Consensus Building Institute

The Consensus Building Institute (CBI) is a non-profit organization created by leading practitioners and theory builders in the fields of negotiation and dispute resolution. CBI works with leaders, advocates, experts, and communities to promote effective negotiations, build consensus, and resolve conflicts.  CBI improves the way that leaders use negotiations to make organizational decisions, achieve agreements, and manage multi-party conflicts and planning efforts. At the core of CBI’s work are proven principles and strategies that improve group decision-making on complex public and organizational issues. Many of these principles and strategies have been developed through the Program on Negotiation and MIT-Harvard Public Disputes Program at Harvard Law School, where a number of CBI’s staff and Board members are affiliated. CBI’s staff is made up of senior professionals who provide training, facilitation, mediation, assessment and research services to clients on local, national, and international negotiations and collaborations. CBI professionals engage diverse stakeholders and assist them to identify shared goals, manage conflicts, and build productive working relationships in which participants are better able to achieve their goals.

Convergence

Founded in 2009, Convergence is a non-profit organization that employs dialogue and consensus-building strategies to forge enduring solutions to important domestic and international issues. Having generated successful projects on issues such as health care coverage for the uninsured and U.S.-Muslim relations, Convergence’s seasoned leadership has demonstrated that skillfully conducted dialogue can create new opportunities to reach solutions and forge unlikely alliances for action on key issues.

Convergence catalyzes consensus-building projects by matching the skills of the nation’s best dialogue practitioners to issues of great concern to the American public. We bring together diverse stakeholders who represent the major players as well as the less organized voices on an issue. We help these participants develop and implement breakthrough solutions, and in the process foster a culture of greater civility and respect in public discourse. We seek to create a sea change in the use of collaborative problem-solving approaches at all levels of society by catalyzing a critical mass of successful collaborative processes on issues of national concern. Our work reflects a return to an American tradition of pragmatic problem-solving through bringing people of differing views to a common table. 

The Institute for Resource and Security Studies

The Institute for Resource and Security Studies (IRSS) was founded in 1984 to promote global human security and sustainable use of natural resources. As part of its work on security issues, IRSS engages in conflict management and social reconstruction through its International Conflict Management Program, directed by Dr. Paula Gutlove. IRSS has developed a strategic approach to conflict management that features “integrated action,” whereby conflict management is integrated with selected social activities. One project that employs this approach, Health Bridges for Peace, utilizes a shared concern for public health to convene health professionals across conflict divides and engage them in public-health and community-reconstruction activities. IRSS has done this in the Balkans, the North Caucasus, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Another project, Connectivity to Enhance Global Human Security (of which IRSS is a founding partner), facilitates the use of electronic connectivity services to enable economic and social development, and the building of stable, peaceful societies. IRSS works with a range of organizations and consults to, or collaborates with, both governmental and private entities.

The Howard Gilman Foundation

Howard Gilman devoted his life and his fortune to fostering and supporting new ideas to improve the human condition in areas as diverse as the arts, health care, education and the environment – all philanthropic priorities of The Howard Gilman Foundation. Central to his vision was the creation and development of White Oak -- eight thousand acres incorporated into pristine northern Florida woodlands. White Oak has been hailed as one of the world’s most beautiful and unique facilities. Integrating an internationally-recognized wildlife research and conservation center for endangered species; accommodations which lend the comfort and warmth of one’s own home; and world-class cuisine, recreation and meeting facilities for global gatherings of presidents and prime ministers, White Oak has been called “the perfect combination of beauty, joy, aspiration and determination.” White Oak has hosted more than 300 world leaders from all parts of the globe and has been the site of The Leaders Project at White Oak’s seminal global leadership discussions, under the direction of the Project’s co-founders, former U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen and Howard Gilman Foundation Board Member (now Executive Vice President Doug Wilson). White Oak has also played host to key policy discussions sponsored by the Clinton Global Initiative, the Pew Research Center, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Tobin Project, the Aspen Institute Crown Fellows Program and many others. The world-renowned White Oak Conservation Center oversees the care and breeding of 40 endangered species from around the world, including okapi, black, white, and Indian rhinoceros, cheetahs, zebras and giraffes and supports international efforts to help vulnerable species in the wild.

Mikhail Baryshnikov, Mark Morris, and other leading dance artists have played seminal roles in the use of White Oak as a residency center for dancers and choreographers, photographers and playwrights; the Sundance Theater is in residency during the summer, and two recent Tony-winning productions – Grey Gardens and Passing Strange – were born and nurtured at White Oak.

Edelman

Edelman is a leading public relations firm that was recently named a top ten firm in the 2007 Agency List of Advertising Age Magazine. It has expertise in a broad range of sectors, including consumer brands, financial services, health, technology and industrial. Edelman is an innovator in the field, being the first firm to apply public relations in building consumer brands, creating litigation and environmental public relations, as well as being the first to utilize the Web for crisis management.

Edelman’s mission is to provide public relations counsel and strategic communication services by integrating specialist knowledge of practices and industries, local market understanding, proprietary methodology and creativity. A large number of their clients consist of NGOs, and the organization is involved in a host of pro-bono services such as communication consultancy for the cause of youth education.

Edelman’s communication consultancy services usually consist of the following areas: media relations, messaging, materials development, event planning, branding and influencer outreach. Edelman is also aligned with UN Global Compact, which is the world’s largest global corporate citizenship initiative. Edelman has offices in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe and Asia.

One Nation

One Nation is a philanthropic collaborative that invests in ideas, people and organizations working to fulfill America's promise of liberty and justice for all. One Nation works to foster a national conversation about the common values we share as Americans, regardless of how we choose to express our spirituality.

The initiative sponsors projects that challenge stereotypes and misperceptions of Muslims and Islam by shining a spotlight on our shared values, beliefs and responsibilities. Other completed projects include films that have been nationally broadcast or theatrically released, such as Allah Made Me Funny, and our second annual "One Nation, Many Voices" Online Film Contest, all of which highlight the diversity and life experiences of the American Muslim community.

Gallup Center for Muslim Studies

The Gallup Center for Muslim Studies (directed by Leadership Group member Dalia Mogahed) is a nonpartisan research center dedicated to providing data-driven analysis, advice and education on the views of Muslim populations around the world. It will draw upon Gallup's unprecedented global research initiative, the Gallup World Poll and the Gallup Poll of the Muslim World, to enable global leaders, institutions, and the public to make more informed decisions.

At the heart of its business, the Center for Muslim Studies will make its research available through educational and consulting services, as well as through written publications. Its groundbreaking course based on findings from the Gallup Poll of the Muslim World will examine evidence-based analysis of contemporary trends addressed by the poll of Muslim populations. For the general public, the Center will release highlights from its study by hosting discussion forums and through special reports and articles available on Gallup's Web site or in the mass media.

Link TV

Link TV is the nation’s largest independent broadcaster, with a mission to engage, inform and activate citizens to become involved around global and domestic issues. Daily programming is a mix of compelling documentaries on critical issues, international news, participatory programs, foreign films and the best world music.

Link transforms television from a passive to an active medium, using the best of broadcasting and Web techniques in a way that creates cross-cultural dialogue. Link’s programs confront critical issues like human rights, global health, poverty, economic justice and the environment. It deals with root causes, helping Americans make connections between their own lives and the greater world, inspiring viewers to take action.

Link’s unique mix of current affairs and cultural programs from around the world has been welcomed by millions of Americans hungry for new perspectives. In the more than 31 million U.S. households receiving Link TV via satellite, independent research indicates that approximately 5 million adults are regular viewers of Link TV.

In 2005, Link TV’s Mosaic: World News from the Middle East program, which features news reports from the Middle East, was honored with a Peabody Award as one of the best in electronic media for 2004. Mosaic features television news broadcasts from national and regional media outlets throughout the Middle East. The news reports are presented unedited and translated, when necessary, into English. These programs come from a variety of sources – state-controlled and private media networks – making it possible to present an array of views. These news reports are regularly watched by 280 million people in 22 countries all throughout the Middle East.

Viewpoint Learning

The Viewpoint Learning organization (chaired by Leadership Group member Dan Yankelovich) has facilitated, in collaboration with this project, a series of specially designed U.S. citizen dialogues on U.S.-Muslim relations, called ChoiceDialogues™, to better understand U.S. public opinion on issues relating to U.S.- Muslim engagement.

ChoiceDialogues™ are strategic meetings that allow people to develop views on important issues through dialogue, developed by Viewpoint Learning, a public opinion research organization. As part of the proposed strategy for improving mutual respect and understanding between Americans and Muslims around the world, the U.S.-Muslim Engagement Project, with Viewpoint Learning, has convened three ChoiceDialogues™.

While polls and focus groups serve to provide a snapshot in time of public opinion, ChoiceDialogues™ go one step further. They have been designed to assess the future direction of public opinion on issues that are highly volatile. These carefully designed dialogues help individuals learn more about the issue, which often results in a change in attitude on that particular issue.

The ChoiceDialogues™ that the U.S.-Muslim Engagement Project conducted with Viewpoint Learning took place between September and December 2007 and were convened in three cities around the United States: Cleveland (Ohio), Phoenix (Arizona) and Arlington (Virginia). While not exhaustive in their reach, these dialogues provided important information about civic understanding and engagement, which has been integrated into the project report and recommendations. The three ChoiceDialogues™ revealed some crucial information:

• There was widespread dissatisfaction with the current state of U.S.-Muslim relations as well as the anticipated future of these relations.
• There was disagreement between participants about current policies, and many showed a powerful distrust of government and Congress.
• Participants' views changed during the eight-hour day as they gained a better understanding of the issues. With regard to policy directions, the two leading themes that emerged included building mutual understanding and respect, and emphasizing diplomacy and international cooperation.

Intersections

Intersections is a new global initiative of the Collegiate Church of New York, the oldest corporation in North America, dating to 1628. It is a multi-cultural, multi-racial and multi-faith initiative dedicated to building respectful relationships among diverse individuals and communities to forge common ground and to develop strategies that promote justice, reconciliation and peace locally and globally.

Since September 2007, Intersections has pursued its mission by:

• Empowering marginalized communities
• Engaging in interfaith dialogue and action
• Addressing the cost of war at home and abroad

Through these initiatives, Intersections envisions contributing to the ongoing transformation of society through partnerships, relationships, collaborative projects, programs and emerging theory and practice.