About Pew Research Center

Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan, nonadvocacy fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It does not take policy positions. The Center conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, computational social science research and other data-driven research. It studies politics and policy; news habits and media; the internet and technology; religion; race and ethnicity; international affairs; social, demographic and economic trends; science; research methodology and data science; and immigration and migration. Pew Research Center is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts, its primary funder.

What does “PEW” stand for?

Senior research staff answer questions from readers relating to all the areas covered by our seven projects, ranging from polling techniques and findings, to media, technology, religious, demographic and global attitudes trends.

Q. What does “PEW” stand for?

Pew is a family name, not an acronym. The four children of Joseph Newton Pew, who founded the Sun Oil company, created and funded The Pew Charitable Trusts in the late 1940s. The Pew Charitable Trusts is a large public charity with headquarters in both Philadelphia and Washington. Members of the Pew family, primarily from the fourth generation, continue to comprise half of its board. The Pew Research Center is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts and receives nearly all its funding from the parent organization.

Donald Kimelman, Managing Director, Information Initiatives and the Philadelphia Program, The Pew Charitable Trusts

What does “PEW” stand for?

About Pew Research Center

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