The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, DC.  Our mission is to conduct high-quality, independent research and, based on that research, to provide innovative, practical recommendations that advance three broad goals:

• Strengthen American democracy;
• Foster the economic and social welfare, security and opportunity of all Americans; and
• Secure a more open, safe, prosperous and cooperative international system.

Brookings traces its beginnings to 1916, when a group of leading reformers founded the Institute for Government Research (IGR), the first private organization devoted to analyzing public policy issues at the national level.  In 1922 and 1924, one of IGR's backers, Robert Somers Brookings (1850-1932), established two supporting sister organizations:  the Institute of Economics and a graduate school bearing his name.  In 1927, the three groups merged to form the Brookings Institution, honoring the businessman from St. Louis whose leadership shaped the earlier organizations.

Today, Brookings is financed largely by an endowment and through the support of philanthropic foundations, corporations, and private individuals.  The Institution's funds are devoted to carrying out its research and educational activities.  As Brookings approaches its centenary in 2016, the theme of "governance and renewal" unites our five research programs.  Successful undertakings that pull together Brookings's intellectual resources include the all-Brookings priorities that examine growth through innovation, opportunity and well-being, sound energy and climate policy and how to manage global change.