About
The Heartland Institute is a 32-year-old national nonprofit research organization, founded in 1984,
dedicated to finding and promoting ideas that empower people
Mission: Our mission is to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems.
Staff: A full-time staff of 39, including 30 working in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Joseph Bast is President and CEO. Dr. Herbert Walberg is chairman of the board.
Policy Advisors: 250 academics and professional economists serve as Policy Advisors and more than 200 elected officials pay dues to serve on our Legislative Forum.
Publications: Heartland sends four monthly public policy newspapers – Budget & Tax News, Health Care News, Environment & Climate News, and School Reform News – to every national and state elected official in the U.S. and thousands of civic and business leaders. It also produces books, policy studies, booklets, podcasts, and videos.
Communications: In 2015, we appeared in print and on television or radio 766 times with a combined print circulation of 102 million readers. We hosted 18 websites generating almost 3.4 million page views.
PolicyBot: Heartland hosts an online database and search engine called PolicyBot containing the complete texts of (not just links to) more than 32,000 reports and commentaries from some 300 free-market think tanks and advocacy groups.
Events: Heartland hosted 24 events in 2015, attended by 1,645 people. We hosted 11 International Conferences on Climate Change since 2008.
Government Relations: We contacted elected officials more than one million times in 2015, with 6,127 of those contacts made in person. These are virtually all educational contacts – we do not lobby.
Public positions: We focus on issues in budgets & taxes, constitutional reform, education reform, environmental protection, and health care.
Funding: Heartland is funded entirely by the tax-deductible contributions of its supporters and receives no funds from any government at any level. Our 2015 income came from the following sources: Foundations 60%; individuals 19%; businesses 17.5%; other, 4.5%.
Endorsements: Click here for endorsements of our work.
History: Click here for the story of Heartland as told by the organization’s first employee and current president and CEO, Joseph Bast.
Contact information: 3939 North Wilke Road, Arlington Heights, IL 60606, phone 312/377-4000, email think@heartland.org.
Video: Watch the video below to learn more about Heartland and see salutes from prominent conservatives and libertarians on the occasion of our 25th anniversary in 2009.
