Funding

Our organization was founded in 2012 as the Social Media and Political Participation Lab at NYU. In July of 2019, the Center for Social Media and Politics was formed through the Knight Foundation’s program for Research on the Future of an Informed Society. The Knight Foundation’s gift was matched by The Charles Koch Foundation, and CSMaP has been further supported by Craig Newmark Philanthropies and The Siegel Family Endowment. 

Our funders provide general operating support and/or project specific support. For general operating support, there are no promised products or deliverables. For project specific funding, we agree to produce research  (e.g. papers or data reports) on topics agreed upon during the application process. However, there are no promised results, lab scholars carry out the research on the basis of the best scientific practices, and no funder is ever given the right to block publication of research. We welcome the support of funders committed to these principles and our core mission of research on social media and politics, the use of social media data to better understand politics, and the development of tools to facilitate that research.  

Philanthropy is vital to our work. Gifts and grants fund everything we do, from undertaking ambitious research to building out a talented team of researchers.  We are extremely grateful for all the support we have received. Detailed below is a list of grants and gifts, in alphabetical order, with a brief explanation of their purpose: 

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation: grant to support a Moore-Sloan postdoctoral fellow.

Charles Koch Foundation: grant for general operating support.

Craig Newmark Philanthropies: gift for general operating support, as well as a gift to study news rating approaches to combating misinformation.

Democracy Fund: grant to support data collection and analysis infrastructure around the 2018 U.S. elections.

Gates Foundation: grant to study 1) the information ecosystem of political conversations on Twitter, and 2) whether elected representatives lead or follow the public in discussion of public policy issues on Twitter.

Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation: grant to support a Moore-Sloan postdoctoral fellow.

Hewlett Foundation: grant to study 1) echo chambers, 2) political knowledge, 3) Twitter bots, and 4) fake news dissemination.

Intel Corporation: gift to support one Center for Data Science doctoral student.

Knight Foundation: grant for general operating support; previous grant to study echo chambers, political knowledge, and the relationship between traditional media and social media. 

National Science Foundation (SES-1756657): grant to study the role of both domestic and foreign bots in political conversations on Twitter.

NYU’s Global Institute for Advanced Study: grant for general operating support. 

Rita Allen Foundation: grant to support a postdoctoral fellow.

Russell Sage Foundation: grant to support research on polarization around COVID-19.

Siegel Family Endowment: gift for general operating support.

Logos from various supports, including: Siegel Family Endownment, National Science Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation, Charles Koch Foundation, Knight Foundation, Craig Newmark Philanthropies, NYU’s Global Institute for Advanced Study, Gates Foundation, Intel Corporation and Rita Allen Foundation.