Aequus Foundation

Aequus Foundation is a 501(c)(3) exempt private foundation based in Elmira, NY.

In 2011, the foundation reported $191,063 in revenue, $396,306 in expenses, and $3,145,289 in assets (fair market value).

Connections to State Policy Network, Heritage Foundation

From 2009 to 2011, the Aequus Foundation contributed just over half of their $778,750 given grants to State Policy Network think tanks and associate members, with $395,900 distributed among 18 of their member organizations.

The largest contribution, at $277,500 (just over a third of their total funding) from the foundation went to the Heritage Foundation, a right-wing think tank that has a strong influence over conservative legislators, and enjoyed a considerable prominence during the Reagan Administration. Edwin Feulner, a member of the Aequus Foundation board of directors, helped found the Heritage Foundation in 1973. The organization's website described the changes the foundation went through under Feulner, "Heritage grew from a nine-member staff on a shoestring budget working out of a rented office in 1977 to a 250-person, $80-million-a-year institution with a worldwide reputation for rigorous research and innovative policy recommendations, occupying three buildings near the U.S. Capitol."

Edwin Feulner and SPN, Right-Wing Organizations

Feulner has had many roles as a trustee for many right-wing think tanks and institutes, including at the national and international level. He currently serves as treasurer of Mont Pelerin Society, an organization that describes its staff and values as:

"The Mont Pelerin Society is composed of persons who continue to see the dangers to civilized society outlined in the statement of aims. They have seen economic and political liberalism in the ascendant for a time since World War II in some countries but also its apparent decline in more recent times. Though not necessarily sharing a common interpretation, either of causes or consequences, they see danger in the expansion of government, not least in state welfare, in the power of trade unions and business monopoly, and in the continuing threat and reality of inflation."

While Mont Pelerin Society is not a member of State Policy Network due to its status as an international organization, its values and policy issues often coincide.

Feulner also serves as a board member of the National Chamber Foundation, a trustee for the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, a board member at George Mason University, which houses the Institute for Humane Studies, and as a trustee for the Acton Institute and the International Republican Institute. Of the organizations Feulner is involved in, the Institute for Humane Studies, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, and the Acton Institute are all members of the State Policy Network.

Key Personnel

Board of Directors

According to their 2011 Form 990, the foundation's board of directors includes:

• Larry Arnn, executive director
• Edwin Feulner, director/secretary
• David Keyston, director/vice president
• Patrick Parker, director/president

Contact

Aequus Foundation
P.O. Box 3485
Elmira, NY 14905
(800) 441-1963

References

Forms 990, 2009-2011

• Aequus Foundation, 2011 Form 990, organizational IRS tax filing, May 21, 2012.
• Aequus Foundation, 2010 Form 990, organizational IRS tax filing, June 1, 2011.
• Aequus Foundation, 2009 Form 990, organizational IRS tax filing, June 1, 2010.