American Enterprise Institute

The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI) is an influential right-wing think tank that advocates for lower taxes, fewer protections for consumers and the environment, and cuts to the social safety net. AEI describes itself as "committed to expanding liberty, increasing individual opportunity, and strengthening free enterprise."

In 2014 The Washington Post wrote that under CEO Arthur Brooks, AEI had emerged as "the dominant conservative think tank," becoming more influential than the Heritage Foundation.

During the George W. Bush administration, AEI was regarded "as the intellectual command post of the neoconservative campaign for regime change in Iraq," Vanity Fair noted.

AEI had approximately 225 staff and an annual budget of more than $50 million in 2015.

Documents Contained at the Anti-Environmental Archives

Documents written by or referencing this person or organization are contained in the Anti-Environmental Archive, launched by Greenpeace on Earth Day, 2015. The archive contains 3,500 documents, some 27,000 pages, covering 350 organizations and individuals. The current archive includes mainly documents collected in the late 1980s through the early 2000s by The Clearinghouse on Environmental Advocacy and Research (CLEAR), an organization that tracked the rise of the so called "Wise Use" movement in the 1990s during the Clinton presidency. Access the index to the Anti-Environmental Archives here.

RELATED ENTRIES
AEI (Doc Index)
American Enterprise Institute
Arthur C Brooks & William Baroody Jr & Sn.

News and Controversies

Alignment with and Donations from the Tobacco Industry

According to a report from the Guardian, AEI "has aligned itself with the tobacco industry on many issues."

Examples of AEI's work alongside the tobacco industry's interests, according to the report, include:

• Saying that "researchers should take money from big tobacco to conduct their research"
• Saying that "cigarette tax increases fund organized crime and terrorism"
• Arguing that cigarette taxes lead to smuggling.

In addition, the Guardian report says that AEI accepted donations from Altria -- the parent company of Philip Morris USA, John Middleton, Inc., and U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company, Inc.--"every year between 2011 and 2017. It is unclear what proportion of its budget is funded by tobacco companies."

In 1980, AEI for the sum of $25,000 produced a study in support of the tobacco industry titled, Cost-Benefit Analysis of Regulation: Consumer Products. The study was designed to counteract "social cost" arguments against smoking by broadening the social cost issue to include other consumer products such as alcohol and saccharin. The social cost arguments against smoking hold that smoking burdens society with additional costs from on-the-job absenteeism, medical costs, cleaning costs and fires. The report was part of the global tobacco industry's 1980s Social Costs/Social Values Project, carried out to refute emerging social cost arguments against smoking.

Astroturfing for Comcast in Opposing Net Neutrality

AEI is among the think tanks that have received funding from telecom giant Comcast, which has aimed contributions to make its lobbying more effective, according to The Washington Post:

Contributions to think tanks are also part of the Washington strategy. They are intended to ensure that Comcast is "involved in the public policy discussions that affect the company," said Sena Fitzmaurice, a spokesperson for the cable giant.

"Shoe leather lobbying gets you only so far," said Michael Meehan, president of VennSquared Communications, who helps companies manage their Washington messages. "Then it’s think tanks that write white papers, and white papers are taken by shoe-leather lobbyists into the congressional offices."

Comcast "has worked with most of the major think tanks in town who are interested in communications issues," including the Aspen Institute, the Brookings Institution and the American Enterprise Institute, Fitzmaurice said, declining to provide further details.

AEI and other Comcast-funded organizations wrote op-eds favoring Comcast's position on FCC rules governing Net neutrality, which would have allowed broadband providers to charge services for priority access and speeds and which would not have classified broadband as a "common carrier" service regulated like a utility.

Esquire reported,

the American Enterprise Institute's Richard Bennett, wrote a story for leading tech website GigaOm in favor of the FCC's new Net neutrality rules. Bennett did not reveal the Institute's relationship with Comcast at any point within the piece...

When reached by phone, Bennett said that he had been writing about Net neutrality for a decade before joining the American Enterprise Institute.

"AEI's only had a tech policy center for maybe a year," he said. "I think you're trying to connect dots that aren't there.

"The Institute has no official stance on the Net neutrality issue," he added.

But the Institute's most read stories on Net neutrality clearly favor the FCC's new plan for a regulated Internet. One, titled "Time to give up the Net neutrality quest" was reprinted in the Wall Street Journal's Opinion section.

Another, titled "Net neutrality is a bad idea that's run its course," was reprinted on RealClearMarkets.com. Neither Bennett nor the publication discloses his employer's ties to Comcast in either piece, but both identify the American Enterprise Institute next to his byline.

AEI Calls, Says Raising Employee Wages Hurts Employees

AEI scholars caution against legislation raising the minimum wage “for the sake of low-wage workers,” claiming that mandating a higher wage increases the cost of employment and will therefore leave fewer jobs. In one article, AEI resident scholar Michael R. Strain called Seattle’s initiative to increase the city’s wage requirements “simply reckless.”

AEI Calls Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform "Disastrously Wrong Response"

AEI has spoken out against the financial system regulations created under the Dodd-Frank Act. In an article, AEI scholar Peter J. Wallison claimed that the 2008 financial crisis, which led to the legislation, “was not caused by insufficient regulation, let alone by an inherently unstable financial system. It was caused by government housing policies…” Wallison wrote, “The Dodd-Frank Act was a disastrously wrong response,” claiming it created uncertainty and removed the incentive for financial institutions to take risk.

Support for ALEC Voter ID Requirements

In 2008, AEI showed support for photo ID requirements for voting in elections, a "model bill" endorsed and promoted by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in 2009. AEI resident scholar Norman J. Ornstein wrote, “I do not think, in principle, that requiring a photo ID is evil or onerous. An official photo ID can protect voters against charges that they are ineligible to vote” — as long as the ID is issued at no cost to the recipient.

Casting Doubt on Global Warming

In February 2007, The Guardian (UK) reported that AEI was offering scientists and economists $10,000 each, "to undermine a major climate change report" from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). AEI asked for "articles that emphasise the shortcomings" of the IPCC report, which "is widely regarded as the most comprehensive review yet of climate change science." AEI visiting scholar Kenneth Green made the $10,000 offer "to scientists in Britain, the US and elsewhere," in a letter describing the IPCC as "resistant to reasonable criticism and dissent."

The Guardian reported further that AEI "has received more than $1.6m from ExxonMobil, and more than 20 of its staff have worked as consultants to the Bush administration. Lee Raymond, a former head of ExxonMobil, is the vice-chairman of AEI's board of trustees," added The Guardian.

Since the time of that report, AEI has continued to receive money from Exxon Mobil — a total of at least $1,520,000.

AEI and the head of its energy studies department, Benjamin Zycher, have faced criticism for distorting scientific findings on global warming from Jeffrey Sachs, a leading environmental studies scholar, Columbia University professor, economist, and UN advisor. Zycher had once criticized Sachs for misconstruing the IPCC conclusions on global warming; however, Sachs responded, "It is Zycher who distorts, misrepresents, or simply ignores the IPCC conclusions."

Sachs went on to write:

"It is time for Zycher and, indeed, the American Enterprise Institute, to come clean. The AEI, despite its roster of distinguished academics, has failed to be constructive in the climate debate. It's time that the AEI puts forward a strategy to achieve the globally agreed objective of avoiding dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system."

Support for "Regime Change" in Iraq

AEI emerged as one of the leading architects of the Bush administration's foreign policy. AEI has rented office space to the Project for the New American Century, one of the leading voices that pushed the Bush administration's plan for "regime change" through war in Iraq. AEI reps have also aggressively denied that the war has anything to do with oil.

Paul Wolfowitz, who was Secretary of Defense under former President George W. Bush from the beginning of his presidential term until June 2005, is a scholar at AEI (as of July 2014). During his time in the Bush administration, Wolfowitz was a major architect of the United States’ failed Iraq policy.

NGO Watch

In June 2003, AEI and another right-wing group, the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, launched a new website NGOWatch.org/NGOwatch.org to expose the funding, operations and agendas of international NGOs, and particularly their alleged efforts to constrain U.S. freedom of action in international affairs and influence the behavior of corporations abroad. AEI claimed that "The extraordinary growth of advocacy NGOs in liberal democracies has the potential to undermine the sovereignty of constitutional democracies, as well as the effectiveness of credible NGOs." Ralph Nader responded, "What they are condemning, with vague, ironic regulatory nostrums proposed against dissenting citizen groups, is democracy itself."

Background

Mission Statement

The American Enterprise Institute describes itself as a "community of scholars and supporters committed to expanding liberty, increasing individual opportunity, and strengthening free enterprise." AEI describes its purpose as "[serving] leaders and the public through research and education on the most important issues of the day." AEI's research areas include economics, foreign and defense policy, politics and public opinion, education, health, energy and the environment, and society and culture.

History

As of 2016, AEI claims that it was founded in 1938, and that it "arrived in Washington" DC in 1943 as the "American Enterprise Association." Around that time, the AEA shared an address with the Transportation Association of America.

Jane Mayer writes of AEI's early history in Dark Money,

"In 1950, Congress investigated the group that became AEI, denouncing it as a "'big business' pressure organization" that should register as a lobbying shop and get barred from offering its donors tax deductions....The Internal Revenue Service nonetheless threatened the think tank's tax-exempt status. It was this searing experience that prompted AEI and other conservative groups of this period to avoid the appearance of being too partisan or of acting as corporate shills."

The predecessor organization AEA had failed to register as a lobby, despite spending "considerable sums wining and dining members of congress," reported the Evening Independent in 1949.

Originally set up to speak for big business, the AEI came to major national prominence in the 1970s under the leadership of William Baroody, Sr., during which time it grew from a group of twelve resident "thinkers" to a well-funded organization with 145 resident scholars, 80 adjunct scholars, and a large supporting staff. This period of growth was largely funded by the Howard Pew Freedom Trust.

Irving Kristol left the Congress for Cultural Freedom in the late 1960s to work at the AEI after the CIA's funding of CCF was widely revealed in the media following initial reports in Ramparts magazine.

President Ronald Reagan said of AEI in 1988: "The American Enterprise Institute stands at the center of a revolution in ideas of which I, too, have been a part. AEI's remarkably distinguished body of work is testimony to the triumph of the think tank. For today the most important American scholarship comes out of our think tanks--and none has been more influential than the American Enterprise Institute."

In 1986, the Olin and Smith Richardson foundations withdrew their support from AEI because of substantive disagreement with certain of its policies, causing William Baroody, Jr. to resign in the ensuing financial crisis. Following criticism by conservatives that AEI was too centrist, it moved its program further to the right and became more aggressive in pursuing its public policy goals.

See also Document Index & Timeline.

Intellectual Home of Bush-Era Neoconservatism

AEI was noted for providing the George W Bush administration with the hawkish officials and advisers who promoted the administration’s "war on terror" policies, including John Bolton, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, and John Yoo. The result was the "coalition of the willing" going to war with Iran; it also strongly promotes a right-wing "pro-Israel" position.

The AEI’s influence in the White House during the Bush presidency marked a high-point of its role in influencing public debate on American foreign policy and defense. In a 2007 speech,

"I admire AEI a lot," Bush said. "After all, I have been consistently borrowing some of your best people. More than 20 AEI scholars have worked in my administration."

Continued Support for Hawkish Foreign Policy

However it still actively promotes Middle Eastern military entanglements for both the US and its allies. In recent years it has advocated intervention in Syria’s civil war, and it actively lobbied the Obama administration to take a hard line against Iran while retaining the military presence in Afghanistan. The AEI's "Institute for the Study of War" has recently suggested that the United States should send 25,000 ground troops to Iraq and Syria.

Ties to the Koch Brothers

David H. Koch was on the American Enterprise Institute's National Council, whose members "serve as ambassadors for AEI, providing AEI with advice, insight, and guidance as [it] looks to reach out to new friends across the country."

Between 2002 and 2013, the American Enterprise Institute received a total of $867,289 in funding from the Charles G. Koch Foundation.

Koch Wiki

Charles Koch is the right-wing billionaire owner of Koch Industries. As one of the richest people in the world, he is a key funder of the right-wing infrastructure, including the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the State Policy Network (SPN). In SourceWatch, key articles on Charles Koch and his late brother David include: Koch Brothers, Americans for Prosperity, Stand Together Chamber of Commerce, Stand Together, Koch Family Foundations, Koch Universities, and I360.

Ties to DonorsTrust, a Koch Political Network Conduit

DonorsTrust is considered a "donor-advised fund," which means that it divides its funds into separate accounts for individual donors, who then recommend disbursements from the accounts to different non-profits. Funds like DonorsTrust are not uncommon in the non-profit sector, but they do cloak the identity of the original donors because the funds are typically distributed in the name of DonorsTrust rather than the original donors. Very little was known about DonorsTrust until late 2012 and early 2013, when the Guardian and others published extensive reports on what Mother Jones called "the dark-money ATM of the conservative movement."

DonorsTrust Funding

The American Enterprise Institute received $19,840,954 from DonorsTrust between 2002 and 2011.

A report by the Center for Public Integrity exposes a number of DonorsTrust funders, many of which have ties to the Koch brothers. One of the most prominent funders is the Knowledge and Progress Fund, a Charles Koch-run organization and one of the group's largest known contributors, having donated at least $8 million since 2005. Other contributors known to have donated at least $1 million to DonorsTrust include the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation, Donald & Paula Smith Family Foundation, Searle Freedom Trust, Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, and the John M. Olin Foundation.

Since its inception in 1999, DonorsTrust has been used by conservative foundations and individuals to discretely funnel nearly $400 million to like-minded think tanks and media outlets. According to the organization's tax documents, in 2011 DonorsTrust contributed a total of $86 million to right-wing organizations. Many recipients had ties to the State Policy Network (SPN), a wide collection of conservative state-based think tanks and media organizations that focus on shaping public policy and opinion.

In 2013, the Center for Media and Democracy released a special report on SPN. Those who received DonorsTrust funding included media outlets such as the Franklin Center and the Lucy Burns Institute, as well as think tanks such as SPN itself, the Heartland Institute, Illinois Policy Institute, Independence Institute, Mackinac Center for Public Policy, South Carolina Policy Council, American Legislative Exchange Council, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, and the Cascade Policy Institute.

Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council

In August 2011, AEI President Arthur C. Brooks spoke at a "Leadership Dinner" sponsored by Reynolds American Tobacco at the 38th Annual Meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

About ALEC

ALEC is a corporate bill mill. It is not just a lobby or a front group; it is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wishlists to benefit their bottom line. Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. They pay for a seat on ALEC task forces where corporate lobbyists and special interest reps vote with elected officials to approve “model” bills. Learn more at the Center for Media and Democracy's ALECexposed.org, and check out breaking news on our ExposedbyCMD.org site.

Connections

The following was compiled by RightWeb:

• The Center for the Study of American Business and the Center for Strategic and International Studies are said to be spinoffs of the AEI (Saloma, 1984).
• The Business Roundtable: according to journalist Sidney Blumenthal, making contributions to AEI was a pitch made at almost every policy committee meeting of the Roundtable
• During the 80s, staff members were funded with the hawkish anticommunist group Committee on the Present Danger.
• Staff alumni Jeane Kirkpatrick and William Simon were vice president and chairman of the Nicaraguan Freedom Fund.
• Alumni Michael Novak and Irving Kristol co-founded the Coalition for a Democratic Majority
• Heritage Foundation
• Council for National Policy
• Center for Strategic and International Studies
• Center for Security Policy founded by Frank Gaffney with an alleged mission to "promote peace through American strength".
• Project for the New American Century, PNAC

Funding

Although AEI does not have to disclose its donors publically, a list of foundations that have donated to AEI can be found online. The full list can be found below:

• Achelis & Bodman Foundation Co Manice & Budd: $103,000 (2020-2021)
• Adolph Coors Foundation: $2,275,000 (2009-2021)
• Ajw Foundation Inc: $20,000 (2019-2022)
• Alabama Power Foundation Inc: $20,000 (2020-2021)
• Albert & Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation: $5,000
• Alta And John Franks Foundation: $100,000 (2020-2021)
• Ambrose Monell Foundation: $200,000 (2020-2021)
• American Endowment Foundation: $721,250 (2017-2021)
• American Online Giving Foundation Inc: $91,772 (2020-2022)
• Amy And Leslie Ware Foundation: 159,000 (2018-2020)
• Andrea Waitt Carlton Family Foundation: $25,000 (2020)
• Annie E Casey Foundation Inc: $290,000 (2020-2021)
• Apex Foundation: $10,000 (2020-2021)
• Armstrong Foundation: $250,000 (2017-2021)
• Arthur And Carlyse Ciocca Charitable Foundation: $100,000 (2018)
• Asness Family Foundation: $6,720,000 (2018-2021)
• Aspen Institute: $125,000 (2020)
• Bader Family Foundation: $300,000 (2014-2022)
• Bank Of America Charitable Foundation Inc: $453,060 (2017-2020)
• Beall Foundation: $105,000 (2017-2021)
• Bellevue Foundation: $200,000 (2020-2021)
• Berry Foundation Inc: $11,000 (2017-2021)
• Bertha And John Garabedian Charitable: $11,094,500 (2017-2020)
• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: $1,850,000 (2019-2021)
• Bill And Linda Stavropoulos Family Foundation: $55,000 (2017-2021)
• Binder Foundation: $654,000 (2017-2021)
• Biotechnology Innovation Organization: $60,000 (2017-2019)
• Blake Family Charitable Foundation: $2,000 (2020-2021)
• Blake Family Foundation Inc: $300,000 (2019, 2021)
• Boston Foundation Inc: $27,000 (2021)
• Bradley Impact Fund: $841,870 (2017-2022)
• Brillembourg Ochoa Family Foundation Inc: $277,500 (2017-2021)
• Bruce E And Robbi S Toll Foundation Foundation: $20,000 (2020-2021)
• Butler Family Foundation: $100,000 (2020-2021)
• California Community Foundation: $378,000 (2017-2021)
• Campbell Family Foundation: $3,500 (2017-2019)
• Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation: $91,000 (2021)
• Carnegie Corporation Of New York: $100,000 (2021)
• Castellini Foundation Co Christopher L Fister Trustee: $691,000 (2017-2019)
• Catherine L & Edward A Lozick Foundation: $25,000 (2020)
• Charles Koch Foundation: $2,398,967 (2004-2019)
• Charles M And Gloria F Parrish Foundation Co Erika P Bunnel: $125,000 (2017-2021)
• Chicago Community Trust: $73,500 (2017-2021)
• Choksi Family Charitable Trust: $50,000 (2021)
• Christmas Valley Foundation Co John A Virant Trustee: $5,000 (2017)
• Cicp Foundation Inc: $365,000 (2019-2020)
• Claws Foundation C/O Sterling Foundation Management Llc: $25,000 (2020)
• Columbus Foundation: $175,000 (2017-2021)
• Combined Jewish Philanthropies Of Greater Boston Inc: $1,000,000 (2017-2019)
• Com Family Foundation: $50,000 (2020)
• Community Foundation For Greater Atlanta Inc: $382,500 (2017-2021)
• Community Foundation For Northeast Florida: $75,000 (2021)
• Community Foundation Of Greater Birmingham: $51,250 (2019-2021)
• Community Foundation Of Greater Greensboro Inc: $100,000 (2017-2018)
• Community Foundation Of Greater Memphis Inc: $225,000 (2020-2021)
• Community Foundation Of Middle Tennessee Inc: $17,500 (2017-2019)
• Community Foundation Of Sarasota Co Inc: $35,000 (2017-2020)
• Conru Foundation: $60,000 (2019-2020)
• Corbett Family Charitable Foundation Inc: $25,000 (2018)
• Corporation For Public Broadcasting: $10,000 (2017)
• Craig And Susan Mccaw Foundation: $200,000 (2017-2019)
• Creigh Family Foundation: $11,000 (2019-2021)
• Dallas Foundation: $85,000 (2017-2021)
• Daniels Fund: $150,000 (2020)
• David A Coulter And Susan C Weeks Charitable Foundation: $50,000 (2022)
• David And Vickie Smick Foundation: $66,000 (2018-2019)
• David Family Foundation Inc: $65,000 (2017-2021)
• Democracy Fund Inc: $100,000 (2020)
• Diana Davis Spencer Foundation: $3,500,000 (2014-2015)
• Dick And Betsy Devos Family Foundation: $825,000 (2020-2021)
• Donald And Allison Gulbrandsen Foundation Inc: $194,300 (2017-2021)
• Donald J And Joan P Mcnamara Foundation: $50,000 (2020-2021)
• Donors Capital Fund: $13,373,843 (2010-2020)
• DonorsTrust: $4,011,350 (2010-2022)
• Douglas & Angela Braly Family Foundation: $50,000 (2021)
• Douglas & Maria Devos Foundation: $1,000,000 (2020-2021)
• Dunn Foundation: $150,000 (2019-2020)
• Edelman Family Foundation C/O Mariner Wealth Advisors: $250,000 (2021)
• Edward C And Linda Dresner Levy Foundation: $75,000 (2018-2022)
• Ehrenkranz Family Foundation C/O Joel S Ehrenkranz: $25,000 (2021)
• Ending Spending Inc: $10,000 (2019)
• Erickson Family Charitable Foundation: $190,000 (2017, 2020)
• Farrell Family Foundation: $20,000 (2020-2021)
• Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund: $3,354,264 (2019-2022)
• Fjc: $15,000 (2019-2021)
• Fm Kirby Foundation Inc: $110,000 (2020-2021)
• Foglia Family Foundation: $25,000 (2022)
• Ford Foundation: $1,5000 (2017-2020)
• Francis And Kathleen Rooney Foundation: $25,000 (2021)
• Frankel Family Charitable Trust: $12,000 (2017-2021)
• Frist Foundation: $5,000 (2019)
• Gad And Marlene Janay Foundation Inc: $50,000 (2017-2021)
• Garatoni-Smith Family Foundation: $15,000 (2017, 2019)
• George Edward Durell Foundation: $155,000 (2016-2020)
• Gidel Family Foundation Inc: $12,500 (2018-2021)
• Glades Foundation: $100,000 (2020-2021)
• Goad Family Foundation Co Argent Trust: $10,000 (2020-2021)
• Goizueta Foundation Inc: $26,250 (2020-2021)
• Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift Fund: $188,000 (2020-2022)
• Halcyon Foundation: $300,000 (2020-2021)
• Hamilton Roddis Foundation Inc: $135,000 (2017-2021)
• Harlan And Amy Korenvaes Family Foundation: $100,000 (2018, 2020)
• Harvey M Meyerhoff Fund Inc: $7,500 (2018-2019)
• Haskell Foundation: $5,000 (2021)
• Helping Fund: $5,000 (2021)
• Hersh Foundation: $100,000 (2020-2021)
• Hilibrand Foundation Co Steven M Loeb Esq: $135,000 (2017-2021)
• Hintz Family Fund Inc : $3,200,000 (2017-2021)
• Holman Foundation Inc: $10,000 (2020)
• Hubbard Family Foundation Inc: $50,000 (2021)
• Hussman Foundation: $9,000 (2017-2021)
• Ippolito Charitable Foundation Of Galveston: $5,000 (2019-2021)
• James And Catherine Denny Foundation: $100,000 (2018-2021)
• James Lee Sorenson Family Foundation $50,000 (2021)
• Jean & E Floyd Kvamme Foundation: $75,000 (2021-2022)
• Jewish Communal Fund: $405,000 (2017-2022)
• Jewish Community Federation Of San Francisco The Peninsula Marin And Sonoma: $125,000 (2017-2019)
• Jewish Community Foundation Of San Diego: $30,000 (2018-2021)
• Jewish Federation Of Greater Washington Inc: $20,000 (2017-2018)
• Jewish Federation Of Metropolitan Chicago: $10,000 (2018)
• J Michael Gearon Jr Foundation: $125,000 (2017-2021)
• Joe Ricketts Nebraska Foundation: $200,000 (2021-2022)
• John & Weezie Gates Charitable Trust C/O John Gates Jr: $146,000 (2017-2021)
• John And Carol Walter Family Foundation Inc: $50,000 (2017, 2019)
• John Doar Foundation: $25,000 (2019)
• John N And Kathleen S Macdonough Foundation Inc: $10,000 (2017-2021)
• John Randolph Haynes And Dora Haynes Foundation: $50,000 (2021-2022)
• John S And James L Knight Foundation: $2,250,000 (2017-2020)
• John Templeton Foundation: $240,600 (2021)
• John William Pope Foundation: $345,000 (2014-2022)
• Josephine Herbert Gleis Foundation: $30,000 (2017-2021)
• Joseph W Craft Iii Foundation: $550,000 (2019-2021)
• Jpmorgan Chase Foundation: $3,407 (2017-2020)
• K&F Baxter Family Foundation Inc C/O Whittier Trust: $10,000 (2021)
• Karakin Foundation: $50,000 (2020-2021)
• Karin Bain And John Kukral Foundation: $1,500,000 (2019-2021)
• Kauffmann Family Foundation Inc: $10,000 (2017)
• Kickapoo Springs Foundation: $45,000 (2020-2021)
• Kovner Foundation: $2,000,000 (2018-2021)
• Krouse Family Foundation Inc: $50,000 (2020)
• L&C Wood Family Foundation: $10,000 (2020-2021)
• Lakeside Foundation: $20,000 (2020-2021)
• L And C Wood Family Foundation Inc: $60,000 (2016-2019)
• Laura And John Arnold Foundation: $210,195 (2020-2021)
• Lebherz Family Foundation: $224,300 (2017-2021)
• Legett Foundation: $45,000 (2020-2021)
• Leon Lowenstein Foundation Inc: $80,000 (2019)
• Light Foundation Inc: $10,000 (2020)
• Lilly Endowment Inc: $509,000 (2017-2021)
• Lloyd A Fry Foundation: $20,000 (2018-2021)
• Lovett & Ruth Peters Foundation: $60,000 (2020-2021)
• Lowry Murphey Family Foundation Inc: $7,500 (2017-2018)
• Lozick Family Foundation: $50,000 (2021)
• Luke 638 Foundation: $450,000 (2017-2021)
• Lynde And Harry Bradley Foundation: $3,180,000 (2012-2022)
• Macdougal Family Foundation: $1,000 (2021)
• Malott Family Foundation: $1,196,902 (2017-2018)
• Marc & Eva Stern Foundation: $50,198 (2020)
• Marcus Foundation: $525,000 (2020-2021)
• Margaret And Daniel Loeb Third Point Foundation: $400,000 (2017, 2019-2021)
• Marin Community Foundation: $190,000 (2017-2020)
• Martino Family Foundation: $250,000 (2019-2020)
• Mcnamara Purcell Foundation: $100,000 (2020-2021)
• Michelson Foundation: $105,000 (2019-2021)
• M J Murdock Charitable Trust: $550,000 (2020-2021)
• Mooney-Reed Charitable Foundation: $850,000 (2017-2021)
• Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc: $50,000 (2021)
• Morgridge Family Foundation: $1,200,000 (2020-2021)
• National Philanthropic Trust: $4,782,595 (2017-2022)
• Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc: $238,400 (2017-2021)
• Nextgen Chamber Of Commerce Foundation: $50,000 (2021)
• Nicklas Family Foundation: $25,000 (2019)
• Norcliffe Foundation: $50,000 (2021)
• Norma Pace Foundation: $25,000 (2020-2021)
• Northwestern University: $161,248 (2019-2020)
• Orma Pace Foundation: $20,000 (2018-2019)
• Oshay Family Foundation: $3,000 (2019-2021)
• Patient Rights Advocate Inc: $16,000 (2019)
• Pattee Foundation: $10,000 (2020)
• Paul Galvin Memorial Foundation Trust: $400,000 (2020-2021)
• Pema Foundation Inc: $882,000 (2017-2021)
• Peter And Ann Lambertus Family Foundation: $40,000 (2019-2021)
• Peter G Peterson Foundation: $65,000 (2021-2022)
• Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers Of America: $400,000 (2017-2021)
• Pittsburgh Foundation: $76,500 (2017-2020)
• Preston B And Maurine M Hotchkis Family Foundation: $6,000 (2017-2018)
• Pritzker Family Foundation C/O Pritzker Group: $40,000 (2020)
• Protective Life Foundation: $10,000 (2019)
• Psalm 103 Foundation: $25,000 (2021)
• Raikes Foundation: $270,900 (2017)
• Red Bird Hollow Foundation: $20,000 (2017-2022)
• Research Institute For Housing America Trust Fund: $50,000 (2017-2021)
• Richard Horvitz And Erica Hartman-Horvitz Foundation: $9,000 (2017-2021)
• Robert And Ardis James Foundation Inc: $15,000 (2020-2021)
• Robert And Mimie Helm Family Charitable Trust D/B/A Helm Family Charitable Trust: $10,000 (2020)
• Robert B And Janet A Hoffman Foundation: $200,000 (2017-2021)
• Robert D And Patricia E Kern Family Foundation: $4,076,800 (2020-2021)
• Robert E Lamb Foundation Inc: $6,000 (2017-2020)
• Robert Galvin Foundation: $275,000 (2017-2019)
• Robert H & Susan F Castellini Foundation C/O Christopher L Fister Trustee: $75,000 (2021)
• Robert L And Jean Clarke Family Foundation: $1,750 (2020-2021)
• Robert P And Arlene R Kogod Family Foundation: $40,000 (2017-2020)
• Roberts Family Foundation: $79,000 (2017-2019)
• Rockefeller Foundation: $275,000 (2018-2020)
• Rose Family Fdn : $50,000 (2019)
• Rosengard Foundation Inc: $90,000 (2018-2021)
• Rosenkranz Foundation Inc: $200,000 (2018-2021)
• Sarah Scaife Foundation: $11,450,000 (2012-2022)
• Satter Foundation: $230,000 (2018-2021)
• Saul Zaentz Charitable Foundation: $350,000 (2017-2018)
• Sayers Foundation Inc: $25,000 (2017-2021)
• Schwab Charitable Fund: $8,738,120 (2017-2022)
• Searle Freedom Trust: $13,800,000 (2012-2022)
• Seattle Foundation: $12,500 (2018,2021)
• Seaver Foundation: $50,000 (2021)
• Select Equity Group Foundation: $6,000 (2017-2021)
• Shepherd Foundation Inc: $75,000 (2019-2021)
• Silicon Valley Community Foundation: $1,518,500 (2017-2021)
• Smithburg Family Foundation: $22,500 (2019-2021)
• Smith Family Foundation Inc: $5,000 (2021)
• Smith Richardson Foundation Inc: $1,626,700 (2020-2021)
• Spogli Family Foundation: $5,000 (2020)
• Springview Foundation: $10,000 (2021)
• Stand Together Fellowships: $500,000 (2020)
• Stand Together Trust: $666,235 (2022)
• Stanley E Fulton Family Foundation: $150,000 (2020-2021)
• Stephanie And Peter Nolan Foundation: $150,000 (2020-2021)
• Stephen F & Camilla T Brauer Charitable Trust: $50,000 (2021)
• Steve & Amy Van Andel Foundation: $130,000 (2017-2021)
• Strake Foundation: $8,000 (2020-2021)
• Sturm Family Foundation: $50,000 (2021)
• Sun Capital Partners Foundation Inc: $50,000 (2019)
• Susan Rasinski Mccaw Foundation: $50,000 (2020-2021)
• Tampa Orlando Pinellas Jewish Foundation Inc: $375,000 (2018-2020)
• Tang Fund: $19,850(2017-2021)
• Thomas And Stacey Siebel Foundation: $500,000 (2020-2021)
• Thomas D Klingenstein Fund: $20,184 (2017-2019)
• Tina And Steven Price Charitable Foundation: $210,000 (2017-2020)
• Tom And Charlene Marsh Family Foundation: $10,000 (2020)
• Town Branch Foundation: $200,000 (2020-2021)
• Truecos Foundation: $5,500 (2021-2022)
• Twin Chimney: $7,500 (2017-2018)
• Tyrrell Foundation Inc: $25,000 (2021)
• Unite America Institute: $50,000 (2021)
• United Jewish Foundation: $25,000 (2020)
• United Way Of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County $50,000 (2022)
• United Way Of Greater St Louis: $7,000 (2021)
• University Of Denver: $50,000 (2021)
• Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program: $1,542,050 (2021-2022)
• Walton Family Foundation Inc: $530,300 (2020-2021)
• William & Flora Hewlett Foundation: $432,000 (2019-2020)
• William H Donner Foundation: $45,000 (2021)
• Windsor Foundation: $9,500 (2017-2021)
• Winston-Salem Foundation: $25,000 (2020)
• Wk Kellogg Foundation: $2,360,898 (2017-2021)
• Wonderful Life Foundation: $75,000 (2019-2021)
• Woodford Foundation: $3,300 (2017-2021)
• Woodmere Foundation: $10,000 (2020-2021)
• W P Carey Foundation: $25,000 (2021)
• Wyman Family Foundation Inc: $20,000 (2021-2022)
• Zell Family Foundation: $10,000 (2020)

Prior to 2017

Between 2011 and 2017, AEI accepted donations from Altria every year.

In 1997, Philip Morris contributed $100,000 to the Institute. During 2007, ExxonMobil contributed $240,000 (including an addition $30,000 for the joint AEI Brookings "Judicial Education Program").

From 1990 to 2014, AEI received more than $111 million in disclosed contributions from the following organizations:

• Kovner Foundation
• Donors Capital Fund
• Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation
• Smith Richardson Foundation
• Sarah Scaife Foundation
• Searle Freedom Trust

Funding has come from many other sources, such as Amoco, the Kraft Foundation, and the Procter & Gamble Fund. Records are incomplete.

Core Financials

2022:

• Total Revenue: $53,808,205
• Total Expenses: $66,819,074
• Net Assets: $340,988,505

Grants Distributed

• State Policy Network: $20,000

2021:

• Total Revenue: $69,385,964
• Total Expenses: $60,624,542
• Net Assets: $340,145,522

Grants Distributed

• Brown University: $10,000

2020:

• Total Revenue: $80,742,317
• Total Expenses: $51,057,669
• Net Assets: $381,885,965

Grants Distributed

• University of Chicago: $100,000
• Urban Alliance Foundation: $15,000

2019:

• Total Revenue: $48,035,784
• Total Expenses: $51,698,842
• Net Assets: $303,043,149

2018:

• Total Revenue: $51,439,296
• Total Expenses: $57,228,170
• Net Assets: $316,035,735

Grants Distributed

• Pace: $25,000
• Rocky Mountain Micro Finance Institute: $25,000

2017:

• Total Revenue: $61,713,630
• Total Expenses: $50,853,733
• Net Assets: $320,678,179

Personnel

AEI has more than 200 employees at their headquarters in Washington, D.C. AEI also has adjunct scholars and fellows at research universities around the United States. It also trains scholars from other parts of the world in how to run neopconservative think-tanks.

Officers

As of December 2023, AEI's officers were:.

• Robert Doar, President
• Jason Bertsch, Executive Vice President
• Suzanne Gershowitz, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
• John Cusey, Senior Vice President for External Relations
• Kazuki Ko, Chief Financial Officer
• Matthew Continetti, Director, Domestic Policy Studies, Patrick and Charlene Neal Chair in American Prosperity
• Yuval Levin, Director, Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies, Beth and Ravenel Curry Chair in Public Policy, Editor in Chief, National Affairs
• Kori Schake, Director, Foreign and Defense Policy Studies
• Michael R. Strain, Director, Economic Policy Studies, Arthur F. Burns Scholar in Political Economy

Former Officers

• Arthur C. Brooks, President
• David Gerson, Executive Vice President
• Danielle Pletka, Vice President, Foreign and Defense Policy Studies
• Toby Stock, Vice President, Development and Academic Programs
• Christopher DeMuth - President. Researches government regulation. He became president of AEI in 1986.
• David Gerson - Executive Vice President
• Jason Bertsch - Vice President, Marketing
• Henry Olsen - Vice President, National Research Initiative
• Danielle Pletka - Vice President, Foreign and Defense Policy Studies. Research areas include the Middle East, South Asia, terrorism, and weapons proliferation.

Board of Trustees

"AEI is governed by a Board of Trustees, composed of leading business and financial executives."

As of December 2023, they were:

• Daniel A. D'Aniello, Chairman, Cofounder and Chairman Emeritus, The Carlyle Group
• Clifford S. Asness, Managing and Founding Principal, AQR Capital Management, LLC
• The Honorable Richard B. Cheney
• Peter H. Coors, Chairman of the Board, Molson Coors Brewing Company
• Harlan Crow, Chairman, Crow Holdings
• Ravenel B. Curry III, Chief Investment Officer, Eagle Capital Management, LLC
• Kimberly O. Dennis, President and CEO, Searle Freedom Trust
• Dick DeVos, President, The Windquest Group
• Robert Doar, President, American Enterprise Institute
• Behdad Eghbali, Managing Partner and Cofounder, Clearlake Capital Group LP
• Martin C. Eltrich III, Partner, AEA Investors LP
• Tully M. Friedman, Managing Director, Retired, FFL Partners LLC
• Christopher B. Galvin, Chairman, Harrison Street Capital, LLC
• Harvey Golub, Retired Chairman and CEO, American Express Company, Chairman, Miller Buckfire
• Robert F. Greenhill, Founder and Chairman, Greenhill & Co., Inc.
• Frank J. Hanna, CEO, Hanna Capital, LLC
• John K. Hurley, Founder and Managing Partner, Cavalry Asset Management
• Deepa Javeri, Chief Financial Officer, XRHealth
• Joanna F. Jonsson, Vice Chair, Capital Group, President, Capital Research Management Company
• Marc S. Lipschultz, Cofounder and President, Owl Rock Capital Partners
• John A. Luke Jr., Chairman, WestRock Company
• Pat Neal, Chairman of the Executive Committee, Neal Communities
• Ross Perot Jr., Chairman, Hillwood Development Company
• Geoffrey S. Rehnert, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Audax Group
• Kevin B. Rollins, Retired CEO, Dell, Inc.
• Matthew K. Rose, Retired CEO/Chairman, BNSF Railway
• Edward B. Rust Jr., Chairman Emeritus, State Farm Insurance Companies
• Wilson H. Taylor, Chairman Emeritus, Cigna Corporation
• William H. Walton, Managing Member, Rockpoint Group, LLC
• Will Weatherford, Managing Partner, Weatherford Capital

Former Board Members

• Gordon M. Binder, Managing Director of Coastview Capital, LLC
• Arthur C. Brooks, President and Beth and Ravenel Curry Chair in Free Enterprise for the American Enterprise Institute
• Elisabeth DeVos, Chairman for The Windquest Group
• John V. Faraci, Chairman for International Paper
• Raymond V. Gilmartin, Harvard Business School
• Seth A. Klarman, President and CEO for The Baupost Group, LLC
• Bruce Kovner, Chairman for the Caxton Alternative Management, LP
• D. Gideon Searle, Managing Partner for The Serafin Group, LLC
• Mel Sembler, Founder and Chairman for The Sembler Company
• Marilyn Ware, Chairman, Ret., American Water Works
• Roger Hertog
• Robert A. Pritzker, President and CEO, Colson Associates, Inc. (also President and Director of the Pritzker Foundation
• J. Peter Ricketts, President and Director, Platte Institute for Economic Research, Inc.
• William L. Walton, Chairman, Allied Capital Corporation
• James Q. Wilson, School of Public Policy, Pepperdine University
• George L. Priest, Yale Law School

Emeritus Trustees

As of December 2023, the Emeritus Trustees were:

• John V. Faraci
• Bruce Kovner
• Paul F. Oreffice
• D. Gideon Searle
• Henry Wendt

Former Emeritus Trustees

• Willard C. Butcher
• Paul W. McCracken
• Richard B. Madden
• Robert H. Malott

Academic Advisors

"AEI's Council of Academic Advisers ... including distinguished academics from a variety of policy-related fields, advises AEI's president on the Institute's research agenda, publications, and appointments, and each year selects the recipient of the Irving Kristol Award."

As of December 11, 2023, they were:

• Alan J. Auerbach, Robert D. Burch Professor of Economics and Law, University of California, Berkeley
• Eliot Cohen, Robert E. Osgood Professor of Strategic Studies, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University
• Eugene F. Fama, Robert R. McCormick Distinguished Service Professor of Finance, Booth School of Business, University of Chicago
• Martin Feldstein, George F. Baker Professor of Economics, Harvard University
• Aaron L. Friedberg, Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University
• Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Director, James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, Princeton University
• Eric A. Hanushek, Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
• R. Glenn Hubbard, Dean and Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics, Columbia Business School
• Walter Russell Mead, James Clarke Chace Professor of Foreign Affairs and the Humanities, Bard College
• John L. Palmer, University Professor and Dean Emeritus, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University
• Mark Pauly, Bendheim Professor, Professor of Health Care Management, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
• Sam Peltzman, Ralph and Dorothy Keller Distinguished Service Professor of Economics, Booth School of Business, University of Chicago
• Jeremy A. Rabkin, Professor of Law, George Mason University School of Law
• Harvey S. Rosen, John L. Weinberg Professor of Economics and Business Policy, Princeton University
• Richard J. Zeckhauser, Frank Plumpton Ramsey Professor of Political Economy, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

Former Academic Advisors

• George L. Priest, Edward J. Phelps Professor of Law and Economics, Yale Law School
• Gertrude Himmelfarb, Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus, City University of New York
• James Q. Wilson, Pepperdine University

Contact Information

American Enterprise Institute
1150 Seventeenth Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-862-5800
Fax: 202-862-7177
E-mail: info@aei.org
Website: http://www.aei.org
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AEI
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aei/

Articles and Resources

IRS Form 990 Filings

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

Related SourceWatch Articles

• House GOP Joins the War on ESG, Brought to You by Big Oil, Juliana Broad, 'ExposedbyCMD,' July 14th, 2023
• The Dirty Dozen: The Biggest Nonprofit Funders of Climate Denial, Alex Kotch, 'ExposedbyCMD,' March 21st, 2022
• Bari Weiss’ New “Fiercely Independent” University Closely Tied to Right-Wing Koch Network, Alex Kotch, 'ExposedbyCMD,' November 30th, 2021
• Right-Wing Megadonors Are Financing Media Operations to Promote Their Ideologies, Alex Kotch, 'ExposedbyCMD,' January 27th, 2020
• How Dark Money Shaped the School Safety Debate, Walker Bragman and Alex Kotch, 'ExposedbyCMD,' March 8th, 2022

External Resources

• NeoCon Europe American Enterprise Institute

External Articles

Profiles

• Scholars & Fellows -- List of Scholars and Fellows from AEI web site.
• Archive of Scholars and Fellows pages from web.archive.org.
• Media Transparency -- For a funding history of AEI.
• John Saloma III, Ominous Politics, New York, NY: Hill and Wang, 1984.
• John B. Judis, Business and the Rise of K Street, Routledge Press, 2001.
• Media Transparency, American Enterprise Institute for public policy research (profile), accessed January 2004.
• RightWeb, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (profile), February 1991.
• George W. Bush's February 2003 speech to the AEI about the future of Iraq.

General articles

• "A Think Tank at the Brink," Newsweek, July 7, 1986.
• Brian Whitaker, "US Think Tanks Give Lessons in Foreign Policy," Guardian (UK), August 19, 2002.
• Ian Sample, "Scientists offered cash to dispute climate study," The Guardian, February 2, 2007.
• Juliet Eilperin, "AEI Critiques of Warming Questioned: Think Tank Defends Money Offers to Challenge Climate Report," Washington Post, February 5, 2007.
• Bill Berkowitz, "American Enterprise Institute takes lead in agitating against Iran", Media Transparency, February 26, 2007.
• Jim Lobe, "Likudnik Hawks Work to Undermine Annapolis," Inter Press Service (Antiwar.com), November 22, 2007.