The Heartland Institute is a 28-year-old national nonprofit research organization dedicated to finding and promoting ideas that empower people.
Founded: Heartland was founded in Chicago in 1984.
Mission: Its mission is to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems.
Staff: A full-time staff of 35, including 25 working in the Chicago office. Joseph Bast directs the Chicago office. Herbert Walberg is chairman of the board.
Policy Advisors: Approximately 150 academics and professional economists participate in its peer review process, and more than 200 elected officials serve on its Legislative Forum.
Publications: Heartland sends six monthly public policy newspapers addressing the major domestic public policy issues to every national and state elected official in the U.S. plus 8,400 county and local officials and thousands of civic and business leaders. It also produces books, policy studies, and booklets.
Communications: We appeared in print and on television or radio nearly 1,400 times in 2010. More than one million people visited our Web sites in the last 12 months. Our Facebook page registers nearly 53,000 fans and approximately 300,0000 post views every week.
Government Relations: Our government relations staff made more than one million contacts with elected officials in 2010, 14,715 of those contacts were one-on-one either in person, by phone, or by one-to-one emails.
Survey Results: A telephone survey of randomly selected state and local elected officials conducted in 2011 found 79% of state legislators and 63% of local elected officials read at least one of our publications. 45% of state legislators say a Heartland publication changed their mind or led to a change in public policy.
Funding: Approximately 1,800 supporters support an annual budget of $6 million. Heartland does not accept government funding. Contributions are tax-deductible under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Contact information: Chicago: One South Wacker Drive #2740, Chicago, IL 60606, phone 312/377-4000, email think@heartland.org. Washington, DC: 1728 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 2B, Washington, DC 20009, phone 202/525-5717, email washingtondc@heartland.org.
Endorsements: Click here for endorsements of our work.
History: Click here for the story of Heartland as it is told by Brian Doherty in Radicals for Capitalism.
Videos: Watch the videos below to learn more about Heartland and see salutes from prominent folks on the occasion of our 25th anniversary in 2009.
