Mission AND PRACTICES Statement
Purposes and Activities
Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California (CCWA) is the leading nonpartisan national forum and facilitator for citizen education and engagement on domestic and international civic affairs. The primary purpose of CCWA is to contribute to an informed and engaged democratic citizenry, by educating the public about societal issues and creating social networks for good. To accomplish its purposes, CCWA holds public forums and education programs for students; initiates and pursues public policy studies; convenes leaders and stakeholders; disseminates its content through print, electronic and other digital means; provides conduits for engaging its members and the public in addressing societal challenges; and conducts any other activities consistent with its mission.
CCWA Methods for Performing Its Mission
1. General programming on domestic and international public affairs issues
Last year, our ongoing programming stream created about 180 programs, on an extremely broad range of the key issues of the day and with a diversity of perspectives, attended in person by about 18,000 people.
2. Civics literacy and engagement for youth and adults
We served about 1,600 Bay Area students in 2024 through Creating Citizens, involving them in activities teaching them to seek information with critical thinking, to discuss and debate, to voice their opinions with respect for the views of those with different views, to support them to feel comfortable speaking up in public settings. The students participated in field trips; we provided teachers and classes with discussion guides on current issues; and a youth advisory committee was formed.
The California Book Awards continues to recognize the best writing in the Golden State for its 94th year, with an extensive reading and evaluation process by a 19-member volunteer jury of literary professionals, coordinated by staffer Sean Burmeister. Winners in a dozen categories receive cash awards from the Martha Cox Book Awards Endowment, a financial boost that is often important to writers, as is the recognition, especially early in their careers. A student component is included, through the Literacy for Civic Learning project.
Our annual participation in Silicon Valley Reads is also an important component of our civic literacy role.
3. Digital dissemination
Our YouTube content library has reached 4,300 videos, our channels have achieved a total of almost 300,000 subscribers and roughly 46.7 million views. Our YouTube presence includes four distinct channels—our main Club feed, World Affairs, Climate One, and Global Philanthropy Forum. There are 30 curated topical playlists, including the Michelle Meow Show and Week-to-Week.
Our radio broadcast is celebrating its 100th year, now carried weekly on 230 stations nationally, with an estimated 1 million listeners per week. It is the nation’s longest continuously broadcast radio program. And each year, we offer hundreds of podcasts, which receive hundreds of thousands of downloads.
4. Serving groups in our community
CCWA serves many groups in our community, collaborating on programming of special interest to a range of constituencies. A few examples: The Michelle Meow Show (focuses on issues of particular interest to the LGBTQIA+ and AAPI communities);
The Taube Philanthropies American Values Series (focuses on core values of American democracy, including market economics, higher education and human rights); Climate One (focuses on climate and environmental interests).
5. Community Partnerships
We currently have around 50 corporate and foundation partners, collaborating with us on a wide range of topics and issues
6. Global Philanthropy
The Global Philanthropy Forum served its members and constituents in 2024 with several specialized programs, including philanthropy forums in Africa and Brazil, as well as during the UNGA Climate Week in New York, while preparing for its major conference in San Francisco in March 2025.
7. World Affairs—international issues
In addition to the Global Philanthropy Forum and regular programming focused on international affairs, a number of other programs address global issues and concerns:
• Our very active travel program hosts two dozen study trips each year. In 2024, our travel program hosted enriching trips to many parts of the world, and trips for 2025 include some of the areas that are topics of current international debate and concern, such as the Panama Canal!
• Thanks to the legacy of funding and interest from World Affairs, we sent 7 students on study-abroad scholarships in 2024, in cooperation with the Experiment in International Living. We plan to continue the program in 2025.
• A student honor, the Ralph Kuiper Award for Global Citizenship, was presented to four students
8. Social Entrepreneurship, Convening and Action Projects
On the model of social entrepreneurship provided by the 2023 Multi- Stakeholder Forum at the APEC conference in San Francisco,we began developing a project to play a convening role in addressing San Francisco’s capacity to address its persistent problems, such as homelessness.
9. Public engagement
We have very active volunteer programming, including 14 topical member-led forums and five regional chapters stewarded by committees each led by board members. We are very grateful to the board members who provide this great service to the organization and to the public, coordinated for the MLFs by Dr. Carol Fleming and for the chapters by Dr. Michael Baker.
