Heritage Foundation

Founded in 1973, the Heritage Foundation is an influential public policy research institute located in Washington, D.C. Its stated mission is “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.” As the largest conservative think tank in Washington, D.C., the Foundation addresses both domestic and foreign policy issues. Its domestic policy work includes such educational topics as choices in education, No Child Left Behind, parental choice, and higher education. The Foundation has been a critical voice in the national debate over educational reform during the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century.

The Foundation is organized as a nonprofit organization. It accepts no government revenue and receives funding from conservative foundations, corporations, and individual donors. Its initial financial support was provided by Joseph Coors (Coors Beer) and Richard Mellon Scaife. According to its 2007 annual report, the Foundation raised over $25 million from individual contributors and $13.1 million from foundations in 2006. In the same calendar year (2006), it spent more than $40.5 million on its operations. Corporate donors have included Coors, General Motors, Ford Motors, Procter & Gamble, Chase Manhattan Bank, Dow Chemical, the Reader's Digest Association, Mobil Oil, and GlaxoSmithKline. Philanthropic organizations that have provided grants to the Heritage Foundation include the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the Scaife Foundation, the John M. Olin Foundation, Castle Rock Foundation, JM Foundation, Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation, the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation, and the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation. The Foundation has also accepted donations from South Korea and Taiwan.

The organization is headed by Edwin J. Feulner, president, and supervised by a board of trustees. Its staff includes dozens of in-house experts and several hundred staff and management personnel with experience in business and government. The Heritage Foundation prides itself on the fact that some of its employees have served in the White House. One such individual, William Bennett, served as U.S. Secretary of Education.

Targeting members of Congress, policymakers in the executive branch of the government, the news media, and the academic and public policy communities, the Foundation spends nearly half of its annual budget on sharing ideas in ways that will influence public policy. It disseminates policy proposals and strives to produce reports concisely and expeditiously. One example of this effort to distribute policy perspectives is the use of informational “colored index cards,” which the Foundation uses to summarize its conservative position in short, succinct statements.

In an effort to fulfill its vision “to build an America where freedom, opportunity, prosperity and civil society flourish,” the Heritage Foundation sponsors a variety of initiatives. The most prominent of these include congressional fellowships, a program that educates junior congressional staffers in Heritage's conservative principles; an internship program designed “to introduce undergraduate and graduate students to the policymaking process and encourage them to become active and effective participants in public affairs”; and a job bank that assists conservative job seekers in locating employment in congressional offices and policy associations. Begun in 2008, the Leadership for America campaign is its most recent venture wherein the Foundation is partnered with conservative radio talk show hosts Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, in an educational movement about conservative beliefs titled “What Would Reagan Do?”

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