The Power of Philanthropy
Whereas many traditional funding streams are focused on scaling proven methods, philanthropy allows us to turn new ideas into reality. Philanthropy can empower scholars at all career stages to ask interesting, forward-looking questions and enable early-stage inquiry that catalyzes breakthroughs. With your help, ISR can continue to lead the research agenda by creating the future of social science research.
Your support can also play a foundational role in diversifying the social science research community. By funding thoughtful pipeline programs and providing much-needed resources to emerging scholars at a make-or-break moment in their professional journeys, donor support can empower researchers from all backgrounds to build strong careers and contribute meaningfully to our understanding of society.
Philanthropic Priorities
Harnessing the power of information
ISR harnesses the power of information in contemporary society utilizing the world’s largest archive of digital social science data. We aim to improve human Health across the lifespan, understand and combat Inequality in society, foster a Civil Society, and reinvigorate Democracy around the world.
Creating the Future of Social Science
We are committed to creating the future of social science research. Our forward-thinking and collaborative research community embraces innovative approaches and develops increasingly effective research methods. Our globally renowned training programs have produced some of the most influential scholars in their fields and play a core role in our imperative to foster greater diversity in the social sciences.
Giving Opportunities
Please contact us at any time to talk about your giving. A selection of ISR’s most timely priorities is listed below. These projects have already gained momentum and present exciting opportunities for strategic philanthropic engagement. Your gift today creates immense impact tomorrow; join us in building the future of ISR and the social sciences.
ISR Next Generation Fund
The ISR Next Generation Initiative awards ~$300K each year to emerging scholars in the social and behavioral sciences at the University of Michigan, facilitating research and professional development opportunities to our future leaders. Your support will give high-potential scholars the early research experience so essential to building successful careers and making a positive impact on our world.
Research Innovation Fund
The Robert L. Kahn Innovation Fund will advance collaborative, interdisciplinary research to address problems that cannot be understood within a single discipline or field. Gifts to this fund will provide early project support to thoughtfully designed research and groups of scholars in the pursuit of inventive social solutions.
Social Media Archive (SOMAR)
The Social Media Archive (SOMAR) is a revolutionary initiative and data resource that democratizes access to some of the most consequential information in contemporary society: social media data. Your support will help scholars shed light on the ways in which social media impacts our world, our health, and our choices.
Impact Stories
Your support makes a tremendous difference in our ability to support emerging scholars, to empower researchers to explore innovative projects that have the potential to change the world, and to ensure the strength of our data infrastructure for the scientific community now and long into the future.
The Next Generation
Thank you to everyone who has generously donated to this fund; ambitious projects would not be possible without such awards and resources.
– Davis Daumler
The funding from this grant will allow me to collect my own data to study my research questions. I will obtain nationally diverse samples of Black Americans and ask questions about their belief in the American opportunity structure, the extent to which they feel discrimination limits their opportunity to succeed and their support for racially redistributive policies.
– Zoe Walker
Personally, I am very excited to pursue this research, in part because this is my first opportunity to conduct such a large-scale study. This is only possible through the funding that you provided.
– Jess Lasoff-Santos
Your generosity has inspired me to help others and to give back to the community. I hope one day I will be able to help future students to achieve their goals just like how you have helped me.
– Jiaming Soh
Thanks to you, I will be able to create and field my own survey for the first time in my career, which will be invaluable to my professional development.
– Ciera Hammond
Alumni Impact
I encounter so many people in the professional world who received training at ISR. It’s such an incredible network of people. ISR is inseparable from how I think about Michigan social sciences.
– Sasha Killewald
I feel an obligation to do good research and then also to publish it, not just so that I have more publications, but so the research can help improve people’s health. “I’m not a policy maker, I’m a researcher, but part of making a difference is being able to effectively communicate the science affected by our research, and if we can do that, we can make real change for those who need it.
– Jasmine Manalel
One of the best parts of ISR is just the ability to talk with any number of people about any number of ideas all the time. All of my research today and the way I think about doing scholarship reflects the way that folks at CPS and at ISR thought about these questions. The approach that folks at ISR take is, by nature, an interdisciplinary enterprise to answer the really hard and complicated questions we’re all trying to wrestle with as social scientists.
– Hakeem Jefferson
Center for Inequality Dynamics (CID)
Economic inequality in the U.S. has reached extreme levels, in particular in terms of wealth, and the pandemic has pulled away the curtain on many of the inequalities, injustices, and economic vulnerabilities in this country. Especially during these difficult times, I believe that as social scientists we have the responsibility to lay the foundation for both the diagnosis and the solutions to the inequality crisis that we are experiencing.
– Fabian Pfeffer
I’m so excited to help CID push forward wealth and inequality research and to help expand the social sciences data infrastructure that truly reflects the fourth industrial revolution era we are living in. I chose to join CID as I felt confident that this is where I can pursue my passion for studying inequality and enhancing the data infrastructure for social sciences in an unparalleled way.
– Sunn Kyoung Lee
