A $20 million dollar donation from the Bedari Foundation has been received by The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), for the creation of the kindness institute.
The UCLA Bedari Kindness Institute is aimed at researching kindness, creating opportunities to translate that research into active practice and serve as a global platform to educate and communicate its findings, according to an article in the Los Angeles Times.
The institute has already begun operating with CLA anthropology professor Daniel Fessler as its inaugural director. The center will study kindness from evolutionary, biological, psychological, economic, cultural and sociological perspectives, bringing researchers together from numerous areas.
It will also fund research projects examining how the “social and physical mechanics of kindness” can create more humane societies, and will host an annual conference presenting advancements in kindness research. The Bedari Foundation is a family foundation established by philanthropists Jennifer and Matthew C. Harris.
“Our vision is that we will all live in a world where humanity discovers and practices the kindness that exists in all of us,” said Matthew Harris in UCLA’s announcement.
