Frontier Institute
Frontier Institute is a right-wing, Montana-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2020.[1]
It states its principles as the following:
- Economic Opportunity Empowers People
- When Montanans Control Their Own Healthcare Decisions, Our Communities Thrive
- Responsible Use of our Abundant and Beautiful Land Sustains the Frontier Way of Life
- Respect for Individual Rights is Essential to the Spirit of the West
- A Just, Fair and Accurate Criminal Justice System Best Promotes Public Safety[2]
Frontier Institute is an affiliate member of the State Policy Network.
Contents
Ties to the State Policy Network
Frontier Institute is a member of the State Policy Network SPN is a web of right-wing “think tanks” and tax-exempt organizations in 48 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the United Kingdom. As of June 2024, SPN's membership totals 167. Today's SPN is the tip of the spear of far-right, nationally funded policy agenda in the states that undergirds extremists in the Republican Party. SPN Executive Director Tracie Sharp told the Wall Street Journal in 2017 that the revenue of the combined groups was some $80 million, but a 2022 analysis of SPN's main members IRS filings by the Center for Media and Democracy shows that the combined revenue is over $152 million.[3] Although SPN's member organizations claim to be nonpartisan and independent, the Center for Media and Democracy's in-depth investigation, "EXPOSED: The State Policy Network -- The Powerful Right-Wing Network Helping to Hijack State Politics and Government," reveals that SPN and its member think tanks are major drivers of the right-wing, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)-backed corporate agenda in state houses nationwide, with deep ties to the Koch brothers and the national right-wing network of funders.[4]
In response to CMD's report, SPN Executive Director Tracie Sharp told national and statehouse reporters that SPN affiliates are "fiercely independent." Later the same week, however, The New Yorker's Jane Mayer caught Sharp in a contradiction. In her article, "Is IKEA the New Model for the Conservative Movement?," the Pulitzer-nominated reporter revealed that, in a recent meeting behind closed doors with the heads of SPN affiliates around the country, Sharp "compared the organization’s model to that of the giant global chain IKEA." She reportedly said that SPN "would provide 'the raw materials,' along with the 'services' needed to assemble the products. Rather than acting like passive customers who buy finished products, she wanted each state group to show the enterprise and creativity needed to assemble the parts in their home states. 'Pick what you need,' she said, 'and customize it for what works best for you.'" Not only that, but Sharp "also acknowledged privately to the members that the organization's often anonymous donors frequently shape the agenda. 'The grants are driven by donor intent,' she told the gathered think-tank heads. She added that, often, 'the donors have a very specific idea of what they want to happen.'"[5]
A set of coordinated fundraising proposals obtained and released by The Guardian in early December 2013 confirm many of these SPN members' intent to change state laws and policies, referring to "advancing model legislation" and "candidate briefings." These activities "arguably cross the line into lobbying," The Guardian notes.[6]
Funding
Funding information is not yet available.
Core Financials
Core financials is not yet available because Frontier Institute has not filed with the IRS.
Personnel
Staff
- Kendall Cotton, President and CEO
Board of Directors
- Glenn Oppel, Chairman
- Rick Hill
- Lawrence Reed, former President, Foundation for Economic Education; former President, Mackinac Center for Public Policy
- Daniel Zolnikov
Contact Information
Frontier Institute
Web contact form: https://frontierinstitute.org/contact/
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/Frontier-Institute-116456763527931/
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/frontiermontana/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FrontierMontana
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS-IcSVIitZ3zfTE85NNYwA
Articles and Resources
Related SourceWatch
- 501(c)(3)
- Foundation for Economic Education
- Lawrence Reed
- Mackinac Center for Public Policy
- SPN Members
- State Policy Network
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Frontier Institute, Announcing Montana's Frontier Institute, press release, October 1, 2020, accessed February 3, 2021.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Frontier Institute, About, organizational website, accessed February 3, 2021.
- ↑ David Armiak, State Policy Network and Affiliates Raises $152 Million Annually to Push Right-Wing Policies, ExposedbyCMD, September 30, 2022.
- ↑ Rebekah Wilce, Center for Media and Democracy, EXPOSED: The State Policy Network -- The Powerful Right-Wing Network Helping to Hijack State Politics and Government, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
- ↑ Jane Mayer, Is IKEA the New Model for the Conservative Movement?, The New Yorker, November 15, 2013.
- ↑ Ed Pilkington and Suzanne Goldenberg, State conservative groups plan US-wide assault on education, health and tax, The Guardian, December 5, 2013.
