Foundation for Economic Education (FEE)
Background
The Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) is a non-profit free market organization based in Irvington, New York, and Atlanta, Georgia.
Founded in 1946 by Leonard E. Read, FEE describes itself as “one of the oldest free-market organizations in the United States,” and was one of the first think tanks designed specifically to promote, research and promulgate free market and libertarian ideas.
For Read, who was the general manager of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, “the free-enterprise philosophy had already become almost a religion.” The group’s officers included Read as president, Henry Hazlitt as vice-president, and David Goodrich, chairman of company B.F. Goodrich chairman, as chairman.1“The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty – March 1984,” Vol. 34, No. 3. Archived October 6, 2008.
The organization was formed to advance what it describes as “the freedom philosophy,” which includes “the sanctity of private property, individual liberty, the rule of law, the free market, and the moral superiority of individual choice and responsibility over coercion.” FEE‘s mission is to “to inspire, educate and connect future leaders with the economic, ethical and legal principles of a free society.”2“About,” Foundation for Economic Education. Accessed April, 2013.
FEE publishes a libertarian publication titled The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty which promotes global warming skepticism.
Climate change skeptic Donald J. Boudreaux was president of FEE from 1997 to 2001. The late David Padden, founder of the Heartland Institute, has helped fund FEE among numerous other libertarian organizations.3“David H. Padden, R.I.P.,” Anniversary Benefit 2011 from the Heartland Institute, October, 2011.
Stance on Climate Change
December 27, 2012
“Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) implies we should do very little to prevent climate change. Instead, we should create wealth. Expanding the productive capacity of the economy will compensate future generations better than reductions in GHG will. A richer world in 2100, after all, will be able to afford to do things like relocating people affected by rising sea levels and constructing new port facilities and seawalls,” Daniel Sutter wrote in The Freeman. 4Daniel Sutter. “Climate Consensus: Do Little for Now,” The Freeman, December 27, 2012.
May 2007
“The dirty little secret behind nearly all the alarmists’ policy proposals is that they will not have any noticeable impact on the climate,” Roy E. Cordato wrote in The Freeman.5Roy E. Cordato. “A Carbon Tax Will Fix Global Warming? It Just Ain’t So!” (PDF), The Freeman, May 2007.
May 2001
“In the most recent 5,000-year period, there have been numerous periods of distinct global warming and global cooling. However, the overall long-term climatic trend indicates that the earth has been getting cooler, not warmer,” Michael Hebeerling wrote in The Freeman. 6Michael Heberling. “Unprecedented Global Warming?”, The Freeman, May 1, 2001.
July 1998
“CO2 generally provides great benefits for the earth and mankind, […] These benefits are in addition to those that are likely to occur in the event that warming actually takes place. Increased temperatures, especially those that occur overnight, will delay the first frost and prolong growing seasons, further expanding crop yields,” Roy Cordato wrote in The Freeman. 7Roy Cordato. “Should There Be a Carbon Subsidy?” The Freeman, July 1, 1998.
December 1996
“Given the uncertain prospects for drastic climate change in the immediate future and considering the potential for crippling costs of aggressive emissions-abatement policies, reasoned concern and continued study appear to be the responsible courses of action,” J. David Bethel wrote in The Freeman. 8J. David Bethel. “Global Warming: Not an Immediate Problem,” The Freeman, Vol. 46, Issue 12 (December, 1996).
Funding
According to its website, FEE is supported “solely by contributions from private individuals, foundations, and businesses and by the sales of its publications.”9“A Tradition of Freedom,” Foundation for Economic Education. Accessed March 26, 2012.
Conservative Transparency breaks down FEE‘s funding as follows. Note that not all individual values have been verified by DeSmog.10“Foundation for Economic Education,” Conservative Transparency. Accessed May 25, 2017.
View the attached spreadsheet for details on Foundation for Economic Education funding by year (.xlsx).
| Donor | Total |
| Richard Seth Staley Educational Foundation | $1,782,929 |
| Donors Capital Fund | $950,000 |
| Dunn’s Foundation for the Advancement of Right Thinking | $638,000 |
| Pierre F. and Enid Goodrich Foundation | $626,667 |
| The Rodney Fund | $621,600 |
| DonorsTrust | $544,120 |
| Lowndes Foundation | $393,909 |
| Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation | $304,267 |
| National Christian Charitable Foundation | $250,000 |
| Sarah Scaife Foundation | $196,500 |
| Chase Foundation of Virginia | $186,150 |
| Holman Foundation | $175,000 |
| Lovett and Ruth Peters Foundation | $145,000 |
| John Templeton Foundation | $122,965 |
| Earhart Foundation | $117,000 |
| Schwab Charitable Fund | $116,750 |
| The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation | $115,000 |
| Adolph Coors Foundation | $80,000 |
| The Roe Foundation | $67,500 |
| Charles Koch Institute | $63,400 |
| Armstrong Foundation | $60,000 |
| JM Foundation | $45,000 |
| The Carthage Foundation | $35,000 |
| Herrick Foundation | $25,000 |
| George Edward Durell Foundation | $25,000 |
| Stiles-Nicholson Foundation | $23,500 |
| John M. Olin Foundation | $22,500 |
| Atlas Economic Research Foundation | $21,000 |
| F.M. Kirby Foundation | $20,000 |
| Philip M. McKenna Foundation | $20,000 |
| Chiavacci Family Foundation | $18,000 |
| John William Pope Foundation | $13,000 |
| John P and Kathryn G Evans Foundation | $8,000 |
| Arthur N. Rupe Foundation | $5,000 |
| The Howell Foundation | $5,000 |
| Hickory Foundation | $3,500 |
| Woodhouse Family Foundation | $2,500 |
| National Philanthropic Trust | $1,500 |
| Fund for American Studies | $1,000 |
| Charles and Ann Johnson Foundation | $250 |
| Ruth & Lovett Peters Foundation | $250 |
| Grand Total | $7,851,757 |
Koch Funding
According to Greenpeace USA, FEE has received at least $353,167 from Koch foundations between 2000 and 2017. Including archived data from the Conservative Transparency project, that total jumps to $367,667:11“Foundation for Economic Education (FEE): Koch Industries Climate Denial Front Group,” Greenpeace USA. Accessed May 25, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/mCFy1
| Year | Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation | Charles Koch Institute | Grand Total |
| 1989 | $1,000 | $1,000 | |
| 1991 | $1,000 | $1,000 | |
| 1995 | $1,000 | $1,000 | |
| 1996 | $4,000 | $4,000 | |
| 1997 | $2,500 | $2,500 | |
| 1999 | $5,000 | $5,000 | |
| 2000 | $8,000 | $8,000 | |
| 2009 | $15,767 | $15,767 | |
| 2010 | $7,000 | $7,000 | |
| 2014 | $31,000 | $27,500 | $58,500 |
| 2017 | $228,000 | $228,000 | |
| 2016 | $7,500 | $7,500 | |
| 2015 | $28,400 | $28,400 | |
| Grand Total | $304,267 | $63,400 | $367,667 |
990 Forms
Key People
View key people by year below, or view the attached spreadsheet for a full list of the Foundation for Economic Education’s key People (.xlsx) including sources.
Actions
Ongoing
Through its publication, The Freeman, FEE regularly publishes articles questioning the existence of man-made climate change and opposing the implementation of any sort of emissions reductions policy. A number of its articles are published by prominent climate change skeptics, and use inflamatory language such as “alarmists” to refer to those who accept the mainstream global warming science.
The following are sample publications in The Freeman relating to climate:
- Daniel Sutter. “Climate Consensus: Do Little for Now,” December 27, 2012.
- Roy Cordato. “ Climate Confusion: How Global Warming Hysteria Leads to Bad Science, Pandering Politicians, and Misguided Policies that Hurt the Poor,” May 21, 2009.
- Max Borders. “ Climate Media, Media Climate, and Cost-Benefit Analysis,” December 27, 2012.
- Tim Stonesifer. “Climate of Extremes: Global Warming Science They Don’t Want You to Know,” February 24, 2010.
- “A History of Climate Agenda,” February 11, 2011.
- Max Borders. “Climate Change: What if They’re Right?”, January 1, 2007.
- Aubrey Drewry. “Climate-Change Worries in the Eighteenth Century,” July 1, 1998.
- Mike van Winkle. “100 Reasons Why Climate Change is Natural,” December 16, 2009.
- J. David Bethel. “Global Warming: Not an Immediate Problem,” December 1, 1996.
- Michael Heberling. “Global Warming Revisited”, April 24, 2009.
- Roy Cordato. “A Carbon Tax Will Fix Global Warming? It Just Aint So!,” May 1, 2007.
- Christopher Lingle. “Global Warming: Extreme Weather or Extreme Prejudice?”, November 1, 2003.
- “Bonner Cohen. The Satanic Gases: Clearing the Air about Global Warming by Patrick J. Michaels and Robert C. Balling,” Cato Institute, 2000.
- Michael Heberling.”Unprecedented Global Warming?”, May 1, 2001.
- Jonathan Adler. “Global Warming: Hot Problem or Hot Air?”, April 1, 1998.
- Doug Bandow. “Global Politics, Political Warming,” January 1, 1998.
- John Stossel. “Don’t Look to Government to Cool Down the Planet”, January 1, 2008.
- Ben Bolch. “Hot Talk, Cold Science: Global Warming’s Unfinished Debate,” July 1, 1998.
- Roy Cordato. “Should There Be a Carbon Subsidy?”, July 1, 1998.
- “How a Free Society Could Solve Global Warming,” October 1, 2007.
- Jarret B. Wollstein. “Nightmare in Green:The Authoritarian Environmental Movement Wants to Destroy Industrial Civilization,” September 1, 1998.
- Robert James Bidinotto. “Environmentalism: Freedoms Foe for the 90s,” November 1, 1990.
September 2004
The Freeman published an article that attempted to rebut a previous study published in Nature linking global warming to increased extinction rates.
The FEE article points to a previous study co-produced by the Marshall Institute with the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change as refutation. Both of these organizations have known connections to oil industry funding.
According to the Freeman article, “the threat of climbing temperatures alone need not be a cause for alarm … global temperature averages always change.”12Lingle, Christopher, “Higher CO2, More Global Warming, and Less Extinction?“ The Freeman Online, Vol. 54, Issue 7, September 2004.
Foundation for Economic Education Contact & Address
As of May 23, 2016 the main contact address was:13 “Contact,” Foundation for Economic Education. Archived May 23, 2016. WebCite URL: http://www.webcitation.org/6hjTfzamx
1819 Peachtree Road NE, Suite 300
Atlanta, GA 30309
USAMain Line: (404) 554-9980
Toll Free: (800) 960-4333
Fax: (404) 393-3142
Related Organizations
- The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty, also The Freeman Online.
Social Media
- @feeonline on Twitter.
- “FEE” on Facebook.
- “Foundation for Economic Education” on LinkedIn.
Other Resources
Resources
- 1“The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty – March 1984,” Vol. 34, No. 3. Archived October 6, 2008.
- 2“About,” Foundation for Economic Education. Accessed April, 2013.
- 3“David H. Padden, R.I.P.,” Anniversary Benefit 2011 from the Heartland Institute, October, 2011.
- 4Daniel Sutter. “Climate Consensus: Do Little for Now,” The Freeman, December 27, 2012.
- 5Roy E. Cordato. “A Carbon Tax Will Fix Global Warming? It Just Ain’t So!” (PDF), The Freeman, May 2007.
- 6Michael Heberling. “Unprecedented Global Warming?”, The Freeman, May 1, 2001.
- 7Roy Cordato. “Should There Be a Carbon Subsidy?” The Freeman, July 1, 1998.
- 8J. David Bethel. “Global Warming: Not an Immediate Problem,” The Freeman, Vol. 46, Issue 12 (December, 1996).
- 9“A Tradition of Freedom,” Foundation for Economic Education. Accessed March 26, 2012.
- 10“Foundation for Economic Education,” Conservative Transparency. Accessed May 25, 2017.
- 11“Foundation for Economic Education (FEE): Koch Industries Climate Denial Front Group,” Greenpeace USA. Accessed May 25, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/mCFy1
- 12Lingle, Christopher, “Higher CO2, More Global Warming, and Less Extinction?“ The Freeman Online, Vol. 54, Issue 7, September 2004.
- 13“Contact,” Foundation for Economic Education. Archived May 23, 2016. WebCite URL: http://www.webcitation.org/6hjTfzamx
