Russell Sage Foundation
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| Founded | 1907 |
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| Founder | Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage |
| Type | Private Foundation |
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Key people
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President - Sheldon Danziger |
| Endowment | $275 million (2015) |
| Mission | The improvement of social and living conditions in the United States |
| Website | www |
The Russell Sage Foundation is an American philanthropic foundation that primarily funds research relating to income inequality. Located in New York City, it is a research center and a funding source for studies by scholars at other academic and research institutions. The foundation also publishes, under its own imprint, the books that derive from the work of its grantees and visiting scholars. The foundation focuses on labor markets, immigration and ethnicity, and social inequality in the United States, as well as behavioral economics.
The Russell Sage Foundation was established in 1907 for "the improvement of social and living conditions in the United States" by a gift of $10 million from Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage (1828–1918), widow of railroad magnate and financier Russell Sage. Mrs. Sage directed the foundation to pursue its mission through a broad set of activities, including "research, publication, education, the establishment and maintenance of charitable or benevolent activities, agencies and institutions, and the aid of any such activities, agencies, or institutions already in existence." Her will added a $5 million bequest in 1917.
Soon after its establishment, the Foundation played a pioneering role in dealing with problems of the poor and the elderly, in efforts to improve hospital and prison conditions, and in the development of social work as a profession. The Foundation was also responsible for early reforms in health care, city planning, consumer credit, labor law, the training of nurses, and social security programs.
In 1907, the foundation funded the Pittsburgh Survey, the first systematic effort to survey working class conditions in a large U.S. city. Considered a major Progressive Era achievement, the findings inspired labor reforms and helped end twelve-hour days and seven-day weeks for steel workers.
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