The Luce Perspective

We aspire to a future in which individuals and communities thrive. We believe that thriving depends upon knowledge and that knowledge takes many forms. We support communities in preserving, sharing, accessing and producing the knowledge on which to build their futures.

Image Caption: Image courtesy of Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition (BEITC). The Coalition Tribes–Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe , Pueblo of Zuni, and Ute Indian Tribe–founded BEITC to unify in the effort to protect the landscape they call Hoon’Naqvut, Shash Jáa, Kwiyagatu Nukavachi, Ansh An Lashokdiwe, in theirr Native languages, all of which mean “Bears Ears.”

Learn More

Our MissionOur mission places knowledge and understanding at the center of our work to build a more just and democratic world.

Knowledge has the power to transform people, communities, and institutions; more important, it enables them to change the world around them and lay the foundation of a better future.

Since the Luce Foundation’s first grant to Beijing’s Yenching University in 1936, we’ve supported scholarship and education in the service of individual and communal development. More than 85 years later, we continue to invest in knowledge that can make a difference in people’s lives–even as we have expanded our idea of what constitutes knowledge and broadened our view of how it can influence meaningful and lasting change.

What Matters Now

Our VisionWe believe that communities and individuals cannot thrive unless they can decide for themselves what thriving means. And we believe that collaboration across differences is the key to real progress toward justice and equity.

People must be able to participate in decisions that affect their lives, their communities, and future generations. And to do so, they must have access to knowledge–of their own history and culture, of the tools and technologies on which progress depends, and of the needs and aspirations of those around them.

Our PrioritiesNurture Knowledge Communities & Institutions

Knowledge is preserved, shared, and produced by scholars, artists, elders, media makers, writers and many others. The Foundation aims to support these knowledge makers, strengthen connections among them, expand their reach, and invest in the infrastructure they rely on to carry out their work. Our goal is to help them build and sustain effective channels of communication and exchange—in the academic, cultural, and policy sectors—particularly in situations of conflict and misunderstanding. Across all programs, we strive to engagement constructively with Indigenous communities around the world.

Learn More

Our PrioritiesFoster Dialogue Across Divides

Dialogue is essential to deepening understanding and overcoming conflict. The Luce Foundation encourages the sharing of beliefs, ideas, and perspectives. As important, we seek to prepare individuals, communities, and institutions to engage with others sincerely and openly. Bridging divides is not easy work and it requires openness to learning and to change.

Learn More

Our PrioritiesInvest in Leadership Development

Leadership matters. But leaders come with many different names and all walks of life. We seek to provide emerging and under-recognized leaders with the opportunities and the resources they need to exercise the leadership to which they aspire.

Learn More

Our PrioritiesEnrich Public Discourse

Knowledge that does not inform public discussion may not have the effects in the word that knowledge makers hope. Luce helps knowledge makers get their ideas into the public square and works to ensure that that space is welcoming of diverse thinkers and ideas. We believe that the visual arts are a particularly powerful mode of public communication and that communities use artworks to imagine and invent themselves and their stories.

Learn More

Our PrioritiesAmplify Diverse Voices

One of our founder’s great passions was expanding and deepening Americans’ understanding of Asia. He understood rightly that a wealthy and powerful nation could become deaf to voices that were unfamiliar, distant, and less powerful. The Foundation he established seeks to ensure that unpopular, unknown or under-resourced perspectives can be heard and taken seriously.

Learn More

Crafting an Ethical AI Future

Our Grantmaking

We are committed to identifying the most promising ideas and projects for support, partnering with a wide range of thinkers and organizations in pursuit of our mission.

Learn More About Our Grants

We Can All Lead from Where We Are: A Conversation

Grant Programs

Past Initiatives

initiative Religion in International Affairs

initiative Higher Education

Resource Library

post Pew Research Center Releases New Poll of Asians in the U.S.

CBL ConferenceWhy Kindness in Leadership Matters More Than Ever

DemocracyShifting Focus from Profit to Community in Journalism

Ask a CuratorCurator Asma Naeem on Joyce J. Scott

Dr. Esma Gel on the Beauty and Future of Math

Stepping Into the Divide: Using Coalition Building Skills to Deepen Relationships

The Making of The Wider World & Scrimshaw, Part II

The Luce Perspective

Our MissionOur mission places knowledge and understanding at the center of our work to build a more just and democratic world.

Our VisionWe believe that communities and individuals cannot thrive unless they can decide for themselves what thriving means. And we believe that collaboration across differences is the key to real progress toward justice and equity.

Our PrioritiesNurture Knowledge Communities & Institutions

Our PrioritiesFoster Dialogue Across Divides

Our PrioritiesInvest in Leadership Development

Our PrioritiesEnrich Public Discourse

Our PrioritiesAmplify Diverse Voices

Crafting an Ethical AI Future

Our Grantmaking

Explore Themes and Ideas

Got a Minute? Tell us how we are doing!