Pew Research Center

The Pew Research Center is an American think tank organization based in Washington, D.C. that provides information on issues, attitudes and trends shaping the United States and the world. The Center and its projects receive funding from The Pew Charitable Trusts. The Pew Research Center claims to be a strictly non-advocacy organization, while the Pew Charitable Trusts supports advocacy and non-advocacy projects.

The Trusts, a single entity, is the successor to and sole beneficiary of seven charitable funds established between 1948 and 1979 by the adult children of Sun Oil Company founder Joseph N. Pew and his wife, Mary Anderson Pew. The four co-founders were J. Howard Pew, Mary Ethel Pew, Joseph N. Pew, Jr., and Mabel Pew Myrin. While in the years immediately following its foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts was conservative in its views, later positions have included moves into environmental advocacy as well as support for "non-incarceration" methods of dealing with criminals.

The Pew Research Center's work is carried out by seven projects:
 * Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life
 * Pew Global Attitudes Project
 * Pew Hispanic Center
 * Pew Internet and American Life Project
 * Pew Research Center for the People and the Press
 * Pew Social and Demographic Trends Project
 * Project for Excellence in Journalism