International Relations and Diplomacy Grants is sponsored by The Starr Foundation. The Starr Foundation supports organizations that reflect C. V.

Starr's commitment to cross-cultural exchange, education, and candid, in-person exchange of ideas as key to healthy international relations.

Public Policy & International Relations - The Starr Foundation Public Policy & International Relations Public Policy & International Relations Consistent with C. V. Starr’s personal values and expansive worldview, the Foundation has invested in academic, government, and business programs that educate key audiences on foreign affairs, with an emphasis on nonideological, common-sense analysis.

On a parallel track, the Foundation’s support in the public policy arena has also promoted educational and cultural exchange among emerging global leaders committed to democratic principles of government. Given C. V.

Starr’s insurance-sector roots, the Foundation has supported research programs on matters of importance to the industry and to the U.S. economy more broadly, including free enterprise and how expanded liability laws enhance or impede innovation and safety. Topics of interest have evolved over time to allow agile responses to emerging issues.

The Foundation’s goal is to promote expertly informed, actionable recommendations that are relevant to everyday policymaking and business decisions, and to advance fundamental principles of democracy, pluralism, and civil discourse. In keeping with both C. V.

Starr’s and M. R. Greenberg’s dedication to cultural exchange and to furthering international understanding, The Starr Foundation has donated $66 million to support and inspire the next generation of global leaders.

Through fellowships and immersive experiences at U.S.-based institutions, Foundation grants bring together individuals to exchange ideas, grow their networks, and boost their ability to advance freedom, democracy, and the artistic and cultural life of their home countries.

Foundation-funded leaders have included such wide-ranging changemakers as a Georgian activist educating his country about the needs of people with disabilities, a Mongolian rights advocate empowering women from poor communities to run for public office, a Northern Irish writer creating hiking and cycling routes that encourage economic development and environmental protection, and a Chinese entrepreneur using AI data to drive energy management and sustainability.

McCain Global Leaders Program McCain Global Leaders Program Maurice R. Greenberg World Fellows at Yale University Maurice R. Greenberg World Fellows at Yale University Schwarzman Scholars at Tsinghua University Schwarzman Scholars at Tsinghua University International Relations and Diplomacy The Starr Foundation’s philanthropy in international relations and diplomacy is grounded in C.

V. Starr’s commitment to cross-cultural exchange. Mr. Starr believed that education and candid, in-person exchange of ideas were key to healthy international relations, and The Starr Foundation’s most significant grants in this area are to organizations that reflect these priorities.

“There is a brand of internationalism that deals in treaties, charters, and understandings among nations. There is another, older brand of internationalism that deals with humankind and the things that billions of people have in common. It was this latter sense of human unity that was the starting premise for C.

V. Starr, almost from the moment he began to create an international enterprise. ” — Cornelius Vander Starr: 1892–1968.

C. V. Starr & Co.

, 1970, 32. The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), one of the foremost think tanks in the United States, is one of the longest-standing Starr grantees as it was first funded in 1960. The Council’s mission is to educate a wide range of audiences on the most important foreign policy issues facing the United States and the world.

Reflecting Mr. Starr and Mr. M. R. Greenberg’s lifelong efforts to deepen U.S.-China ties, The Starr Foundation also offers robust support to the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, a nonprofit educational organization that brings together American and Chinese officials and citizens to improve mutual understanding as a basis for a stable and productive relationship between the two countries.

In addition, in 2025 The Starr Foundation contributed $2. 25 million to the Program on the U.S., China, and the World (USCW) at the Hoover Institution. Led by Elizabeth Economy, a preeminent expert in Chinese policy, the program combines rigorous research with practical recommendations for policymakers and business leaders navigating U.S.-China relations.

USCW’s research focus areas include China’s domestic dynamics; U.S. policymaking around technology, national security, and economic competitiveness; and strategic competition on the global stage. Past diplomacy-focused recipients of Foundation funding include the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Council on Foreign Relations Council on Foreign Relations The National Committee on U.S.-China Relations The National Committee on U.S.-China Relations Economic and Trade Policy As skilled and visionary entrepreneurs, both C. V. Starr and M.

R. Greenberg relentlessly championed open markets, helping pave the way to globalization. In 1980, The Starr Foundation honored its founder’s principles by embarking on a program to promote and support free enterprise and free market economics.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation The Starr Foundation has granted more than $46 million to support the work of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

This includes a $15 million award to preserve the U.S. Chamber’s historic headquarters building, an effort that was completed in 2022, and $15 million to support research and programs to educate Americans on the benefits of foreign trade and investment and the importance of corporate social responsibility.

Foundation grants have also supported the Chamber’s affiliated Institute for Legal Reform , which advocates for civil justice reform in the United States and abroad, and champions fair legal systems that promote economic growth and opportunity. Peter G.

Peterson Institute for International Economics The Starr Foundation has donated nearly $12 million to support the Peterson Institute, which provides nonpartisan, evidence-based analyses of trade, finance, and other aspects of globalization.

Research areas have included the economic implications of high-tech competition; the global economic impact of public health policies, including supply chains of medical goods; the challenges of labor, gender pay, and opportunity disparities; and the mapping and analysis of China-U.S. economic decoupling.

National Bureau of Economic Research From 1975 to 2002, The Starr Foundation was a key supporter of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), with total donations of nearly $6 million, including significant gifts in 1990 and 2001 to establish and support the C. V. Starr Research Fund for International Economics .

The Starr Research Fund supports a wide range of research projects and NBER annual conferences—in China, Japan, India, Latin America, and Europe—that have enabled an important exchange of ideas and fueled collaborative research among economists and policymakers from around the globe.

NBER research has also contributed to U.S. and international economic policy setting, with NBER-affiliated economists chairing the Council of Economic Advisers, the Federal Reserve Board, and the National Economic Council, and serving as Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund, among other key roles.

Business Executives for National Security Business Executives for National Security (BENS) is the primary channel through which senior, American business leaders bring best practices and experience from the private sector to help strengthen U.S. national security.

From 2003 to 2022, The Starr Foundation provided nearly $4 million of operating and endowment support to BENS, a nonpartisan, nonprofit nationwide network whose members advise security agencies—including the Department of Defense, Customs and Border Protection, and the Department of Homeland Security, among many others—at no cost to the U.S. government.

Focus areas have included modernizing the traditional defense industrial base, developing a skilled and agile national security workforce, using AI to enhance war-gaming, and understanding the national security implications of transitioning to new energy. Democratic Institutions and Civil Discourse C. V.

Starr was dedicated to increasing understanding among and within societies, and to promoting America’s democratic values of free enterprise and the informed exercise of personal liberties. The Starr Foundation reflects this commitment by supporting organizations that advance democracy and civil discourse, including a $25 million grant to the Hoover Institution’s Center for Revitalizing American Institutions in 2022.

The Foundation has also made significant contributions to the following organizations and initiatives: “See No Stranger, See No Enemy” Pluralism Accelerator Fund The “See No Stranger, See No Enemy” Pluralism Accelerator Fund is a response to rising identity-based hate in the United States, including anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim sentiment, in the wake of October 7, 2023.

The Foundation’s gift supports grants to programs that help people respect and embrace their differences, see their shared humanity, and push back on the normalization of hate. Recognizing the escalation of conflict and division on college and university campuses, the Fund’s initial focus is on the campuses of higher education.

Foreign Policy Association The Foreign Policy Association (FPA) is a nonpartisan think tank and publisher dedicated to developing awareness, understanding, and informed opinions on U.S. foreign policy and global issues.

The Foundation has provided both general operating support and funding for the award-winning Great Decisions series of programs and journals, which present a broad range of views from the academic, government, nonprofit, and business communities on current foreign affairs. The Brookings Institution is one of the leading U.S. think tanks for independent, nonpartisan policy research.

Foundation support has included funding for Brookings’s Center for Law, Economics, and Politics in 1992, and for a broad range of Asian policy study initiatives, as well as general operating support. The Innocence Project works to free the wrongfully incarcerated, prevent wrongful convictions, and reform the criminal justice system.

The Starr Foundation was a founding donor, with a 2014 gift of $1 million, to the Innocence Project’s Campaign for Justice, a reserve and opportunity fund to secure the organization’s strong future. The Carter Center was established by former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, to prevent and resolve conflicts, enhance freedom and democracy, and improve health in more than 80 countries around the world.

Foundation grants have included funding for election monitoring and eradicating river blindness, and support for the Center’s endowment. McCain Institute’s Impact Fund The McCain Institute’s Impact Fund supports programs on American democracy, democracies under threat, human rights, and national security and counterterrorism.

Center for Revitalizing American Institutions at the Hoover Institution The strength and durability of American democracy rests on the ideas and principles contained in the U.S. Constitution, including the rule of law, individual freedoms and rights, representative government, and the peaceful transfer of power. Today, these pillars are increasingly under threat.

To help understand and address eroding confidence in public institutions and elected representatives, The Starr Foundation in 2022 donated $25 million to the Hoover Institution, a public policy think tank, to establish the Center for Revitalizing American Institutions (RAI).

RAI’s goal is to research and analyze the causes of the current crisis, make policy recommendations to rebuild trust, and develop programs to educate children and adults about the values and principles underlying American democratic institutions. RAI’s work focuses on governmental institutions, organizations and democratic practice, and democratic citizenship.

Projects have included the following: a conference on relations between the executive and judicial branches of government; initiatives to improve Americans’ confidence in elections; a survey of 100,000 people before, during, and after the 2024 elections to measure the impact of close elections, contested primaries, the trials of President Donald Trump, the economy, and major international conflicts; and a workshop bringing together faculty from the Stanford Civics Initiative, the Hoover Institution, and a dozen U.S. colleges and universities to develop core principles for undergraduate civic education programs.

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