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, global economy, and economic development.
New America, formerly the New America Foundation, is a liberal think tank in the United States founded in 1999. It focuses on a range of public policy issues, including national security studies, technology, asset building, health, gender, energy, education, and the economy. The organization is based in Washington, D.C., and Oakland, California. Anne-Marie Slaughter is the chief executive officer (CEO) of the think tank.
Hudson Institute is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1961 in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, by futurist Herman Kahn and his colleagues at the RAND Corporation.
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) is a nonpartisan international affairs think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C., with operations in Europe, South Asia, East Asia, and the Middle East, as well as the United States. Founded in 1910 by Andrew Carnegie, the organization describes itself as being dedicated to advancing cooperation between countries, reducing global conflict, and promoting active international engagement between the United States and countries around the world. It engages leaders from multiple sectors and across the political spectrum.
Walter Paepcke was an American businessman and philanthropist who was prominent in the mid-20th century. A longtime executive of the Chicago-based Container Corporation of America, Paepcke is best noted for his founding of the Aspen Institute and the Aspen Skiing Company in the early 1950s, both of which helped transform the town of Aspen, Colorado into an international resort destination and popularize the sport of skiing in the United States.
Atlas Network, formerly known as Atlas Economic Research Foundation, is a non-governmental 501(c)(3) organization based in the United States that provides training, networking, and grants for libertarian, free-market, and conservative groups around the world.
The Aspen Skiing Company, known locally as Ski Co, is a commercial enterprise based in Aspen, Colorado. The Aspen Skiing Company operates the Aspen/Snowmass resort complex, which comprises four ski areas: Aspen Mountain, Aspen Highlands, Buttermilk, and Snowmass.
Walter Seff Isaacson is an American journalist who has written biographies of Henry Kissinger, Benjamin Franklin, Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, Jennifer Doudna and Elon Musk. As of 2024, Isaacson is a professor at Tulane University and, since 2018, an interviewer for the PBS and CNN news show Amanpour & Company.
Jacqueline Novogratz is an American entrepreneur and author. She is the founder and CEO of Acumen, a nonprofit global venture capital fund whose goal is to use entrepreneurial approaches to address global poverty.
In his "A New Beginning" speech on June 4, 2009, at Cairo University in Cairo, Egypt, President of the United States Barack Obama stated "I've come here to Cairo to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world, one based on mutual interest and mutual respect, and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap and share common principles – principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings." During the speech, he also committed to "host a Summit on Entrepreneurship this year to identify how we can deepen ties between business leaders, foundations and social entrepreneurs in the United States and Muslim communities around the world".
Charles de Ganahl Koch is an American billionaire businessman. As of February 2024, he was ranked as the 23rd richest man in the world on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with an estimated net worth of $64.9 billion. Koch has been co-owner, chairman, and chief executive officer of Koch Industries since 1967, while his late brother David Koch served as executive vice president. Charles and David each owned 42% of the conglomerate. The brothers inherited the business from their father, Fred C. Koch, then expanded the business. Koch Industries is the largest privately held company by revenue in the United States, according to Forbes.
The 1990 Institute is a San Francisco-based not-for-profit organization with a mission to champion fair and equal treatment for Asian Americans and a constructive U.S.-China relationship through leadership, education, and collaboration. The institute has had three decades of impact with programs that promote cross-cultural understanding both within the United States and China and is currently managed by academic, business, and community leaders.
The Wheeler–Stallard House is located on West Bleeker Street in Aspen, Colorado, United States. It is an 1880s brick structure built in the Queen Anne architectural style, and renovated twice in the 20th century. In 1975 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Daniel R. Porterfield is an American nonprofit executive, academic administrator, and government official serving as the president and CEO of the Aspen Institute. Porterfield previously served as the 15th president of Franklin & Marshall College, senior vice president for strategic development and English professor at Georgetown University, and communications director and chief speechwriter for the U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary during the Clinton Administration.
Founded in 2005, the Aspen Ideas Festival (AIF) is a week-long event held in Aspen, Colorado in the United States. The Aspen Ideas Festival program of events includes discussions, seminars, panels, and tutorials from journalists, designers, innovators, politicians, diplomats, presidents, judges, musicians, artists, and writers.
The Franklin Project was a policy program of the Aspen Institute from October 2012 to December 2015, that focused on advancing national service in the United States. Walter Isaacson called the project the "biggest idea" to come out of the Aspen Ideas Festival during his tenure as CEO of the Aspen Institute. In January 2016, the project merged with ServiceNation and the Service Year Exchange project of the National Conference on Citizenship to form Service Year Alliance.
Aspen Meadows is a 40-acre conference center and resort located amongst the Rocky Mountains in Aspen, Colorado. It is owned by the Aspen Institute, and is the venue for some of the institute's events, such as the annual Aspen Ideas Festival and Socrates Program seminars. It was designed by Herbert Bayer in the Bauhaus style.
Maryana Iskander is an Egyptian-born American social entrepreneur and lawyer. In 2022, she became the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Wikimedia Foundation, succeeding Katherine Maher. Prior to her position, Iskander was the CEO of the Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator and a former chief operating officer of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America in New York.
"We believe that our application, which was made in the first week of the PPP, was consistent with the goals of the program. Upon listening to our communities and further reflection, we have made the decision to return the loan," said spokeswoman Amy DeMaria in a statement. "The Aspen Institute is committed to doing our part to help the country and the world both recover from and rebuild after this global pandemic. We stand with all who are trying to make a difference in very difficult times."