STATE THINK TANKS
These are research and advocacy organizations that specialize in education issues facing specific states.
All States: State Policy Network
State Policy Network is the service organization for America's free market, state-focused think tank community. The network advances a free society by providing leadership development, management training and networking opportunities for think tank professionals and by promoting strategic partnerships among market-oriented organizations.
Alabama: Alabama Policy Institute
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.
Arizona: Goldwater Institute
The Goldwater Institute was established in 1988 as an independent, nonpartisan research and educational organization dedicated to the study of public policy in Arizona.
Arkansas: Arkansas Policy Foundation
The Arkansas Policy Foundation is a nonpartisan, non-profit organization that analyzes the impact of public policy on Arkansas and makes recommendations. The Foundation emphasizes the importance of tax policy and education reform.
California: Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy
The Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy promotes the principles of individual freedom and personal responsibility. The Institute believes these principles are best encouraged through policies that emphasize a free economy, private initiative, and limited government.
Colorado: Independence Institute
The Independence Institute is established upon the eternal truths of the Declaration of Independence. Founded in 1985, the Independence Institute is a non-partisan, non-profit public policy research organization dedicated to providing timely information to concerned citizens, government officials, and public opinion leaders.
Connecticut: Yankee Institute for Public Policy Studies
The Yankee Institute works to help Connecticut citizens better understand the Constitutional and free market principles that maximize freedom and well-being for peoples of all economic and social backgrounds.
Florida: James Madison Institute
The James Madison Institute is a Florida-based research and educational organization. The ideas of the Institute are rooted in a belief in the US Constitution and such timeless ideals as limited government, economic freedom, federalism, traditional values, and individual liberty coupled with individual responsibility.
Georgia: Georgia Public Policy Foundation
The Georgia Public Policy Foundation is a private, nonpartisan research and education organization focusing on state issues.
Hawaii: Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii is a public policy think tank formed in 2001 by Hawaii residents who realized the need for detailed study, analysis, investigation and reporting on the impact on the individual citizen by government. Our vision is for individual self-government as outlined in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.
Illinois: Illinois Policy Institute
The Illinois Policy Institute is a free market oriented think tank dedicated to state public policy issues in Illinois.
Illinois: Heartland Institute
Heartland's mission is to help build social movements in support of ideas that empower people. Such ideas 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.
Indiana: Indiana Policy Review Foundation
The mission of the Indiana Policy Review Foundation is to marshal the best thought on governmental, economic and educational issues at the state and municipal levels.
Iowa: Public Interest Institute
Public Interest Institute is a non-profit, non-partisan, public policy research organization located on the campus of Iowa Wesleyan College in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. The Institute promotes the importance of a free-enterprise economic system and limited government in society based upon individual freedom and liberty.
Maine: Maine Heritage Policy Center
The Maine Heritage Policy Center is a research and educational organization whose mission is 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: Calvert Institute for Policy Research
The Calvert Institute for Policy Research is a non-partisan, educational institution dedicated to the research and propagation of solutions to Maryland state and local public-policy concerns based upon the principles of free markets and personal responsibility. It is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization.
Maryland: Maryland Public Policy Institute
Founded in 2001, The Maryland Public Policy Institute is a nonpartisan public policy research and education organization that focuses on state policy issues.
Michigan: Mackinac Center for Public Policy
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy is a nonpartisan research and educational organization 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.
Minnesota: Center of the American Experiment
Center of the American Experiment is a nonpartisan, tax-exempt, public policy and educational institution, which brings conservative and free market ideas to bear on the most difficult issues facing Minnesota and the nation.
Mississippi: Mississippi Center for Public Policy
Mississippi Center for Public Policy is an independent, non-profit public policy organization based in Jackson, MS. MCPP works to promote and protect the concepts of free markets, limited government, and strong traditional families.
Nevada: Nevada Policy Research Institute
The Institute is a free-market think tank which finds private solutions for public problems facing Nevada, the West and the nation. NPRI has offices in Las Vegas, but scholars and writers from all over Nevada and the nation contribute to our mission.
New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy
The Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy is a non-profit, non-partisan, independent think tank focused on state and local public policy issues that affect the quality of life for New Hampshire's citizens. To improve economic prosperity and the general welfare, the Center provides information, research, and analysis to decision makers.
New Mexico: New Mexico Independence Research Institute
NMIRI’s mission is to provide NM and the U.S. with quality policy research which promotes personal responsibility, limited government, and free market economics.
New York: Center for an Urban Future
The Center for an Urban Future is a public policy organization dedicated to improving the overall health of New York City and serving its long-term interests by targeting problems facing low-income and working-class neighborhoods in all five boroughs.
New York: Empire Center for New York State Policy
The Empire Center for New York State Policy, a project of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, is dedicated to fostering greater economic growth, opportunity and individual responsibility in the Empire State.
New York: Foundation for Education Reform & Accountability
The Foundation for Education Reform & Accountability is an independent education reform organization led by a coalition of business leaders, education reformers, and civic and cultural leaders.
North Carolina: John Locke Foundation
A group of North Carolinians in 1990 created the John Locke Foundation as an independent, nonprofit think tank that would work “for truth, for freedom, and for the future of North Carolina."
Ohio: Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions
The Buckeye Institute is an independent institute that analyzes state and local government programs, taxes, and regulations in Ohio and offers policy alternatives consistent with a respect for individual liberty, private property and limited government.
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.
Oregon: Cascade Policy Institute
Cascade Policy Institute was founded in January 1991 as a nonprofit research and educational organization to focus on Oregon state and local issues. The Institute's mission is to explore and advance public policy alternatives that foster individual liberty, personal responsibility, and economic opportunity.
Pennsylvania: Commonwealth Foundation
The mission of The Commonwealth Foundation is to improve the quality of life for all Pennsylvanians by advancing public policies based on the principles of limited government, economic freedom, and individual responsibility.
South Carolina: South Carolina Policy Council
The South Carolina Policy Council Education Foundation was established in 1986 as a nonpartisan, tax-exempt public policy research and education foundation. Its mission is to educate members and all South Carolinians about state and local public policy based on the traditional South Carolina values of individual liberty and responsibility, free enterprise and limited government.
South Dakota: Great Plains Public Policy Institute
Great Plains Public Policy Institute is a nonpartisan, public policy educational institution that brings free enterprise and alternative ideas to bear on issues facing South Dakota and the nation.
Texas: Texas Public Policy Foundation
The Texas Public Policy Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit, non-partisan research institute guided by the core principles of individual liberty, personal responsibility, private property rights, free markets and limited government.
Utah: Sutherland Institute
The Sutherland Institute is a conservative public policy think tank committed to shaping Utah law and policy based on a core set of governing principles. We strive to make Utah an example of good government for the rest of the nation and a great place to live, work, and raise a family.
Vermont: Ethan Allen Institute
The Ethan Allen Institute is Vermont's free-market public policy research and education organization - a "think tank" for issues affecting Vermonters.
Virginia: Virginia Institute for Public Policy
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.
Virginia: Thomas Jefferson Institute
The mission of the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy is to provide Virginia’s political, business, academic, community and media leadership with thoughtful, realistic, useful and non-partisan analysis of public policy issues confronting our Commonwealth.
Washington: Evergreen Freedom Foundation
EFF is a non-profit public policy research organization dedicated to indidivual liberty, free enterprise and limited, accountable government.
Washington: Washington Policy Center
Washington Policy Center (WPC) improves lives of Washington citizens by providing accurate, high-quality research for policymakers, the media and the general public. WPC is an independent, non-partisan, research and education organization located in Seattle, Washington, that publishes studies, sponsors events and conferences and educates citizens on public policy issues facing our region.
Wisconsin: Wisconsin Policy Research Institute
The Wisconsin Policy Research Institute Inc., established in 1987, is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit Institute working 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 prosperity.