Use the list below to find pro-liberty and free-market employment opportunities and internships that interest you. Not all organizations explicitly and publicly mention available internship and employment openings, but many of them are willing to work with interested parties on a case by case basis. When no internship or job opportunities are listed on an organization’s website, it is suggested that you contact the organization directly.
Note: The list of internships provided spans organizations of varying degrees of support for liberty. Not all organizations support liberty fully or in all its dimensions, but they may be included here because they support particular issues aligned with liberty.
Internship Opportunities Listed by State
Alabama
Alabama Policy Institute
Located in Birmingham, the Alabama Policy Institute is dedicated to defending and promoting the ideals of free markets, the limited role of government, and strong families, which are indispensable to the preservation of a free and prosperous society.
Internships
Employment
Alaska
Institute of the North
Located in Anchorage, the Institute of the North has gained a wide reputation as a center for the study of commonly owned lands, seas, and resources, using the “owner state” of Alaska as a model. The Institute specializes in how to utilize and care for the resource-rich commons for the benefit of those living in and on the commons. Areas of special study include Alaska, the new Russia, the many regions of the Arctic and other areas of the world that are lightly populated and wealthy in both human cultures and natural resources.
Arizona
Americans for Prosperity Foundation
The Americans for Prosperity Foundation is committed to educating citizens about economic policy and mobilizing those citizens as advocates in the public policy process. AFP Arizona is located in Phoenix.
Internships
Employment
Goldwater Institute
The Goldwater Institute, located in Phoenix, advances public policies with emphasis on lower taxes, limited government spending, school choice, and a reduction in government management of the economy.
Internships
Employment
Arkansas
Arkansas Policy Foundation
The Arkansas Policy Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that analyzes the impact of public policy on Arkansas and makes recommendations accordingly. It is located in Little Rock.
California
Americans for Prosperity Foundation
The Americans for Prosperity Foundation is committed to educating citizens about economic policy and mobilizing those citizens as advocates in the public policy process. AFP California is located in Camarillo, outside Los Angeles.
Internships
Employment
Claremont Institute
The mission of the Claremont Institute is to restore the principles of the American Founding to their rightful, preeminent authority in national life. Founded in 1979, the Claremont Institute publishes the Claremont Review of Books, sponsors Publius and Lincoln Fellowships for rising young conservative leaders, and administers a variety of public policy programs, including Americans for Victory Over Terrorism, the Ballistic Missile Defense Project, the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, the Center for Local Government, and the Salvatori Center for the American Constitution. The Institute is located in Claremont, California.
Independent Institute
The mission of The Independent Institute is to transcend the all-too-common politicization and superficiality of public policy research and debate, redefine the debate over public issues, and foster new and effective directions for government reform. The Institute is located in Oakland, California, and Washington, D.C.
Internships
Employment
Moving Picture Institute
The Moving Picture Institute identifies and nurtures promising filmmakers who are committed to protecting and sustaining a free society, and supports their work through grants, travel scholarships, awards, internships, training workshops, and networking opportunities. It is located in New York and Los Angeles.
National Tax Limitation Foundation
Founded in 1976, the National Tax Limitation Foundation has sponsored and participated in a wide range of activities involving the tax limitation/balanced budget amendment to the United States Constitution, state tax limitation measures, line-item veto, reducing the size and scope of federal functions, and term limits for state and federal officeholders. The Foundation is located in Roseville, California.
Pacific Legal Foundation
Established in 1973, the Pacific Legal Foundation is the oldest and most successful public interest legal organization that fights for limited government, property rights, individual rights and a balanced approach to environmental protection. The Foundation has its National Litigation Center in Sacramento, but also has regional Centers in Bellevue, Washington, Stuart, Florida, and Honolulu, Hawaii.
Pacific Research Institute
Located in San Francisco, PRI exists to champion freedom, opportunity, and personal responsibility for all individuals by advancing free-market policy solutions. The Institute’s activities include publications, events, media commentary, legislative testimony, and community outreach.
Reason Foundation
Founded in 1968, Reason seeks to advance a free society by developing, applying, and promoting individual liberty, free markets, and the rule of law. Reason Foundation’s nonpartisan public policy research promotes choice, competition, and a dynamic market economy. Reason, the monthly print magazine and popular Web site of “free minds and free markets,” covers politics, culture, and ideas through a provocative mix of news, analysis, commentary, and reviews. The Reason Foundation is located in Los Angeles.
State Policy Network
With offices in Arlington, Virginia, SPN seeks to build a fifty-state network of free-market think tanks that are the most effective, widely respected and successful policy research and education institutions in their respective states. As a result of the investment, talent, and strategic leadership that SPN provides, state-based think tanks are able to better educate the general public and policy makers in every state to embrace market-friendly policies that maximize liberty and opportunity.
Young America’s Foundation
Located in Herndon, Virginia, and Santa Barbara, California, the Young America’s Foundation exists to ensure that increasing numbers of young Americans understand and are inspired by the ideas of individual freedom, a strong national defense, free enterprise, and traditional values.
Colorado
Americans for Prosperity Foundation
The Americans for Prosperity Foundation is committed to educating citizens about economic policy and mobilizing those citizens as advocates in the public policy process. AFP Colorado is located in Monument, near Colorado Springs.
Internships
Employment
Independence Institute
The Institute is located in Golden, Colorado, and was established upon the eternal truths of the Declaration of Independence. Founded in 1985, the Institute is a nonpartisan, nonprofit public policy research organization dedicated to providing timely information to concerned citizens, government officials, and public opinion leaders.
Mountain States Legal Foundation
The Mountain States Legal Foundation, located in Denver, seeks to provide a strong and effective voice for freedom of enterprise, the rights of private property ownership, and the multiple uses of federal and state resources. It also champions the rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution in support of individual and business enterprises and against unwarranted government intrusion.
Rocky Mountain Foundation
Located in Denver, the Rocky Mountain Foundation seeks to identify and disseminate innovative policy ideas to help educate the public on critical issues facing Colorado and the nation. Some of these critical issues include energy, education reform, constitutional liberties, taxes, and the impact of illegal immigration on state and local fiscal budgets.
Connecticut
Yankee Institute for Public Policy
Located in Hartford, the Yankee Institute for Public Policy is a nonpartisan educational and research organization that exists to promote economic opportunity through lower taxes and new ideas for better government in Connecticut.
Delaware
Caesar Rodney Institute
The Caesar Rodney Institute seeks to become Delaware’s preeminent nonpartisan, free-market oriented think tank. The Caesar Rodney Institute’s vision is to be the catalyst for improved performance, accountability, and efficiency in Delaware government. The Institute is located in Dover.
District of Columbia
American Enterprise Institute
Located in Washington, DC, the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research is a private, nonpartisan, not-for-profit institution dedicated to research and education on issues of government, politics, economics, and social welfare.
Internships
Employment
America’s Future Foundation
America’s Future Foundation is looking for an undergraduate intern for the upcoming fall semester. Interns will work with the executive director to help run the day-to-day activities of the hottest network of conservative and libertarian leaders. AFF’s staff draws upon intern talent for assistance with development, membership, policy roundtables, technology, and a host of other key responsibilities. Click here to learn more.
American Legislative Exchange Council
The American Legislative Exchange Council exists to advance the Jeffersonian principles of free markets, limited government, federalism, and individual liberty, through a nonpartisan, public-private partnership between America’s state legislators and concerned members of the private sector, the federal government, and the general public.
Internships
Employment
Atlas Economic Research Foundation
Located in DC, the Atlas Economic Research Foundation serves as a catalyst and connector to link free-market organizations and individuals to the ideas, people and resources they need to promote a free society.
Video and New Media Internship
Looking for real-world experience in the movement for free markets? The Atlas Economic Research Foundation is seeking enthusiastic interns for their newly-created Video and New Media division. This is a short internship, starting ASAP and lasting until the end of the semester with the potential to continue in the spring. Atlas is a great organization, and all those selected will have a blast.
The Video and New Media Internship Program has been established to give you an opportunity to work as part of a non-profit new media division, gaining experience in economic and international relations research, video production, and design. The interns will be responsible for assisting on-location filming in DC, lighting and sound set-up, researching and filing reports, etc. Periodic informal reports on new media trends will also be expected.
This is an excellent opportunity for a DC local or student who would like the opportunity to work on libertarian new media projects and is interested in gaining new skills and connecting to a large network of think tank professionals. Scheduling is flexible but New Media assistant must commit to at least 20 hours a week Mon-Fri. The internship is unpaid
Ideal candidate for internship will possess:
* Familiarity with Mac computers.
* Basic understanding of video editing.
* Working knowledge of Adobe Photoshop.
* Skills with Final Cut Pro, Motion, After Effects, and Soundtrack Pro.
* Comfort with New Media platforms (facebook, twitter, etc)
None of the above are requirements, provided that the intern can learn quickly. On the job instruction will be provided.
Please send resumé and cover letter to:
Austin Petersen
New Media Program Manager
Austin.petersen@atlasnetwork.org
(202)449-8431
Americans for Prosperity Foundation
The Americans for Prosperity Foundation is committed to educating citizens about economic policy and mobilizing those citizens as advocates in the public policy process. It is headquartered in Washington, DC.
Internships
Employment
Americans for Tax Reform
Americans for Tax Reform exists to promote a simpler, flatter, more visible, tax structure than what currently exists. The government’s power to control citizens’ lives stems from its power to tax. ATR exists to minimize that power.
Capital Research Center
The Capital Research Center exists to study nonprofit organizations, with a special focus on reviving the American traditions of charity, philanthropy, and voluntarism.
Cato Institute
The Cato Institute exists to increase the understanding of public policies based on the principles of limited government, free markets, individual liberty, and peace. It seeks to use the most effective means to originate, advocate, promote, and disseminate applicable policy proposals that create free, open, and civil societies in the United States and throughout the world.
Internships
Employment
Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation
The Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation exists to advance social progress and well-being through the development, application, and dissemination of the Science of Liberty™.
Internships
Employment
Citizens Against Government Waste
Citizens Against Government Waste has one million members and supporters nationwide. It exists to eliminate waste, mismanagement, and inefficiency in the federal government.
Competitive Enterprise Institute
The Competitive Enterprise Institute is a nonprofit public policy organization dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government. The Institute believes that consumers are best helped, not by government regulation, but by being allowed to make their own choices in a free marketplace.
Internships
Employment
FreedomWorks
FreedomWorks recruits, educates, trains and mobilizes hundreds of thousands of volunteer activists to fight for less government, lower taxes, and more freedom. FreedomWorks believes that individual liberty and the freedom to compete increase consumer choices and provide individuals with the greatest control over what they own and earn.
Fund for American Studies
The Fund for American Studies has been educating young leaders on the values of freedom and free-market economies since 1967. Twelve Institutes around the world bring college students together for educational programs engaging them in a rigorous examination of economic concepts, political systems and moral philosophy. TFAS exists to prepare young people for honorable leadership by educating them in the theory, practice, and benefits of a free society.
Heritage Foundation
Founded in 1973, The Heritage Foundation is a research and educational institute — a think tank — that exists to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense.
Internships
Employment
Independent Institute
The mission of The Independent Institute is to transcend the all-too-common politicization and superficiality of public policy research and debate, redefine the debate over public issues, and foster new and effective directions for government reform. The Institute is located in Oakland, California, and Washington, D.C.
Internships
Employment
Independent Woman’s Forum
The Independent Women’s Forum is a non-partisan, 501(c)(3) research and educational institution. Founded in 1992, IWF focuses on issues of concern to mainstream women, men, and families. Our mission is to rebuild civil society by advancing economic liberty, personal responsibility, and political freedom. IWF builds support for a greater respect for limited government, equality under the law, property rights, free markets, strong families, and a powerful and effective national defense and foreign policy. IWF is home to some of the nation’s most influential scholars—women who are committed to promoting and defending economic opportunity and political freedom.
Internships
Institute for Humane Studies
Founded in 1961, the Institute for Humane Studies supports the achievement of a freer society by providing educational opportunities and career assistance to students, scholars, and other intellectuals who share an interest in liberty. IHS is based in Arlington, VA and sponsors internships in more than 30 states.
Public Policy Internships
Print, Broadcast, and Investigative Journalism Internships
Tax Foundation
The Tax Foundation exists to educate taxpayers about sound tax policy and the size of the tax burden borne by Americans at all levels of government. From its founding in 1937, the Tax Foundation has been grounded in the belief that the dissemination of basic information about government finance is the foundation of sound policy in a free society.
Internships
Employment
Florida
Americans for Prosperity Foundation
The Americans for Prosperity Foundation is committed to educating citizens about economic policy and mobilizing those citizens as advocates in the public policy process. AFP Florida is located in Ponte Vedra Beach.
Internships
Employment
James Madison Institute
The James Madison Institute’s mission is to keep the citizens of Florida informed about their government and to shape Florida’s future through the advancement of practical free-market ideas on public policy issues. The Institute achieves its mission through research, conferences and seminars, and a variety of publications. The Institute is located in Tallahassee.
State Policy Network
With offices in Arlington, Virginia, Richmond, California, and West Palm Beach, Florida, SPN seeks to build a fifty-state network of free-market think tanks that are the most effective, widely respected and successful policy research and education institutions in their respective states. As a result of the investment, talent, and strategic leadership that SPN provides, state-based think tanks are able to better educate the general public and policy makers in every state to embrace market-friendly policies that maximize liberty and opportunity.
Pacific Legal Foundation
Established in 1973, the Pacific Legal Foundation is the oldest and most successful public interest legal organization that fights for limited government, property rights, individual rights and a balanced approach to environmental protection. The Foundation has its National Litigation Center in Sacramento, but also has regional Centers in Bellevue, Washington, Stuart, Florida, and Honolulu, Hawaii.
Georgia
Americans for Prosperity Foundation
The Americans for Prosperity Foundation is committed to educating citizens about economic policy and mobilizing those citizens as advocates in the public policy process. AFP Georgia is located in Atlanta.
Internships
Employment
Georgia Public Policy Foundation
Since 1991, the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, located in Atlanta, has conducted scholarly research and analysis of state public policy issues and worked to educate citizens, policy-makers and the media. The Foundation is state-focused, independent, nonpartisan, and market-oriented in its approach. Its philosophy is that good public policy is based upon fact, an understanding of sound economic principles, and the core principles of our free enterprise system — economic freedom, limited government, personal responsibility, individual initiative, respect for private property, and the rule of law.
Hawaii
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
The mission of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii is to promote individual liberty, the free market, and limited accountable government. Through research papers, policy briefings, commentaries and conferences, the Institute seeks to educate and inform Hawaii’s policymakers, news media and the general public. The Institute is located in Honolulu.
Pacific Legal Foundation
Established in 1973, the Pacific Legal Foundation is the oldest and most successful public interest legal organization that fights for limited government, property rights, individual rights, and a balanced approach to environmental protection. The Foundation has its National Litigation Center in Sacramento, but also has regional Centers in Bellevue, Washington, Stuart, Florida, and Honolulu, Hawaii.
Tax Foundation of Hawaii
The Tax Foundation of Hawaii, located in Honolulu, is a private, nonprofit educational organization dedicated to informing the public, and more specifically, taxpayers, about the finances of state and local governments in Hawaii. This means examining how government raises the money it spends.
Idaho
Idaho Freedom Foundation
The Idaho Freedom Foundation, located in Boise, is nonprofit educational and research organization that develops and advocates the principles of individual liberty, personal responsibility, private property rights, economic freedom, and limited government. The Foundation’s mission is to keep Idaho free by generating research and data on key issues, and recommending the findings to opinion leaders, policymakers, media, and the citizens of Idaho.
Illinois
Americans for Prosperity Foundation
The Americans for Prosperity Foundation is committed to educating citizens about economic policy and mobilizing those citizens as advocates in the public policy process. AFP Illinois is located in Chicago.
Internships
Employment
Heartland Institute
Located in Chicago, the Heartland Institute’s mission is to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems. Such solutions include parental choice in education, choice and personal responsibility in health care, market-based approaches to environmental protection, privatization of public services, and deregulation in areas where property rights and markets do a better job than government bureaucracies.
Illinois Policy Institute
The Illinois Policy Institute is a nonpartisan research organization dedicated to supporting free market principles and liberty-based public policy initiatives for a better Illinois. As a leading voice for economic liberty and government accountability, IPI engages policy makers, opinion leaders, and citizens on the state and local level. IPI has offices and internship opportunities in Chicago and Springfield.
Internships
Employment
Sam Adams Alliance
Founded in November of 2006, the Sam Adams Alliance trains people to utilize new media tools (such as blogs, twitter, or wikis) to advance economic freedom and individual liberty. By linking liberty-minded citizens throughout the country to create a more transparent and accountable government, the Sam Adams Alliance is growing communities and building relationships so that the ideals of the Founders will flourish for future generations. The Alliance is located in Chicago.
Internships
Employment
Taxpayers Federation of Illinois
Founded in 1940 and located in Springfield, the Federation exists to advocate, promote, encourage, and foster sound fiscal policies and efficient and economical operation of government programs by Illinois and the units of local government within Illinois, and to represent the interests of the taxpayers of Illinois in developing a reasonable and responsible system of taxation to support those policies and programs
Indiana
Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice
Located in Indianapolis, the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice seeks to educate parents, public policymakers, and organizations about the desperate need to return power to the parents of America who have minimal choices and limited voices in the education of their children. It serves as an important resource and partner for the many parents and community groups who want greater choice in education and who are ready to fight for it.
Indiana Policy Review Foundation
Located in Fort Wayne, the Indiana Policy Review Foundation seeks to marshal the best thought on governmental, economic, and educational issues at the state and municipal levels. It seeks to accomplish this in ways that: exalt the truths of the Declaration of Independence, especially as they apply to the interrelated freedoms of religion, property and speech; emphasize the primacy of the individual in addressing public concerns; and recognize that equality of opportunity is sacrificed in pursuit of equality of results.
Liberty Fund
Located in Indianapolis, the Liberty Fund exists as a private, educational foundation that has been established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals. The Fund develops, supervises, and finances its own educational activities to foster thought and encourage discourse on enduring issues pertaining to liberty.
Sagamore Institute for Policy Research
Located in Indianapolis, the Sagamore Institute for Policy Research exists to provide high-quality, independent research and analysis, developing innovative and collaborative approaches to issues of public significance.
Iowa
Iowa Taxpayers Association
Located in Des Moines, the Iowa Taxpayers Association exists to educate and inform Iowans about sound fiscal policy; provide state policymakers with objective, nonpartisan research about the impact of specific tax and spending policies; and advocate for the adoption of rational public fiscal policy as it relates to business and corporate taxes. The Association was founded in 1935.
Public Interest Institute
The Public Interest Institute, located in Mount Pleasant, exists to identify practical alternatives to critical state and local issues affecting voters, policy makers, and opinion leaders. It also provides state and local policy makers with an objective approach to analyzing specific policy initiatives.
Kansas
Americans for Prosperity Foundation
The Americans for Prosperity Foundation is committed to educating citizens about economic policy and mobilizing those citizens as advocates in the public policy process. AFP Kansas is located in Topeka and Wichita.
Internships
Employment
Flint Hills Center for Public Policy
Located in Wichita, the Flint Hills Center for Public Policy is an independent Kansas-based think tank that provides research and initiates reform in education, fiscal policy, and health care. The Center is dedicated to the constitutional principles of limited government, open markets, and personal responsibility, which are essential for individual freedom and prosperity to flourish.
Kentucky
Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions
Located in Bowling Green and Lexington, the Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions provides research, analysis, and commentary that address key Kentucky practices impacting economic freedoms, public education effectiveness, government transparency and limited government. Its objective is to build a compelling case to “force” lawmakers, policymakers and policy implementers to confront performance-limiting policy and Kentucky’s performance gaps.
Louisiana
Pelican Institute for Public Policy
Located in New Orleans, the Pelican Institute for Public Policy is a nonprofit research and education institution that conducts scholarly research and analysis of Louisianan public policy. The Institute’s mission is to advance sound policies based on the principles of free enterprise, individual liberty, and limited government. The Institute’s staff pursue this mission by conducting timely research on important issues and then marketing the findings to elected leaders, the media, business leaders, community organizations, and individual citizens.
Maine
Located in Portland, Maine, the Maine Heritage Policy Center is a research and educational organization that exists to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise; limited, constitutional government; individual freedom; and traditional American values — all for the purpose of providing public policy solutions that benefit the people of Maine.
Maryland
Americans for Prosperity Foundation
The Americans for Prosperity Foundation is committed to educating citizens about economic policy and mobilizing those citizens as advocates in the public policy process.
Calvert Institute for Policy Research
Located in Baltimore, the Calvert Institute for Policy Research is an independent, nonpartisan public policy research institution committed to generating new ideas based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government and personal responsibility. The Institute seeks to make Maryland worthy of its nickname – “The Free State.”
Located in Potomac, the Free State Foundation is a nonprofit Maryland-based think tank. Its purpose is to promote, through research and educational activities, understanding of free market, limited government, and rule of law principles at the federal level and in Maryland. The Foundation focuses on eliminating unnecessary and counterproductive regulatory mandates, especially those applicable to the communications and other high-tech industries, and on reducing overly burdensome taxes, protecting individual and economic liberty, reforming civil liability laws, and making government more effective, efficient, and accountable.
Maryland Public Policy Institute
Located in Rockville, the Maryland Public Policy Institute is a nonpartisan public policy research and education organization that focuses on state policy issues. Its goal is to provide accurate and timely research analysis of Maryland policy issues and market these findings to key primary audiences. The mission of the Maryland Public Policy Institute is to formulate and promote public policies at all levels of government based on principles of free enterprise, limited government, and civil society.
Maryland Tax Education Foundation
The Maryland Tax Education Foundation was organized to provide information and education programs about Maryland’s taxes. It is based on the premise of President James Madison that a people who would govern themselves must have the knowledge to do so. The Maryland Tax Education Foundation has co-sponsored four Maryland Institutes on State Budget Analysis. The Maryland Tax Education Foundation researches basic tax issues to provide the Taxpayers with information that will assist them to make decisions about the proper levels of State government spending, appropriate tax rates, and what types of taxes are “best.”
Massachusetts
Located in Boston, the Beacon Hill Institute is a world-renowned learning and research center that develops and performs innovative economic and statistical analyses of current and emerging public policy issues. It aims to strengthen that function by: providing local, state, national and international research entities with state-of-the-art tools and economic analyses, partnering with a PhD granting department of economics, and expanding its reputation for providing objective analysis to examine and influence public policy.
Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research
Located in Boston, the Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research produces research and analysis almost exclusively through outside experts. By doing so, Pioneer ensures credibility, and remains focused on what it does best — developing a strategic research and programs agenda, and serving as a marketing and public education firm for issues that impact Massachusetts. As a result, the Institute maintains a strong presence on Beacon Hill and in the State’s executive offices; it attracts more press than any other research institute in Massachusetts.
Michigan
Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty
Located in Grand Rapids, the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty exists to promote a free, virtuous, and humane society. This direction recognizes the benefits of a limited government, but also the beneficent consequences of a free market. It embraces an objective framework of moral values, but also recognizes and appreciates the subjective nature of economic value. It views justice as a duty of all to give the one his due but, more importantly, as an individual obligation to serve the common good and not just his own needs and wants. In order to promote a more profound understanding of the coming together of faith and liberty, the Institute involves members of religious, business, and academic spheres in its various seminars, publications, and academic activities. Those at the Institute believe that by demonstrating the compatibility of faith, liberty, and free economic activity, religious leaders and entrepreneurs can contribute by helping to shape a society that is secure, free, and virtuous.
Americans for Prosperity Foundation
The Americans for Prosperity Foundation is committed to educating citizens about economic policy and mobilizing those citizens as advocates in the public policy process. AFP Michigan is located in Lansing.
Mackinac Center for Public Policy
Located in Midland, Michigan, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy exists as a nonpartisan research and educational institute devoted to improving the quality of life for all Michigan citizens by promoting sound solutions to state and local policy questions. The Mackinac Center assists policy makers, scholars, business people, the media, and the public by providing objective analysis of Michigan issues. The goal of all Center reports, commentaries and educational programs is to equip Michigan citizens and other decision makers to better evaluate policy options.
Minnesota
Center of the American Experiment
Located in Minneapolis, the Center of the American Experiment is a nonpartisan, tax-exempt, public policy and educational institution that brings conservative and free market ideas to bear on the hardest problems facing Minnesota and the United States. The Center publishes original research, writes commentaries, commissions studies, presents public programs that feature both local and national experts, hosts legislative roundtables, and delivers presentations to students and civic organizations.
Freedom Foundation of Minnesota
Located in Minneapolis, the Freedom Foundation of Minnesota is an independent, nonprofit educational and research organization that actively advocates the principles of individual freedom, personal responsibility, economic freedom, and limited government.
Minnesota Free Market Institute
Located in St. Paul, the Minnesota Free Market Institute is dedicated to preservation of and education about free markets.
Mississippi
Mississippi Center for Public Policy
Located in Jackson, the Mississippi Center for Public Policy exists to promote limited government, free markets, and strong, traditional families.
Missouri
Americans for Prosperity Foundation
The Americans for Prosperity Foundation is committed to educating citizens about economic policy and mobilizing those citizens as advocates in the public policy process. AFP Missouri is located in Columbia.
With locations in St. Louis and Columbia, the Show-Me Institute seeks to advance liberty with responsibility by promoting market solutions for Missouri’s public policy.
Montana
The Property & Environment Research Center
PERC is the nation’s oldest and largest institute dedicated to improving environmental quality through markets and property rights. Research is at the heart of PERC’s work, followed by outreach and education. Formed more than 25 years ago, PERC applies economic thinking to environmental problems. Located in Bozeman Montana, PERC pioneered the approach known as free market environmentalism (FME).
The Montana Policy Institute is Montana’s free market think tank. The Montana Policy Institute exists to equip Montana’s citizens and decision-makers to better evaluate state public policy options, and to do so from the perspective that policies based upon free markets, limited government, and individual responsibility will result in the greatest common good.
Foundation for Research on Economics & the Environment
FREE advances conservation and environmental values by applying modern science and America’s founding ideals to policy debates. It explains how economic incentives, secure property rights, the rule of law, and responsible prosperity can foster a healthy environment.
Nebraska
Platte Institute for Public Policy
The Platte Institute for Economic Research is a nonpartisan research and education organization that exists to advance alternatives that foster limited government, personal responsibility, and free enterprise for Nebraska.
The Nebraska Tax Research Council is a statewide, nonpartisan, nonprofit public policy organization which has promoted and advocated economy and efficiency in government since 1951.
Nevada
Nevada Policy Research Institute
The Nevada Policy Research Institute is a free-market think tank that seeks private solutions to public challenges facing Nevada, the West and the nation. The Institute’s primary areas of focus are education and fiscal policy, with the goal of advancing free-market principles in both. NPRI has offices in Las Vegas, but scholars and writers from all over Nevada and the nation contribute to the Institute’s mission.
New Hampshire
Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy
The Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, independent think tank focused on state and local public policy issues that affect the quality of life for New Hampshire’s citizens. The Center has as its core beliefs individual freedom and responsibility, limited and accountable government, and an appreciation of the role of the free enterprise system. The Center seeks to promote policy that supports these beliefs by providing information, research, and analysis.
New Jersey
Excellent Education for Everyone
Excellent Education for Everyone (E3) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization devoted to improving urban public education through the powers of parental school choice. E3 is organized into four major groups, each operating to achieve particular school choice goals. Each functions both autonomously and to support the activities of the other groups. It is located in Newark and Camden.
Foundation for Free Enterprise
The mission of the Foundation for Free Enterprise is to provide leadership in furthering the understanding and appreciation of the free market system, by educating young people, and others who will influence the future concerning free market economics, limited government, individual self reliance, and preservation of the entrepreneurial spirit. The Foundation is located in Paramus.
New Mexico
The Rio Grande Foundation is a research institute dedicated to increasing liberty and prosperity for all of New Mexico’s citizens. The Foundation accomplishes this by informing New Mexicans of the importance of individual freedom, limited government, and economic opportunity. It is located in Albuquerque.
New York
Manhattan Institute for Policy Research
The Manhattan Institute exists to develop and disseminate new ideas that foster greater economic choice and individual responsibility.
The Atlantic Legal Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public interest law firm with a demonstrable history of advancing the rule of law in courts and before administrative agencies by advocating for individual liberty, school choice, free enterprise, limited, effective government, and sound science in the courtroom. Atlantic Legal provides effective and decisive legal representation, without fee, to parents, scientists, educators, and other individuals, corporations, and trade associations. It is located in Larchmont and New York City.
Foundation for Economic Education
FEE’s mission is to offer the most consistent case for the “first principles” of freedom: the sanctity of private property, individual liberty, the rule of law, the free market, and the moral superiority of individual choice and responsibility over coercion. It is located in Irvington-on-Hudson.
Empire Center for New York State Policy
The Empire Center for New York State Policy is a project of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research and dedicated to promoting freedom, opportunity, and enterprise in the Empire State. Through research papers, policy briefings, commentaries and conferences, the Empire Center seeks to educate and inform New York State policymakers, news media, and the general public.
The Moving Picture Institute identifies and nurtures promising filmmakers who are committed to protecting and sustaining a free society, and supports their work through grants, travel scholarships, awards, internships, training workshops, and networking opportunities. It is located in New York and Los Angeles.
Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE)
The mission of FIRE is to defend and sustain individual rights at America’s colleges and universities. These rights include freedom of speech, legal equality, due process, religious liberty, and sanctity of conscience — the essential qualities of individual liberty and dignity. FIRE’s core mission is to protect the unprotected and to educate the public and communities of concerned Americans about the threats to these rights on U.S. campuses and about the means to preserve them. It is located in Philadelphia and New York.
Internships
North Carolina
The John Locke Foundation employs research, journalism, and outreach programs to transform government through competition, innovation, personal freedom, and personal responsibility. JLF seeks a better balance between the public sector and private institutions of family, faith, community, and enterprise. It is located in Raleigh.
John W. Pope Civitas Institute
The mission of the Civitas Institute is to facilitate the implementation of conservative policy solutions to improve the lives of all North Carolinians. Toward that end, Civitas provides research, information, and training to: empower citizens to become better civic leaders and more informed voters; educate emerging public leaders, enabling them to be more effective in the democratic process; and inform elected officials about citizen-based, free-market solutions to problems facing North Carolinians. It is located in Raleigh.
John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy
The John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy is a nonprofit institute dedicated to improving higher education in North Carolina and the nation. It is located in Raleigh.
Americans for Prosperity Foundation
The Americans for Prosperity Foundation is committed to educating citizens about economic policy and mobilizing those citizens as advocates in the public policy process. AFP North Carolina is located in Raleigh.
The North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law
The North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law (NCICL) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, nonpartisan organization devoted to educating the public, bar, and policymakers about constitutional issues, particularly economic and related issues, both national and in North Carolina and, when appropriate, litigating such constitutional issues. It is located in Raleigh.
North Dakota
The North Dakota Policy Council (NDPC) is a liberty-based think tank focused on North Dakota solutions to North Dakota’s problems. It provides credible, nonpartisan expertise and research to help North Dakotans advocate policies that are based on individual liberty, individual responsibility, and limited government. It is located in Bismarck.
Ohio
Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions
The Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions is a nonpartisan research and educational institute devoted to individual liberty, economic freedom, personal responsibility, and limited government in Ohio. It is located in Columbus.
Oklahoma
Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs
OCPA’s mission is to accumulate, evaluate, and disseminate public policy ideas and information for Oklahoma consistent with the principles of free enterprise, limited government, and individual initiative. It is located in Oklahoma City.
Americans for Prosperity Foundation
The Americans for Prosperity Foundation is committed to educating citizens about economic policy and mobilizing those citizens as advocates in the public policy process. AFP Oklahoma is located in Edmond.
Oregon
Founded in 1991, Cascade Policy Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research and educational organization that focuses on state and local issues in Oregon. Cascade’s mission is to develop and promote public policy alternatives that foster individual liberty, personal responsibility, and economic opportunity. Cascade promotes property rights, incentives, markets, and decentralized decision-making. Cascade advances these values by sharing its research with the public, the media, and state and local lawmakers through publications, educational programs, community forums, and special events. It is located in Portland.
Pennsylvania
The Allegheny Institute is a nonprofit research and education organization. Its mission is to defend the interests of taxpayers, citizens, and businesses against an increasingly burdensome and intrusive government. To that end, it formulates and advocates public policies that roll back the size and scope of local government as well as create a more accountable government. Its efforts are guided by the principles of free enterprise, property rights, civil society, and individual freedom that are the bedrock upon which the United States was founded. It is located in Pittsburgh.
The Commonwealth Foundation is an independent, nonprofit research and educational institute that develops and advances public policies based on the nation’s founding principles of limited constitutional government, economic freedom, and personal responsibility for one’s actions. It is located in Harrisburg.
Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE)
The mission of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education is to defend and sustain individual rights at America’s colleges and universities. These rights include freedom of speech, legal equality, due process, religious liberty, and sanctity of conscience — the essential qualities of individual liberty and dignity. FIRE’s core mission is to protect the unprotected and to educate the public and communities of concerned Americans about the threats to these rights on our campuses and about the means to preserve them. It is located in Philadelphia and New York.
The mission of the John Templeton Foundation is to serve as a philanthropic catalyst for discovery in areas engaging life’s biggest questions. These questions range from explorations into the laws of nature and the universe to questions on the nature of love, gratitude, forgiveness, and creativity. The Foundation is located in West Conshohocken.
Road to Educational Achievement through Choice
The REACH (Road to Educational Achievement through CHoice) Foundation and its sister organization, the REACH Alliance, are Pennsylvania’s grassroots coalitions dedicated to ensuring parental choice in education. REACH is located in Harrisburg.
The Wynnewood Institute is an independent, academic, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization concerned with the fundamental questions and the current problems of Western civilization. It is located in Wynnewood.
Rhode Island
Ocean State Policy Research Institute
Located in Providence, the Ocean State Policy Research Institute exists to advance sound policies based on the principles of free enterprise, individual liberty, limited government, and traditional American values.
Rhode Island Statewide Coalition Foundation
Located in Charlestown, the Rhode Island Statewide Coalition Foundation exists to increase transparency, integrity, and accountability in state and local Rhode Island government.
South Carolina
The Clemson Institute for the Study of Capitalism
Located in Clemson, the Clemson Institute for the Study of Capitalism seeks to examine and to increase public awareness of the moral foundations of capitalism. Through teaching, scholarship, and community outreach programs, the Clemson Institute provides a public forum for investigating the underlying principles and institutions of capitalism (e.g., individual rights, private property, contracts, voluntary associations, entrepreneurship, the rule of law, limited government, and free trade).
Located in Columbia, since 1986 the South Carolina Policy Council Education Foundation has brought together civic, community, and business leaders from all over the state to discuss innovative policy ideas that advance the principles of limited government and free enterprise.
South Carolinians for Responsible Government
Located in Columbia, South Carolinians for Responsible Government is a statewide, grassroots, nonprofit organization that supports efforts to make government more efficient and accountable.
South Dakota
Americans for Prosperity Foundation
The Americans for Prosperity Foundation is committed to educating citizens about economic policy and mobilizing those citizens as advocates in the public policy process. AFP South Dakota is located in Sioux Falls.
Great Plains Public Policy Institute
Located in Sioux Falls, the Great Plains Public Policy Institute is a nonpartisan public policy and educational institution that brings free enterprise and alternative ideas to bear on the most difficult issues facing South Dakota and the United States.
Tennessee
Tennessee Center for Policy Research
Located in Nashville, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research is an independent, nonprofit, and nonpartisan research organization. The Center is dedicated to providing concerned citizens, the media, and public leaders with expert empirical research and timely free market policy solutions to public policy issues in Tennessee. The Center generates and encourages public policy remedies grounded in the innovations of private enterprise, the ingenuity of individuals, and the ability of active communities to achieve a freer and more prosperous Tennessee.
Texas
Americans for Prosperity Foundation
The Americans for Prosperity Foundation is committed to educating citizens about economic policy and mobilizing those citizens as advocates in the public policy process. AFP Texas is located in Austin.
Institute for Policy Innovation
Located in Lewisville, the Institute for Policy Innovation exists to research, develop, and promote innovative and nonpartisan solutions to today’s public policy problems. The Institute focuses on approaches to governing that harness the strengths of individual liberty, limited government, and free markets. The Institute emphasizes placing its studies into the hands of the media and policy makers so that the ideas those studies contain can be applied to the challenges that Americans face.
Located in San Antonio, the Justice Foundation (formerly the Texas Justice Foundation) was founded in 1993 to protect the fundamental freedoms and rights essential to the preservation of American society. The Foundation represents clients free of charge in cases in the areas of limited government, free markets, private property, parental school choice, parental rights in education, and enforcing laws to protect women’s health. The Justice Foundation is a nonprofit, public-interest litigation firm supported by tax-deductible contributions.
National Center for Policy Analysis
Located in Dallas, the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research organization that was established in 1983. The Center exists to develop and promote private alternatives to government regulation and control, solving problems by relying on the strength of the competitive, entrepreneurial private sector. Research areas include reforms in health care, taxes, Social Security, welfare, criminal justice, education and environmental regulation.
Texas Public Policy Foundation
Located in Austin, the Texas Public Policy Foundation exists as a nonprofit, nonpartisan research institute guided by the core principles of individual liberty, personal responsibility, private property rights, free markets, and limited government. The Foundation’s mission is to improve Texas by generating academically sound research and data on state issues, and by recommending the findings to opinion leaders, policymakers, the media, and the general public.
Utah
Located in Salt Lake City, the Sutherland Institute is a conservative, nonprofit, state-based public policy group. The Sutherland Institute was founded in 1995 as a way to transcend impulsive, convenient, or self-serving policies and politics by looking for truly lasting solutions — solutions that both serve the common good and that also sustain time-tested principles of freedom and prosperity.
The Utah Taxpayers Association
Founded in 1922, the Utah Taxpayers Association is a nonprofit, nonpartisan association working for greater efficiency and effectiveness in government. The Association is located in Salt Lake City.
Vermont
Located in Concord, the Ethan Allen Institute exists to influence public policy in Vermont by helping its people to better understand and put into practice the fundamentals of a free society: individual liberty, private property, competitive free enterprise, limited government, strong local communities, personal responsibility, and expanded opportunity for human endeavor.
Virginia
Bill of Rights Institute
Located in Arlington, the Bill of Rights Institute develops instructional material and educational programs on America’s Founding documents and principles for high school American History and Civics teachers and students. The mission of the Bill of Rights Institute is to educate young people about the words and ideas of America’s Founders, the liberties guaranteed in our Founding documents, and how our Founding principles continue to affect and shape a free society. It is the goal of the Institute to help the next generation understand the freedom and opportunity the Constitution offers.
Center for Competitive Politics
Located in Alexandria, the Center for Competitive Politics exists to, through legal briefs, studies, historical and constitutional analyses, and media communication, educate the public on the actual effects of money in politics, and the results of a more free and competitive electoral process.
Center for Individual Freedom
Located in Alexandria and founded in 1998, the Center for Individual Freedom is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization with the mission to protect and defend the individual freedoms and individual rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. The Center seeks to focus public, legislative, and judicial attention on the rule of law as embodied in the federal and state constitutions. Those fundamental documents both express and safeguard society’s commitment to individual freedom, not only through specific protections such as the Bill of Rights, but also through structural protections that constrain and disperse governmental authority.
Citizens in Charge Foundation
Located in Lake Ridge, Virginia, the Citizens in Charge Foundation is a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding and protecting the ballot initiative and referendum process. Good government starts with the voter. The Citizens in Charge Foundation is the only national organization dedicated to the belief that citizens should be in charge of their government.
Galen Institute
Located in Alexandria, the Galen Institute is a nonprofit research organization devoted exclusively to health policy. It seeks to promote a more informed public debate over ideas that advance individual freedom, consumer choice, and competition in the health sector.
Institute for Justice
Located in Arlington, the Institute for Justice is the only libertarian public interest law firm in the U.S. It engages in cutting-edge litigation and advocacy both in the courts of law and in the court of public opinion on behalf of individuals whose most basic rights are denied by the government — rights such as the right to earn an honest living, private property rights, and the right to free speech, especially in the areas of commercial and Internet speech.
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Mercatus Center at George Mason University
Located in Arlington, the Mercatus Center at George Mason University applies scholarly research to the problems facing policy makers. Bringing together a network of scholars and experts from around the globe, the Mercatus Center provides policy makers with the economic tools to make sense of today’s most pressing issues. Mercatus turns ideas into action.
National Taxpayers Union Foundation
Located in Old Town Alexandria, the National Taxpayers Union Foundation’s mission is to provide timely and original information promoting the benefits of lower taxes and limited government. NTUF’s work covers a wide range of public policy issues, including tax reform, economic growth, Congressional budget tracking, interest group analysis, and entitlement reform. Since its founding in 1977, NTUF has actively engaged in the policy formation process at the academic, judicial, and political levels.
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State Policy Network
With offices in Arlington, Virginia, Richmond, California, and West Palm Beach, Florida, SPN seeks to build a fifty-state network of free-market think tanks that are the most effective, widely respected and successful policy research and education institutions in their respective states. As a result of the investment, talent, and strategic leadership that SPN provides, state-based think tanks are able to better educate the general public and policy makers in every state to embrace market-friendly policies that maximize liberty and opportunity.
Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy
Located in Springfield, just outside DC, the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy exists to provide Virginia’s political, business, academic, community, and media leadership with thoughtful, realistic, useful, and nonpartisan analysis of public policy issues confronting the Commonwealth.
Virginia Institute for Public Policy
Located in Gainesville, the Virginia Institute for Public Policy is an independent, nonpartisan, education and research organization committed to the goals of individual opportunity and economic growth. Through research, policy recommendations, and symposia, the Institute works ahead of the political process to lay the intellectual foundation for a society dedicated to individual liberty, free enterprise, private property, the rule of law, and constitutionally limited government.
Washington
Evergreen Freedom Foundation
Located in Olympia, the Evergreen Freedom Foundation seeks to advance individual liberty, free enterprise, and responsible government. Its efforts center around public policy research and alternative strategies in these core areas: state budget and tax policy, welfare reform, healthcare reform, education, citizenship, and governance issues.
Pacific Legal Foundation
Established in 1973, the Pacific Legal Foundation is the oldest and most successful public interest legal organization that fights for limited government, property rights, individual rights and a balanced approach to environmental protection. The Foundation has its National Litigation Center in Sacramento, but also has regional Centers in Bellevue, Washington, Stuart, Florida, and Honolulu, Hawaii.
Washington Policy Center
Located in Seattle, the Washington Policy Center is a nonpartisan, free-market, state-based think tank that publishes studies, sponsors events and conferences, and educates citizens on public policy issues facing Washington.
West Virginia
Public Policy Foundation of West Virginia
Located in Morgantown, the Public Policy Foundation of West Virginia is a nonprofit research and educational organization that conducts scholarly research and analysis of state and local issues. The Foundation’s mission is to advance sound policies in West Virginia based on the principles of free enterprise, individual liberty, limited government and traditional American values.
Wisconsin
Americans for Prosperity Foundation
The Americans for Prosperity Foundation is committed to educating citizens about economic policy and mobilizing those citizens as advocates in the public policy process. AFP Wisconsin is located in Milwaukee.
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Lucy Burns Institute
Located in Madison, the Lucy Burns Institute shares information, guidance, practical advice, legal developments, and news about open records at the state and local levels. Staff at the Institute are interested in hearing about and helping with state or local level public records projects and requests.
MacIver Institute for Public Policy
Located in New Berlin, the MacIver Institute for Public Policy seeks to use a fresh and innovative approach to advance the idea that individual freedom, limited government and personal responsibility are the best principles for the development of effective public policies in Wisconsin.
Wisconsin Policy Research Institute
Located in Hartland, Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute works to engage and energize Wisconsinites and others in discussions and timely action on key public policy issues critical to the State’s future, its growth, and its prosperity. The Institute’s research and public education activities are directed to identify and promote public policies in Wisconsin which are fair, accountable, and cost effective.
Wyoming
Wyoming Heritage Foundation/Wyoming Business Alliance
Located in Casper, the Wyoming Business Alliance/Wyoming Heritage Foundation seeks to advocate involvement, improvement, and stewardship of Wyoming’s vital assets.
Located in Cheyenne, the Wyoming Liberty Group exists to invite citizens to prepare for informed, active, and confident involvement in local and state government. It provides a venue for understanding public issues in light of constitutional principles and governmental accountability.
