Foundation for a Civil Society (FCS)

History and Activities

The Foundation for a Civil Society is a New York-city based nonprofit that promotes diplomatic and cultural exchanges between the United States and the rest of the world, especially with Iran and the Caribbean. ¹

FCS was founded in January 1990 as “Charter 77” by Wendy Luers to aid what was then the nation of Czechoslovakia to transition to democracy. Charter 77 had offices in New York and Prague at its founding. Following the division of Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993, Charter 77 opened an office in Bratislava, Slovakia. The offices in Bratislava and Prague eventually became their own independent nongovernmental organizations. ^{1  5}

At its largest in 1996 and 1997, FCS had a staff of 42 people. Beginning in 1999, FCS downsized and shifted its focus to the Balkans region. ⁵

As of January 2026, FCS had two ongoing initiatives: the Iran Project and the New Cuba Arts Connection (NCAC) project. ¹

The Iran Project was launched in 2002 in partnership with the United Nations Association of the USA and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, before it was housed solely under FCS in 2009. The Iran Project promotes dialogue and diplomacy between Iran and the United States to increase cooperation between the two countries and promote a peaceful solution to the conflict over Iran’s nuclear program. ²

The NCAC project promoted cultural exchanges between Cuba and the United States to promote diplomacy. ³

Past projects of FCS include NADACE Via, the Pontis Foundation, Young Visual Artists Awards, and the Project on Justice in Times of Transition. ¹

Leadership

The founder and as of 2026 the president of the Foundation for a Civil Society was Wendy Luers. Luers is the wife of Ambassador William Luers, a career diplomat who served as U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela from 1978 through 1982 and as U.S. ambassador to Czechoslovakia from 1983 to 1986. As of 2026, Wendy Luers was the co-chair of the Project on Justice in Times of Transition at the Wilson Center, was an appointee to the National Council of the Arts from 1988 to 1994, was designated as the chair of the NY White House Fellows Election Committee by President Bill Clinton, is the founder and president emerita of the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Luer has sat on the boards of the Freeman-Spogli Institute of International Studies at Stanford University and the Institute for Global Leadership at Tufts and, as of January 2026 was sitting on the boards of the Annenberg School for Communication and the Center on Communication Leadership and Policy at the University of Southern California. She is the co-founder and as of 2026 was the vice chair of the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation. ^{1  6  4  7}

Financials

According to tax filings, in 2024 the Foundation for a Civil Society reported $280,153 in revenue, $302,478 in expenses, and $225,728 in assets. Of its expenses, FCS reported spending $148,020 on the Iran Project, an initiative to promote diplomacy as the most effective means to roll back Iran’s nuclear program, and $105,920 on its New Cuba Arts Connection program to support diplomacy in the Caribbean. FCS reported receiving all its revenue in 2024 from gifts, grants, and other contributions. ^{8 1}

In 2023, FCS received a $550,000 grant from Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, a $240,000 grant from the Ford Foundation, and a $100,000 grant from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. ⁹