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T H E R O L E O F T H E F O U N D A T I O N S IN P O S T W A R P L A N N IN G “ Educational foundations can best justify their existence today by assuming the risks in volved in financing new and uncertain projects which may contribute to better education in the postwar world.” Such is the opinion of Harold S. Sloan, director of the Alfred P. Sloan Foun dation, as set forth in a recent article in After the W a r, a bulletin published by in Institute on Postwar Reconstruction at New York Univer sity. Mr. Sloan says, in part: Looking ahead to the postwar educational world, nothing seems more certain than change. But in telligent change means research and experimenta tion. Old ways need to be rooted out and re-ex amined ; new ideas have to be developed and prom ising innovations tested. Such work is costly— too costly, many times, to be charged against income \ M a rc h , 4, 1944 S C H O O L A N D S O C IE T Y from private endowments or from appropriations trorn public funds. This is where foundations fit in. They absorb the cost risks o f new and uncertain projects. Successful results are free fo r all to use who w ill; failures are forgotten, but in any event administrative bud gets remain unimpaired. Indeed, I, fo r one, do i o t know how foundations today can ju stify their ex istence better than on the grounds o f being risk taking institutions. q„JIr- f J an estimates that there are between ° 300 and 400 endowed foundations in this coun try making grants to institutions in every con ceivable field of human endeavor that pay out annually about forty million dollars. He adds: I hope that every cent o f this money is risked— intelligently o f course, but boldly. That is what wo are trying to do with our small contribution and or my part, I Jo not know o f a better way to assure progress. M r Sloan rep orts that p ro je c ts sp on sored b y the Sloan F ou n d ation were using every know n m edium rad 10, of m odern record in gs, com m unication, in clu d in g m otion pictures, p rin ted pam phlets, and the spoken w ord, to devise new and better ways to dissem inate econom ic know l edge both in fo rm a l and in adult education. Among projects sponsored by the Sloan Foun dation are the Chicago Round Table, the Public Affairs pamphlets, the New York University I ilm Library, and several projects in educa tional techniques.
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