Senator Dan Coats and his wife Marsha established the Foundation for American Renewal in 1999 to champion effective principles of compassion. In tandem with his service as president of Big Brothers Big Sisters national board, the Foundation was an early investor in the mentoring children of prisoners movement.

In 2004, the Coats used the Foundation to create the Sagamore Institute.  When Dan Coats returned to the US Senate in 2010, the Foundation merged with our think tank and operated as the Sagamore Renewal Fund. The Sagamore Renewal fund then became what is now Commonwealth.

The Fund operates with two distinct purposes.  First, we seek to make philanthropy better social investment.  And second, we seek to make nonprofits better businesses.  The intended result will be more generosity, better relationships between donor and doer, and success will be measured by results rather than good intentions.