Lugar Center

The Lugar Center has previously received financial support from left-of-center nonprofits, including the then-Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Democracy Fund, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. ⁵

History and Activities

The Lugar Center was founded by the late former United States Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) as a nonprofit focused on international food security, nuclear nonproliferation, foreign aid, and bipartisan governance. The Lugar Center was founded in 2013, the year Senator Lugar left office after being defeated in the Republican primary for his Senate seat in 2012. The Lugar Center sponsors research on improving the quality of debate and bridging political divides, advocates evidence-based policy approaches, and hosts experts on its focus areas.  ^{1  2  3  4}

As part of its bipartisan governance initiative, the Lugar Center produced scores of House and Senate members rating elected officials based on how bipartisan their actions were. The Lugar Center produced the scores until 2023. The Bipartisan Index was conducted in partnership with the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy and judged bipartisanship based upon whether bills introduced by a member of Congress attracted co-sponsors from members of the opposite party.  ^{6  7}

As part of its global food security initiatives, the Lugar Center produced research on public agricultural support, biodiversity, food price volatility, genetic engineering, and women in agriculture.  ⁶

As part of its nuclear and weapons of mass destruction nonproliferation initiative, the Lugar Center hosted bipartisan dialogue on WMDs.  ⁶

As part of its foreign aid initiative, the Lugar Center advocates for U.S.-provided foreign aid as “central” to achieving stability and prosperity in the world and has argued that foreign aid is an easy way to promote U.S. national security. The Lugar Center promotes the “efficient” distribution of foreign aid and advocates for transparency in foreign aid distributions. ⁸

The Lugar Center partners with the Arms Control Association, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Indiana University, Levin Center at Wayne Law, the McCourt School of Public Policy, Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network, the Nuclear Threat Initiative, and the Project on Government Oversight. ⁹

Leadership

As of 2026, the executive director of the Lugar Center was John Lugar. Lugar is the son of the founder of the Lugar Center, former United States Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN). John Lugar, who works in commercial real estate, was as of 2026 the executive vice president of the mid-Atlantic region for Transwestern. He was previously the senior vice president of tenant representation at Colliers-International, the vice president of tenant representation at Jones Lang LaSalle, a government affairs consultant at Dorsey & Whitney LLP, and a business development consultant at Rhoads-Weber Shandwick Government Relations. ^{10  11  12}

The founder of the Lugar Center is former Senator Richard Lugar. Senator Lugar represented the state of Indiana in the U.S. Senate from 1977 to 2013, was the longest-serving member of Congress in Indiana history, and died in 2019. ^{1  3}

Financials

According to tax filings, in 2023 the Lugar Center reported $8,119 in revenues, $81,659 in expenses, and $251,489 in assets. Revenues for the Lugar Center declined significantly following the death of the founder of the organization, Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) in 2019. ^{13  3}  In 2018, the Lugar Center reported $620,409 in revenues, in 2019 the Lugar Center reported $330,468 in revenues, in 2020 the Lugar Center reported $100,036 in revenues, in 2021 the Lugar Center reported $97,205 in revenues, and in 2022 the Lugar Center reported $7,956 in revenues. ^{13  3}

The Lugar Center has previously received financial support from other nonprofits, including many left-of-center organizations. Supporters of the Lugar Center include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Christel DeHaan Family Foundation, Dayton Foundation, Democracy Fund, East Tennessee Foundation, Efroymson Family Fund, James M. Collins Foundation, and William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. ⁵