RAND corporation mission statement: “We exist to help policymakers make decisions that are based on the best available information.”

The RAND corporation was developed by Henry Arnold in 1946, and became an independent nonprofit organization in 1948 after WWII. He believed that there should be a group to keep America’s technology ahead of the rest of the world. The main idea behind the organization was to connect military planning with research and development decisions. It was initially formed to offer research and analysis to the United States Armed forces. In the 60’s, the organization became known as a think tank. At that time, a think tank was a research institute that came up with new ideas that could influence public policy.

RAND’s vision is “To be the world’s most trusted source for policy ideas and analysis.” Today, RAND does research on more than 1,000 topics a year.

They are reaching for their work to be understood by everyone, not just the experts. Because of this, they make all their research and findings available for download on their webpage.

They are proud that they have been able to remain independent of commercial and political pressures. It is stated on their “History and Mission” page that quality and objectivity are their two core values.

RAND Corporation is commissioned by government agencies, foundations and private firms.

The corporation is made up of 1,700 staff from around the world and is located in 47 different countries. Having this many people allows for RAND to have a diverse professional and educational background. There are 65 different languages spoken throughout RAND, and many of the staff are multilingual. Some of the popular languages are Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Russian, and Spanish. Fifty-seven percent of the people working for RAND have one or more doctorate degrees, and another 29 percent have one or more master’s degrees. This shows that RAND’s staff is well rounded, extremely educated and knowledgeable on the topics they are researching.

– Priscilla Rodarte

Sources: RAND Corporation, Mental Floss
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