Often referred to as public policy or research institutes, think tanks can be a good source for research on various topics. • Think tanks often bridge the gap between academic ideas and real-world problems or concrete public policy issues.
Founded in 1982, the council is “dedicated to bringing information to those who make or influence the foreign policy of the United States and to assisting world leaders, particularly in the former USSR, with building democracies and market economies.”
Founded in 1946, AIR's purpose is to "conduct and apply behavioral and social science research to improve people’s lives and well-being, with a special emphasis on the disadvantaged.” Issue areas include education, educational assessment, health, international development, and work and training.
Founded in 1956, the council is “focused on a wide range of educational programs which address critical challenges to U. S. foreign policy, national security, economic security and moral leadership of the United States of America.”
Founded in 1950, its mission is "to foster values-based leadership…and to provide a neutral and balanced venue for discussing and acting on critical issues.”
Founded in 1961, the Atlantic Council "promotes constructive U.S. leadership and engagement in international affairs based on the central role of the Atlantic community in meeting the international challenges of the 21st century.”
Founded in 1982, and part of the City University of New York , the center “brings together scholars, policymakers, civil society leaders, and other stakeholders to further understanding and foster policy-oriented research concerning the governance, security, and economic well-being of peoples in the Americas.”
Founded in 2007 by former Senate Majority Leaders Howard Baker, Tom Daschle, Bob Dole and George Mitchell, the center "drives principled solutions through rigorous analysis, reasoned negotiation and respectful dialogue."
Established by Andrew Carnegie in 1910, the Carnegie Endowment is “dedicated to advancing cooperation between nations and promoting active international engagement by the United States.”
Founded in 1982 at Emory University, the center “is guided by a fundamental commitment to human rights and the alleviation of human suffering; it seeks to prevent and resolve conflicts, enhance freedom and democracy, and improve health.”
Founded in 2007, the center is focused on developing strong, pragmatic and principled national security and defense policies that promote and protect American interests and values.”
Founded in 1988, the center “specializes in identifying policies, actions, and resource needs that are vital to American security and then ensures that such issues are the subject of both focused, principled examination and effective action by recognized policy experts, appropriate officials, opinion leaders, and the general public.”
Founded in 1994, the “specific goal of the Center is to explore ways of enhancing American security and prosperity while taking into account the legitimate perspectives of other nations.”
The Center was founded in 1981 to analyze federal budget priorities, with particular emphasis on the impact of various budget choices on low-income Americans.
Founded in 1919, and formerly known as the Twentieth Century Fund, the foundation is “committed to the belief that a mix of effective government, open democracy, and free markets is the most effective solution to the major challenges facing the United States.”
Founded in 1942, the committee is “dedicated to policy research on major economic and social issues and the implementation of its recommendations by the public and private sectors.” Membership consists of senior corporate executives and university leaders.
Incorporated in 1921 "to foster America’s understanding of other nations – their peoples, cultures, histories, hopes, quarrels, and ambitions – and thus to serve our nation through study and debate.”
Founded in 1980 "to bridge divides across the Iron Curtain," the institute's mission is to "focus on the most pressing challenges facing global peace and security and forge collective action for a safer and better world.”
Founded in 1976 “to clarify and reinforce the bond between the Judeo-Christian moral tradition and the public debate over domestic and foreign policy issues.”
Founded in 1955, the institute is “devoted to bringing the insights of scholarship to bear on the development of policies that advance U.S. national interests.”
Founded in 1972 through a gift from Germany as a permanent memorial to Marshall Plan assistance, the fund seeks to strengthen transatlantic cooperation on regional, national, and global challenges and opportunities.
Founded in 1973, Heritage's mission is "to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense.”
Founded in 1919 by Herbert Hoover, the Hoover Institute's primary mission is to reduce the role of government in economic affairs and promote U.S. national security interests.
Founded in 1993 as the Boston Research Center for the 21st Century, the aim of the center is "to work toward a fundamental shift in U.S. and international culture — from isolation, violence, and war to interconnectedness, nonviolence, and peace.”
Founded in 1976 and associated with the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy at Tufts University, the institute "help[s] senior government policy makers, industry leaders, and officials in the public policy community make informed decisions in a dynamic and unpredictable global security environment.”
Founded in 1963 and sometimes referred to as Washington's think tank on the left, the institute's purpose is to provide various social movements with the intellectual ammunition to transform “their moral passion into a sensible public policy.”
Founded in 1982, the organization describes itself as "the leading U.S. center for policy analysis, exchange, and communication on issues in Western Hemisphere affairs."
The institute is “dedicated to promoting the prevention and settlement of conflicts between and within states by strengthening international peace and security institutions.”
Founded in 1970, the center is the only think tank “whose work focuses exclusively on issues of particular concern to African Americans and other people of color.”
The institute is focused on a wide range of municipal issues of interest to officials both in New York and in other cities throughout the United States.
Founded in 1974, MDRC is "dedicated to learning what works to improve the well-being of low-income people.” Its policy/research areas include: promoting family well-being and child development, improving public education, promoting successful transitions to adulthood, supporting low-wage workers and communities, and overcoming barriers to employment.
Affiliated with George Mason University, the center's mission is "to generate knowledge and understanding of how institutions affect the freedom to prosper and find creative solutions to overcome barriers that prevent individuals from living free, prosperous, and peaceful lives.”
Founded in 1946, the institute's mission is "to increase knowledge of the Middle East among the citizens of the United States and to promote a better understanding between the people of these two areas.”
Founded in 1981, the “mission of the Council is to foster public discussion of the political, economic, cultural, and security issues that affect the policies of the United States in the Middle East.”
Founded in 1994, the “specific goal of the Center is to explore ways of enhancing American security and prosperity while taking into account the legitimate perspectives of other nations.”
Founded in 1983, NCPA's goal is "to develop and promote private alternatives to government regulation and control, solving problems by relying on the strength of the competitive, entrepreneurial private sector.”
Part of the State University of New York at Albany, the institute's mission is "to enhance the capacities of state governments and the federal system to deal effectively with the nation’s domestic challenges.”
Founded in 1999, the foundation offers “new thinkers and new ideas to address the next generation of challenges facing the United States" with an “emphasis on big ideas, impartial analysis and pragmatic solutions.”
Established in 2014, the Niskanen Center is a libertarian think tank "that works to change public policy through direct engagement in the policymaking process..."
Founded in 1979, PRI's mission "is to champion freedom, opportunity, and personal responsibility for all individuals by advancing free-market policy solutions."
Founded in 1952, the council "seeks to improve the well-being and reproductive health of current and future generations around the world and to help achieve a humane, equitable, and sustainable balance between people and resources.” Research areas include HIV and AIDS; poverty, gender, and youth; and reproductive health.
With its roots in the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, PPI seeks “a third way beyond the liberal impulse to defend the bureaucratic status quo and the conservative bid to simply dismantle government.”
Founded in 1968, Reason’s public policy research “promotes choice, competition, and a dynamic market economy as the foundation for human dignity and progress.”
Founded in 1952, Resources for the Future "improves environmental and natural resource policymaking worldwide through objective social science research of the highest caliber.”
Founded in 2014, the institute is "dedicated to understanding and supporting Middle Eastern countries undergoing democratic transitions and committed to informing U.S. and international policymakers and the public of developments in these countries."
A joint venture of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution to provide “timely, accessible analysis and facts about tax policy to policymakers, journalists, citizens, and researchers.”
Founded in 1985 as part of the University of Southern California, the institute “advances critical, insightful thinking on key issues affecting Latino communities through objective, policy-relevant research, and its implications, for the betterment of the nation.”
"Truman unites more than 1,500 veterans, frontline civilians, policy experts, and political professionals with a shared worldview: America is strongest when we utilize all of our tools – defense, diplomacy, development, and democracy – to engage the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century."
Established by 1984 federal law as a publicly funded national institution chartered to "serve the American people and the federal government through the widest possible range of education and training, basic and applied research opportunities, and peace information services on the means to promote international peace and the resolution of conflicts among the nations and peoples of the world without recourse to violence."
Formed in the 1960’s to monitor and evaluate Great Society programs, the institute focuses on a variety of issue areas, including poverty, housing, education, employment, crime and justice, and health care.
Founded in 1991 and part of Brown University, the institute's research "confronts the important problems of our time – particularly insecurity and inequality - and explores the possibilities and limitations in the global flows of knowledge, people, wealth, and weapons.”
Established in 1968 by Act of Congress, the center “aims to unite the world of ideas to the world of policy by supporting pre-eminent scholarship and linking that scholarship to issues of concern to officials in Washington.”
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