Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute

Focusing on corporate and public power, labor and wages, and the economics of race and gender inequality, the Roosevelt Institute (Roosevelt) unifies experts as a think tank, invests in young leaders through The Roosevelt Network, and advances progressive policies that bring the legacy of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt into the 21st century. It also serves as the nonprofit partner to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.

Roosevelt advances bold, cutting-edge research and policy ideas, based on the conviction that the future of the American economy and democracy depends on a new way of thinking about markets and government. With a commitment to transforming corporations, restructuring markets, reviving democratic institutions, and reimagining the role of government, Roosevelt moves the U.S. toward a more resilient, equitable, and green future.

The Roosevelt Institute was established to honor the legacy of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. Its mission is to advance modernized Rooseveltian ideas and values. Founded in 1994, the Roosevelt Campus Network – which has now evolved into the Roosevelt National Network –is the intellectual and organizing home of the nation’s largest network of diverse, emerging thinkers and doers. The National Network is committed to informing, training and empowering a cadre of young leaders, and helping translate their ideas into concrete policy change across the country. This award provides operating support as the National Network begins to implement its new strategic plan, which is focused on establishing young people as the backbone of social and civic change that ensures economic and social rules work for all.

The Roosevelt Campus Network, a project of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, is the largest national student policy organization. With a robust chapter network of 120 college campuses in 38 states, the Campus Network is informing, training and empowering a cadre of young leaders, and helping translate their ideas into concrete policy change in communities across the country. This grant will enable the Campus Network to create a cash reserve, to modernize its data and communications infrastructure, and to initiate a Network-wide strategic planning process.

The Roosevelt Institute is a non-profit organization focused on developing progressive ideas and leadership to restore America’s promise of opportunity for all. The Institute—in partnership with Joseph Stiglitz of the Columbia University and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development—will pursue a major, multi-year effort to contribute to the development and implementation of an agenda to reduce inequality, including research activities, convenings and strategies to educate policymakers, decision makers, and influencers about rising economic inequality, its consequences, and solutions; and produce a draft agenda to reduce inequality that outlines concrete policy solutions and implementation steps.

This grant to the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute supports the Roosevelt Campus Network, the country’s largest national student policy organization. With a robust chapter network of nearly 140 college campuses, the Campus Network is engaging young people in activism that empowers them as leaders and promotes their ideas for change. The Roosevelt Campus Network will use this operating support to add chapters, mobilize chapters around leading policy issues such as inequality, expand its presence in targeted states, starting in Illinois, and deepen engagement with its members and alumni.