The BERNARD OSHER FOUNDATION

The Bernard Osher Foundation, headquartered in San Francisco, was founded in 1977 by Bernard Osher, a respected businessman and community leader. The Foundation seeks to improve quality of life through support for higher education and the arts.

The Foundation provides post-secondary scholarship funding to colleges and universities across the nation, with special attention to reentry students. It also benefits programs in integrative medicine in the United States and Sweden, including centers at the University of California, San Francisco; Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston; and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. In addition, the Foundation supports a growing national lifelong learning network for seasoned adults. The Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes, operating on the campuses of 121 institutions of higher education from Maine to Hawaii.

In the fall of 2000, the Foundation began to consider programs targeted toward more mature students, not necessarily well served by the standard continuing education curriculum. The interest of more senior students is in learning for the joy of learning – without homework or examinations.

The Foundation was fortunate to have two immediate examples of lifelong learning programs from which to learn. One was the thirty-year-old Fromm Institute of Lifelong Learning at the University of San Francisco; the second was Senior College at the University of Southern Maine.

First Grants

In early 2001, an endowment grant was given to the University of Southern Maine to improve and extend its excellent programs, and the name “Senior College” was changed to “Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.” Shortly after, Sonoma State University, a member of the California State University (CSU) system, became a grantee. Both programs progressed admirably, and the Foundation decided to join the “lifelong learning” field in a significant fashion.

National Expansion

Beginning in the fall of 2002, the Foundation issued Requests for Proposals to campuses in the CSU and University of California system. Typically, grants of $100,000 were made on the understanding that, once a lifelong learning institute was launched, the Foundation would consider the renewal of the grant for two or more years with a view to providing an endowment gift of no less than $1 million should the institute demonstrate potential for success and sustainability.

At present, the Foundation is supporting 121 Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes on university and college campuses in 49 states (plus District of Columbia) as well as a National Resource Center for the Institutes at the University of Southern Maine.

Current Program

There is considerable variation among the Osher Institutes but the common threads remain: Non-credit educational programs specifically developed for seasoned adults who are aged 50 and better; university connection and university support; robust volunteer leadership and sound organizational structure; and a diverse repertoire of intellectually stimulating courses. The designation of each grantee as “The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of X” is a condition of the Foundation’s grant-making as is the use of a logo which consists of a simple circle with the words “Osher Lifelong Learning Institute” arranged within.