Greek Foundation Gives $150 Million to Support Democracy Research

Drawing on the millennia-old legacy of Greek democracy, a $150 million grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation to Johns Hopkins University will create an institute designed to study and boost civic engagement.

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Agora Institute, housed in a new building on the university’s Homewood campus in Baltimore, will hire a director and 10 core faculty members to conduct research across the humanities and social sciences. The institute will support an additional 10 visiting scholars annually and host public events in Baltimore and Athens, including a yearly series that analyzes a policy topic such as job displacement or climate change.

Its name alludes to the ancient Greek agora, a public gathering space where citizens swapped opinions and ideas.

The institute will seek to shed light on how and why civic discourse breaks down in societies and how to overcome polarization, university President Ronald Daniels said Thursday in a statement announcing the project.

“Polarization is evident all around us on a daily basis and has become the cancer of society’s soul,” said Andreas Dracopoulos, co-president of the foundation, Friday at an event in Greece announcing the new project. The responsibility falls on all of us to re-engage in our civic responsibilities and, through civil dialogue, to try to improve society at large.”

The foundation, created with the fortune of the late Greek shipping magnate Stavros Niarchos, has given multiple grants to Johns Hopkins, most recently $5 million to renovate and reopen a historic Baltimore movie house.

Other large gifts by the foundation include $75 million to Rockefeller University in 2014 and up to $130 million over three years to support health, welfare, and education programs in Greece amid its financial crisis earlier this decade. The grant maker is a major supporter of international humanitarian relief efforts, giving millions to aid refugees and people suffering from drought.

Note: This story has been updated to include a quote from the foundation’s co-president.