American Society of Civil Engineers Foundation, Inc.
Your Foundation, Your Future
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
DREAM BIG, Engineering Our World, a large screen film about engineering.
The ASCE Foundation raised $15 million to fund a large screen film Dream Big that premiered in 2017 and has now been shown in 80 theaters in museums and science centers and seen by more than 2.0 million viewers worldwide.
During Engineers Week in 2018, a project to put a Dream Big DVD in every school in America was launched. By year’s end, DVDs were sent to more than 90,000 public grade, middle and high schools across the United States.
In addition to the school distribution campaign, 2018 will bring several other exciting
Dream Big milestones:
• April 2018: Dream Big will be released for home viewing on Blu-ray.
• July 2018: Dream Big will be released in a streaming version on Netflix.
• In the Fall of 2018: The Dream Big educational toolkit, licensed for educational screenings, was released.
Strategic Initiatives
The ASCE Foundation supports strategic initiatives that our ASCE and civil engineering priorities. In the past, we have provided funding to a variety of projects including the Sustainability Action Plan, Failure to Act Infrastructure Study, and National Infrastructure Vision Summit.
Communications & Outreach
The ASCE Foundation is committed to raising awareness of the civil engineering profession, and the impact is has on everyone's day to day lives. To this end, a portion of our support in the coming year will benefit outreach efforts, which also include projects that work to get kids interested in engineering.
Education & Student Programs
Current civil engineering students are an amazingly talented group of individuals, and they need to be because they have some big issues tackle. Crumbling roads. Bridges in disrepair. To support their efforts, the Foundation will fund critical programs the enhance their education and encourage their active involvement in the profession.
Where we work
External reviews

Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
The ASCE Foundation helps civil engineers address today's challenges, and prepare for the future. Our communities depend on civil engineers to construct safe buildings, connect our communities by road, rail, air and waterway, and strive to create sustainable infrastructure to protect the environment. That's why we work to help ASCE meet their goals for Vision 2025; a document that serves as a roadmap to strengthen civil engineering over the next decade. Specifically, we fund programs in the following key areas:
1. Policy & Participation: Raise awareness about our infrastructure needs as a country, and help improve infrastructure investment.
2. Education for Today & Tomorrow: Inspire the civil engineers of tomorrow through STEM education, and help the engineers of today stay cutting-edge with continuing education.
3. Advancing the Profession: Help civil engineers achieve a more sustainable and natural-built environment.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
The ASCE Foundation works every day to build a culture philanthropy within and supporting the civil engineering profession. By creating a base of philanthropic support, the Foundation can fund the following strategic programs to help ASCE achieve its Vision 2025 goals:
Policy & Participation: Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, Failure to Act Studies, FixTheTrustFund.org, State Report Cards, State Public Affairs Grants (SPAG), and more;
Education for Today & Tomorrow: ExCEEd, National Concrete Canoe Competition, National Student Steel Bridge Design Competition, Pre-college Outreach, and more; and
Advancing the Profession: National Engineers Week, Diversity Programs,
Multi-Regional Leadership Conferences, Section & Branch Centennials, and more.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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Who are the people you serve with your mission?
The ASCE Foundation supports civil engineers through the work of the American Society of Civil Engineers that represents more than 150,000 members of the civil engineering profession in 177 countries. ASCE stands at the forefront of a profession that plans, designs, constructs, and operates society’s economic and social engine – the built environment – while protecting and restoring the natural environment. Through the expertise of its active membership, ASCE is a leading provider of technical and professional conferences and continuing education, the world’s largest publisher of civil engineering content, and an authoritative source for codes and standards that protect the public.
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How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?
Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.), Case management notes,
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals,
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What significant change resulted from feedback?
The Foundation has changed its funding approach to focus on more directed funding to specific project efforts that will have a greater impact through education and leadership programs for civil engineers in sustainability, resilience, social justice and the health and welfare of the public. Using developmental approach, the Foundation has created an annual feedback loop with ASCE members and donors. This feedback loop, based on annual member and donor surveys, has allowed for the Foundation to become more responsive to the interests and level of knowledge of our community. We have adjusted the language we use so that our community may better understand our work and function within ASCE. We have shifted to ensure that we are focusing on our members’ and donors’ areas of interest.
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With whom is the organization sharing feedback?
The people we serve, Our staff, Our board,
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How has asking for feedback from the people you serve changed your relationship?
Since we began our evaluation effort, the community we serve has gotten an increased voice in a few ways. We use their feedback to help inform our program funding decisions. We inform staff and improve our responsiveness to our community’s feedback. This allows us to build a stronger rapport and relationships. The evaluation report is presented to our Board of Directors which gives our community a direct line of communication to our Board. In short, our evaluation effort has given the ASCE Foundation a direct channel to receive and distribute feedback internally and strengthen the voice of our community within our internal deliberations. These two communities are best able to help us assess the impact, skills, and growth that ASCE programs have provided.
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We act on the feedback we receive,
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback,
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
American Society of Civil Engineers Foundation, Inc.
Board of directorsas of 4/19/2021
H. G. (Gerry) Schwartz, Ph.D., P.E., Pres.02, ASCE
ASCE Member
Term: 2018 - 2020
Jon Magnusson
ASCE Member
Term: 2018 - 2020
Jon Magnusson
ASCE Member
Christine Williams
Executive Vice President/Asst. Secretary
Pete Shavalay
ASCE Chief Financial Officer/Asst. Treasurer
H. Gerard Schwartz
ASCE Member
Thomas Smith
ASCE Executive Director
Dallas Little
ASCE Member
Gunalan Kancheepuram
ASCE Past President
Jean-Louis Briaud
ASCE President
Dennis Truax
ASCE Member
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? No -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? No -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? No -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? No -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? GuideStar partnered on this section with CHANGE Philanthropy and Equity in the Center.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as: