Every generation inherits institutions it did not build.
Our universities, courts, civic organizations, military and diplomatic corps consist of public servants who carry out the work of the government.
These institutions were built over decades by people willing to invest not just in solving the challenges of their time, but also in preparing leaders to meet the challenges of tomorrow.
As America’s strategic competitors continue investing in their own long-term capabilities, philanthropists should ask an important question: What institutions are we building today to cultivate the leaders America will need tomorrow?
The Robert M. Gates Initiative in American Statecraft, launched this year at William & Mary, offers one compelling answer.
Developed through a partnership between the Robert M. Gates Global Policy Center (GGPC) and William & Mary’s Global Research Institute, the initiative prepares the next generation of America’s diplomats, military officers, policymakers and public servants to navigate an increasingly complex world. Through coursework, applied research, fellowships and engagement with experienced practitioners, students develop not only subject matter expertise, but also the judgment to apply it wisely. With the nation in need of more such graduates than any one institution can supply, the GGPC plans to expand the initiative to other colleges and universities
The initiative builds on the work of the GGPC’s Gates Forums, which convene members of Congress from both parties, executive branch officials, military leaders, scholars and private-sector experts to examine some of the nation’s most pressing national security challenges. Each forum begins not with ideology, but with rigorous issue-specific research sent to conferees in advance. Participants spend two days weighing evidence, identifying areas of agreement and developing practical, nonpartisan recommendations. The GGPC then works with policymakers to help move those recommendations into practice.
Former Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates has long argued that while America’s military remains second to none, many of our nonmilitary instruments of power, including diplomacy, development assistance, strategic communications and economic statecraft, have not kept pace with today’s challenges.
The Gates Initiative reflects his conviction that rebuilding those capabilities begins by educating the people who will lead them.
That long-term investment in leadership is also what attracted the Apex Foundation to the Center.
“At the Apex Foundation, we invest in organizations that will shape the next generation of American leadership. Secretary Gates and General Chiarelli have spent their careers demonstrating what principled, bipartisan public service looks like,” said Craig Stewart, board president of the Apex Foundation. “The Gates Global Policy Center is built to pass that discipline on to the students, scholars, policymakers from both sides of the aisle and practitioners who will inherit our nation’s hardest foreign policy challenges. We support the Center because we believe the return to bipartisan, evidence based national security policymaking has to start with cultivating the people who will practice it.”
That idea should resonate with philanthropists.
Too often, philanthropy is measured by the immediate needs it addresses or the policy victories it helps achieve. Those investments matter. Yet some of philanthropy’s most consequential contributions are the ones whose impact unfolds over decades.
They include:
- A university program that prepares future diplomats and public servants
- A fellowship that connects rising leaders with experienced practitioners
- Research that helps policymakers make better decisions
- A curriculum that equips the next generation to exercise American leadership with wisdom and integrity
These investments produce something more than tomorrow’s headlines; they produce enduring capacity. They strengthen the people and institutions that will continue serving the nation long after a particular administration, policy debate or geopolitical crisis has passed.
- The Gates Initiative reflects a principle at the heart of Philanthropy Roundtable’s Freedom Funders Initiative: lasting change depends on more than good ideas. It requires strong institutions and leaders with the knowledge, judgment and character to put those ideas into practice.
- The Freedom Funders Initiative helps donors think strategically about the institutions, leaders and ideas needed to sustain a free society across generations. The Gates Initiative offers one example of what that kind of long-term investment can look like: building institutions and talent pipelines designed not simply to respond to today’s challenges, but to prepare leaders for those still to come.
The Robert M. Gates Initiative in American Statecraft reminds us that one of philanthropy’s greatest responsibilities is not simply solving today’s problems. It is building the people and institutions that will steward a free society for generations to come.
Donors interested in learning more about the Freedom Funders Initiative, the Robert M. Gates Initiative in American Statecraft or similar opportunities can contact Senior Director of American Values & Policy Philanthropy Clarice Smith.
