New America (organization)

History

New America was founded in 1999 by Ted Halstead, Sherle Schwenninger, Michael Lind, and Walter Russell Mead as the New America Foundation. The organization is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and also has offices in Oakland, California and Chicago, Illinois.

Ted Halstead served as New America's founding president and CEO from 1999 to 2007. Steve Coll served as New America's second president, before being succeeded by Anne-Marie Slaughter in 2013.

On June 27, 2017, Barry C. Lynn, the director of the anti-monopoly Open Markets program at New America, issued a statement, criticizing Google, one of the organization's main sponsors. On August 30, 2017, it became known that Lynn was fired, and the Open Markets program was closed. According to The New York Times, New America did it to please Google. In response to the decision to fire Lynn and his team, 25 former and current employees of the think tank signed a letter expressing concern about the extent to which sponsors are influencing New America's work.

Google reportedly made New America take this action because the researchers, including prominent young competition law scholar Lina Khan, had lauded the EU's antitrust ruling against Google. New America's president Anne-Marie Slaughter denied the allegations of improper influence by Google.

The foundation's Economic Growth Program, directed by New America co-founders Sherle Schwenninger and Michael Lind, aims to take a policy look at America and the world's economic problems. In 2011, the program commissioned a paper "The Way Forward: Moving From the Post-Bubble, Post-Bust Economy to Renewed Growth and Competitiveness".

Maya MacGuineas, who has worked at the Brookings Institution as well as on Wall Street, led the committee and now leads Fix the Debt. After advising politicians from both parties, she serves as a trusted mediator on budget talks between Democrats and Republicans. In addition, in 2010, the committee's policy director, Marc Goldwein, joined President Obama's bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.

Political stance

In 2002, Newsweeks Howard Fineman called New America a "hive of state-of-the-art policy entrepreneurship". New America has been characterized as "liberal" by the Pacific Standard online magazine, "left-leaning" by The Washington Post, and "left-of-center" by the Capital Research Center organization.

Open Technology Institute

The Open Technology Institute (OTI) is the technology program of the New America Foundation. OTI formulates policy and regulatory reforms to support open architectures and open-source innovations and facilitates the development and implementation of open technologies and communications networks.

Commotion Wireless

Main article: Commotion Wireless

Commotion Wireless was an open source "device-as-infrastructure" communication platform that promised to integrate users' existing cell phones, Wi-Fi-enabled computers, and other wireless-capable devices to create community- and metro-scale, peer-to-peer communications networks. The project was described as the "Internet in a Suitcase" by The New York Times.

After an initial flurry of attention, the project did not prove sustainable. The relevant code development profiles for the project have not been updated since 2016, and the project's website has been offline since approximately September 2024.

Red Hook Wi-Fi

Main article: Red Hook Wi-Fi

Founded in 2011 through a collaboration with OTI and Commotion Wireless, Red Hook Wi-Fi is a mesh network which services residents of Red Hook, Brooklyn, in New York City. The Wi-Fi network reached prominence in 2012, when Hurricane Sandy shut down many internet and communication systems throughout the city, but Red Hook remained connected through its mesh network.

Assets and funding

New America is registered as a non-profit under section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code. Its financial information is publicly available through annual IRS Form 990 filings and independent audits. For the financial year ending in 2023, the organization reported revenue of approximately $46.8 million and expenses of $40.8 million. Its total assets for the same period were recorded at $88.0 million, and a net asset position of $56,424,720.

The organization maintains a funding disclosure policy and publishes a list of institutional donors on its website. Top institutional donors in recent years have included the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation, Google, Alphabet, the MacArthur Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation.

Board of directors

New America’s board leadership has changed several times since the organization's founding. In November 2017, Lenny Mendonca was appointed chair of the board. He was succeeded in September 2019 by Helene D. Gayle, who served as chair until 2023. Following her tenure, Gayle has continued to serve as a member of the board. In January 2024, the organization announced the addition of Don Katz and Patrick Radden Keefe as new board members.

As of 2025, the chair of the board is Sally R. Osberg, with Monica C. Lozano and Todd Park serving as vice chairs.

References

References

1. "Our People". New America.
2. "New America Foundation".
3. "Press Room". New America.
4. (June 28, 2015). "Author Warns U.S. Military to Focus on China". Wall Street Journal.
5. (2012-06-25). "Steve Coll, New America President, Stepping Down, Writing 'Ghost Wars' Sequel". The Huffington Post.
6. "Contact New America".
7. "Anne-Marie Slaughter".
8. Slaughter, Anne-Marie. (2020-09-09). "A Tribute to Ted Halstead". New America.
9. "New America (New America Foundation)". [[Capital Research Center]].
10. (2001-12-10). "Big Thinker. Ted Halstead's New America Foundation Has It All: Money, Brains and Buzz". [[The Washington Post]].
11. (July 23, 2007). "Author, Ex-Post Editor To Head D.C. Think Tank". The Washington Post.
12. Cohen, Patricia. (2013-04-02). "New America Foundation Naming Anne-Marie Slaughter as President".
13. Dayen, David. (2017-09-01). "New Think Tank Emails Show 'How Google Wields Its Power' in Washington".
14. (2017-08-30). "Google-Funded Think Tank Fired Google Critics After They Dared Criticize Google".
15. (2017-08-30). "New America's Response to ''The New York Times''". New America.
16. Vogel, Kenneth P.. (2017-09-01). "New America, a Google-Funded Think Tank, Faces Backlash for Firing a Google Critic". The New York Times.
17. (12 June 2018). "How to Fight Amazon (Before You Turn 29)". [[The Atlantic]].
18. Rushe, Dominic. (August 30, 2017). "Google-funded thinktank fired scholar over criticism of tech firm". [[The Guardian]].
19. Vogel, Kenneth. (August 30, 2017). "Google Critic Ousted From Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant". [[The New York Times]].
20. Nocera, Joe. (2011-10-10). "This Time, It Really Is Different". New York Times.
21. Brady, Jessica. (2011-11-15). "Maya MacGuineas in High Demand During Fiscal Debate". Roll Call.
22. Froomkin, Dan. (6 December 2017). "Obama's Fiscal Commission: What's Going On In There?".
23. Fineman, Howard. (12 November 2002). "Living Politics: Election Gave '04 Brokers More Clout".
24. Gunn, Dwyer. (January 31, 2019). "Betsy DeVos Is Right, the U.S. Should Rethink Higher Ed—Just Not the Way She Wants To".
25. Nakamura, David. (10 January 2019). "'The story keeps changing': Trump falsely asserts he never promised Mexico would directly pay for the border wall". The Washington Post.
26. "New America Foundation Launches Open Technology Institute".
27. "Comments of Public Knowledge and Open Technology Institute at New America".
28. Burkeman, Oliver. (2012-04-15). "Inside Washington's high risk mission to beat web censors". The Guardian.
29. [[James Glanz]] and [[John Markoff]]. (June 12, 2011). "U.S. Underwrites Internet Detour Around Censors". [[The New York Times]].
30. "Open Technology Institute - Github - commotion-router".
31. "Wayback Machine - calendar of commotionwireless.net".
32. "United States of America Global Information Society Watch".
33. "Rising to the Challenge: Red Hook Initiative".
34. "New America {{!}} Washington, DC {{!}} Cause IQ".
35. Roberts, Andrea Suozzo, Alec Glassford, Ash Ngu, Brandon. (2013-05-09). "New America Foundation - Nonprofit Explorer".
36. "New America Foundation - DBA: New America".
37. "Our Funding".
38. Rushe, Dominic. (2017-08-30). "Google-funded thinktank fired scholar over criticism of tech firm". The Guardian.
39. Thier, Jane. "CEO who recovered from a workplace scandal offers career advice for young workers".
40. "Our Funding".
41. "New America Foundation - MacArthur Foundation".
42. Carnegie Corporation of New York. "New America Foundation {{!}} Carnegie Corporation of New York".
43. "Lenny Mendonca to Chair New America Board of Directors".
44. "Dr. Helene Gayle Appointed Chair of New America's Board of Directors; Katherine Gehl, Reid Hoffman, Ashton Kutcher Join New America's Board of Directors".
45. "Helene D. Gayle".
46. "Don Katz and Patrick Radden Keefe Join New America's Board of Directors".
47. "Our People".