Answers from Pew's President, Rebecca Rimel

Rebecca Rimel

President & CEO

The Pew Charitable Trusts

This Q&A takes a look at our organization—both in the present and the future—in a conversation with our president. Ms. Rimel sat down with Senior Public Affairs Officer Justin Kenney in August 2007.

During Rebecca Rimel's tenure, Pew’s work has concentrated on results-oriented, strategic philanthropy. Pew, under her leadership, has augmented its national programs while maintaining a significant presence in its home city. Through our work, The Pew Charitable Trusts has earned a reputation as a fact-based, non-partisan broker of innovative ideas and solutions promoting the public interest.

Questions and Answers

Question

Since you have recently upgraded Pew’s Web site, you must be interested in the power of the Web. What is the role of the Internet in Pew’s work?

Answer

Our Web site is the face that we, like any organization, present to the world, and many people are likely to get acquainted with us, at least at first, electronically. We want them to understand more clearly who we are and what we do, and our new and easy-to-use Web site will assist with that communication.

Question

Tell us about The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Answer

Pew brings impeccable data, important ideas and entrepreneurial thinking to address the most critical issues facing society today.

All of our work starts with the best information. For example, the Pew Research Center is our flagship effort to provide facts and knowledge. It has a well-earned reputation for independent, nonpartisan, unbiased and highly credible information on the issues that matter to policy makers and the public.

Similarly, our policy work is rigorously grounded in data and scientific research. Once the facts are clear, and we have obtained the information that we need, we advance policies that protect the health and well-being of Americans and our environment.

Finally, none of our policy recommendations will move an inch without civically engaged citizens. It is critical that the public be informed, willing to lift their voices and exercise their vote on the issues that matter to them and future generations.

This combination of information, smart policy solutions and an engaged community is what guides our work at Pew. More than 50 years ago, Joseph Newton Pew, one of our founders, summed it up in a sentence that remains just as true today:  “Tell the truth and trust the people.”

Question

You mentioned the Pew Research Center. How does it maintain its independence from Pew’s policy work?

Answer

The success of the Pew Research Center is tied to its credibility, and a big part of that credibility is that it never takes a position on any issue.  Therefore, we have created a firewall between the center’s research and the rest of Pew’s work.  The center is a self-governing organization, and decisions about what to research and how to interpret the results are made by the center’s staff under Andy Kohut’s leadership.

Question

How do you choose your policy initiatives?

Answer

We take a strategic approach by setting goals and establishing a course to reach them. But no matter what the issue, at the heart of our policy work is thorough research and thoughtful deliberation. Before we commit to any effort, we first make sure that we have the information to address an issue and to back up our calls for change.

For example, we became involved in climate change in the early 1990s, long before the public understood the severity of the problem. We knew then that we had to make a serious commitment to developing the scientific case and conducting the necessary policy analyses if we were going to achieve our goal of a mandatory cap on greenhouse gas emissions. Today, in the United States and throughout the world, business and political leaders are stepping up to address the challenge.

Question

Pew recently announced a new conservation project with The Nature Conservancy in Australia. And Pew has relationships with other organizations as well as with individuals. How are these new partnerships changing Pew's work?

Answer

Any notion that one person or entity could address societal problems alone was probably never true. But it certainly isn’t true today.

At Pew, we believe that our work is made stronger when we join forces with others. We benefit from our partners’ intellect, energy and entrepreneurship. Partnerships ensure that we hear different points of view. For example, our Economic Mobility Project brings together four respected think tanks that span the ideological spectrum: the American Enterprise Institute, the Brookings Institution, the Heritage Foundation and the Urban Institute.

These relationships also help us as we expand in many ways—internationally, as is the case with The Nature Conservancy in Australia, or in state policy through the work of the Pew Center on the States. With the Lenfest Foundation, we created the Lenfest Ocean Program. The program supports scientific research that helps decision makers better understand the oceans, and then design and implement policies to preserve marine life.

Question

So, what is next for Pew?

Answer

Our founders were highly innovative and responsive to their times, so you could say it’s in our gene pool. And we learn from what we’ve done, so that we can continually improve our approach.

And that goes for institutional change as well. When you look at Pew today, you would not recognize its organizational structure compared to what it was five or 10 years ago. Our board is constantly asking the probing questions about how to best serve the public interest.

My hope for the future is that Pew continues its entrepreneurial approach in order to effectively address the evolving challenges of our times.