The ARES Foundation was created by the ARES Board of Directors in 1986 and was renamed in honor of founder James R. Webb in 2009. Currently, the primary activity of the Foundation is the funding of PhD students to attend the Doctoral Seminar at the ARES Annual Meeting. The organization also supports scholars from developing countries to attend the annual meetings. We also support two prizes for best presentations by doctoral students at the annual meetings. ARES Foundation grants and prizes have helped hundreds of scholars. The Foundation has an endowment but it needs your support to fully fund its current and future activities.

The ARES Foundation has its own corporate charter, bank accounts, and investments. Because stability, continuity, and a working knowledge of ARES are of critical importance in the governance of the Foundation, the Board of Directors consists of past presidents of ARES who serve on the Foundation Board. Please see HERE for a list of current officers and board of directors. The Foundation Board holds its annual meeting in conjunction with the ARES meeting each year. The Officers and Board of the Foundation are dedicated to vigorously pursuing the Foundation's educational mission as set forth by our founder, James R. Webb. All Officers and Directors are unpaid volunteers and the Foundation's overhead is very low.
 
When the ARES Board created the Foundation, it also created the ARES Fellows program to fund it. Revenue from the strictly voluntary Fellows program goes to the ARES Foundation. Programs supported by the Foundation have focused on assisting individual participation in ARES activities as well on educational publications. The Foundation funds the Doctoral Student Seminar by defraying costs for graduate students to attend the Seminar and ARES Annual Meeting and holding a luncheon in their honor on the day of the Seminar. These graduate students are the future leaders of ARES and the Seminar enables new scholars to be exposed to ARES. The Foundation has also funded the participation of real estate scholars from Africa, Latin America, Asia and Eastern Europe at ARES annual meetings. Involving these scholars has enhanced the meeting experience for all ARES members. And, we have recently established two best presentation awards. One for the best paper in international research named after Elaine M. Worzala and one in honor of an ARES Founder, Steve Kapplin.
 
The Foundation, thanks to the generosity of numerous donors, sponsors the Marc Louargand Best Paper by a Practicing Professional at the ARES Annual Meeting Award of $1,500/year. Competition for this coveted prize has resulted in numerous excellent paper submissions. 
 
The Foundation's Board has recently increased funding for the Doctoral Seminar. To maintain high funding levels, the Foundation needs additional contributions and outside sponsorships as endowment investment earnings are not sufficient to fund large numbers of grant recipients.
 
The Foundation depends upon the support of the ARES Fellows and other Foundation contributors. Each ARES Fellow currently contributes $250 per year, each ARES Distinguished Fellow contributes $500 per year, and each Benefactor contributes $1000 per year. In addition, each Endowed Doctoral Sponsor contributed $10,000 to the Foundation. An Endowed Doctoral Sponsorship enables annual funding for a doctoral candidate to travel to the ARES Annual Meetings to present his/her research. A $25,000 contribution endows an International Scholar Sponsorship which will provide travel funding for a scholar from a Less Developed Country to present his/her research at the ARES Meeting. Individuals who endow a Sponsorship are lifetime Fellows and are invited to offer their views on the direction of the Foundation at the annual Foundation Board Meeting.
 
Corporations and foundations are encouraged to directly sponsor a graduate student or an overseas scholar. Student sponsorships are $1,500/year. An overseas scholar can be funded for $2,500/year. Please contact Karen McGrath (kms016@bucknell.edu) for additional sponsorship opportunities.
 
If you are not contributing to the James R. Webb ARES Foundation, we encourage you to consider doing so. Your gift will help a scholar immediately. As contributions grow, the Foundation will help more doctoral students and international scholars.
 
For additional information regarding how you can contribute, please contact Karen McGrath (kms016@bucknell.edu).