Academic Independence.
The Foundation supports scholars. It does not direct their scholarship.
The Alexander Hamilton Foundation makes grants to support research, teaching, and scholarly development in the humanities and social sciences. It does so on the premise that the integrity of scholarship depends on the independence of scholars and the institutions that host them.
Our commitments
The Foundation commits to the following principles in the conduct of its grantmaking.
- Merit-based selection. Awards are made through competitive peer review by tenured faculty drawn from the relevant disciplines, consistent with the norms of scholarly practice.
- Scholarly autonomy. The Foundation does not direct the content of research, prescribe conclusions, or condition awards on the positions scholars take in their work.
- Institutional integrity. Grants are administered through the grantee's home institution under the institution's standard appointment and oversight processes. The Foundation respects the governance, academic freedom, and tenure protections of its partner universities.
- Transparency. The Foundation publishes a record of its grants, identifying recipients, host institutions, programs, disciplines, and award periods.
- Nonpartisanship. The Foundation is not affiliated with any political party, campaign, or advocacy organization, and does not fund advocacy or lobbying activity.
- Intellectual property of grantees. The results of research supported by the Foundation belong to the scholars who produced them and to their institutions, under the institutions' customary policies.
What Foundation support does and does not imply
Foundation support indicates that a proposal has been judged by peer reviewers to meet a high standard of scholarly merit within its discipline. It does not imply that the Foundation endorses the scholar's methods, findings, or conclusions.
Grantees are free to publish their work where and as they choose, to speak publicly on matters within their expertise, and to hold views that differ from the views of other grantees, the Foundation's officers and directors, or the Foundation's donors.