FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How does the Guttmacher Institute fulfill its mission?

How does the Guttmacher Institute determine its priorities?

How does the Guttmacher Institute publicize new information?

How does the Guttmacher Institute maintain its objectivity?

Who was Alan Guttmacher?

How is the Guttmacher Institute funded?

How can you help?

How does the Guttmacher Institute fulfill its mission?

The Guttmacher Institute provides reliable, balanced, nonpartisan information on sexual activity, contraception, abortion and childbearing. This involves--and has involved for more than three decades--a commitment to identifying key questions, collecting and analyzing data to answer them and publishing the answers. It entails mining government data for new findings, surveying individuals, and making sense of and reaching new audiences with the results of research and policy analysis. It also means participating in interviews with the media, testifying before federal and state legislative bodies and in court cases, and working with groups and individuals to provide information.

How does the Guttmacher Institute determine its priorities?

In developing individual initiatives, the Guttmacher Institute anticipates social, political and legal conditions that will propel issues to the forefront of public attention. Each current effort builds on those of the past. The process is a cyclical one, in which public policy developments lead to research and then to communication of findings, recommendations and ideas. The Institute strives to provide information that will have multiple uses at the national, state and local levels--and, whenever possible, internationally. By actively seeking the cooperation and advice of other organizations and researchers, The Institute encourages collaborative endeavors that will serve its mission, increase its effectiveness and avoid duplication of effort.

How does the Guttmacher Institute publicize new information?

The Guttmacher Institute informs its various audiences--policymakers, activists, health care professionals, researchers, the media and the public--through its highly regarded journals, Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health and International Family Planning Perspectives; its public policy review, The Guttmacher Report on Public Policy, and its Web site, www.guttmacher.org. The Institute also makes new findings and analyses available through special reports, professional presentations and personal contacts. With each new publication, the Guttmacher Institute highlights key findings in news releases and electronic list serve announcements and distills information for use in fact sheets, policy papers or slide series.

How does the Guttmacher Institute maintain its objectivity?

The Institute's overall program is guided by a diverse, 42-member Board of Directors, who are knowledgeable in the fields of law, medicine, research, public education, government, finance and program administration. Numerous issue- and project-oriented advisory groups help the Guttmacher Institute to identify and address public policy questions that need to be answered and to ensure that its research meets the highest scientific standards and its findings and reports are relevant and useful. Articles in the Institute's domestic and international journals undergo blinded peer review. The Guttmacher Institute neither accepts direct project support from profit-making organizations that might benefit from its findings nor allows specific funding agencies to influence its agenda.

Who was Alan Guttmacher?

The Institute was named to honor a distinguished obstetrician-gynecologist, author and leader in reproductive rights, Alan F. Guttmacher. During his presidency of Planned Parenthood Federation of America in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Dr. Guttmacher saw the need for the institution that now bears his name and nurtured its development within the Federation. The Alan Guttmacher Institute was incorporated as an independent, not-for-profit organization in 1977. More about Alan Guttmacher.

How is the Guttmacher Institute funded?

The Institute's budget of $10 million supports its national and international research, publications and information outreach activities, based in New York, and its public policy work, based in Washington, DC. the Guttmacher Institute relies on the generosity of individuals, private foundations and organizations for support of its programs. Occasional funding for special projects is provided by governmental and intergovernmental agencies, and revenue from the sale of the Institute's periodicals and other publications makes up the remainder of the budget.

How can you help?

By joining others who support the Guttmacher Institute, you guarantee the Institute's ability to respond quickly to events that affect reproductive health and rights in the United States and internationally. With your contribution, you help the Guttmacher Institute to strive for a world where sexual and reproductive choices will be informed and freely made, and where parents are able to raise healthy, wanted children.