The Beacon Center of Tennessee

Background

The Beacon Center of Tennessee (BCT) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that describes itself as “providing expert empirical research and timely free market solutions to public policy issues in Tennessee.”¹

The Center was originally founded as the Tennessee Center for Policy Research (TCPR) in 2004 by Drew Johnson. Johnson left his position as president at the end of 2009.² ³

Before founding TCPR, Johnson was a policy analyst at the National Taxpayers Union Foundation. He was a former senior fellow at the Koch-backed Institute for Humane Studies.⁴

The Center is a member of the Koch-funded State Policy Network, a group of state-level think tanks promoting conservative policy.⁵

Stance on Climate Change

October 4, 2010

The Tennessee Center for Policy Research released a report titled “Cap & Trade: A Lame (Duck) Proposal” that suggested CO2 and climate change may not be correlated, referring to “tens of thousands of scientists” signing petitions as evidence (this likely refers to the debunked Oregon Petition).⁶

The study further suggests that scientists are biased because they often do their research at universities, which receive government funding. Below is its introduction:

“Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a three atom molecule that humans produce with every exhale. Over the past decade, the belief has been propagated that excessive CO2 in the atmosphere leads to intense global warming that, if continued unabated, would cause glaciers to melt, rising the seas and engulfing coastal cities from San Francisco to New York. Despite tens of thousands of scientists signing petitions and stating their cases against the correlation between CO2 and rising temperatures, the link has been advocated by politicians and celebrities alike. Many of global warming’s supporters have no background in science and have convinced others of the CO2-global warming relationship without adequate proof. Even as people begin to realize that these ideas lack credibility, as evidenced by the change in terminology from ‘global warming’ to ‘climate change,’ politicians have continued to propose legislation to limit CO2 emissions.

Perhaps it is important to address how some have come to the idea that limiting CO2 will have a positive impact on the environment. To reach this conclusion, one much first accept that global temperatures are rising, that human activity is responsible for the rise, and that limiting carbon emissions will alleviate this global warming. Many feel that limiting carbon emissions is a function that can only be performed by government. However, one should examine what types of interests would benefit from carbon emission limitations. Environmental groups have a bias towards findings of environmental damage and often rely on university research to endorse their claims. Research universities are predominantly funded by government, and in order to continue receiving grant funds, have an incentive to produce research that supports ideas maintained by government officials, such as the connection between CO2 and global warming. Intervention follows as a way to expand the federal government’s control over a large swath of the economy.”

2008–2009

In 2009, Mother Jones magazine listed TCPR among the “Dirty Dozen of Climate Change Denial,” a list of the “12 loudest members of the chorus claiming that global warming is a joke and that CO2 emissions are actually good for you.”⁷

At the time, TCPR was running the website “Carnival of Climate Change,” which described itself as “a portal for bloggers who write on topics critical of current climate change alarmism and who question unsubstantiated discussions on global warming.”⁸ ⁹

The Carnival website promoted climate change denial blogs and groups such as Climate Audit, Greenie Watch, ICECAP, the New Zealand Climate Science Coalition, Watts Up With That, the World Climate Report, CO2 Science, the Science and Public Policy Institute, among others.¹⁰

December 13, 2009

Drew Johnson, founder and president of the Center from 2004 to 2009, wrote the following in an article titled “Climate Change ‘Cures’ are Worse than the Illness” at the Tennessean:¹¹

“If the Earth’s temperature is changing in unnatural and unusual ways, and those climate oddities are, in part, a result of human activity, would taking radical steps that result in demolishing the economy of the developed world and the loss of millions of human lives in developing nations be worth reducing the Earth’s temperature a fraction of a degree? Most reasonable people would say no. Given the exaggerations of the problems and the dangers of the policy remedies, it is clear that government solutions to climate change are a medicine far worse than the illness.”

Funding

In a 2009 interview, Drew Johnson claimed TCPR had never taken any money from energy interests.¹²

According to data from the Conservative Transparency project, combined with review of original 990 forms by DeSmog, the Beacon Center has received more than $100,000 from the Charles Koch Foundation. The Koch family made their fortune from the oil refining business through Koch Industries and its many subsidiary companies.¹³

Over $1.8 million of the Center’s funding came from Donors Capital Fund and its sister organization DonorsTrust—together described as the “dark money ATM of the conservative movement” due to their ability to obscure the original sources of donations.¹⁴

See the full data below, or download the full spreadsheet outlining the Beacon Center of Tennessee’s funding by year (.xslx):

Donor	2005	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	Grand Total
Donors Capital Fund	$50,000	$125,000	$260,000	$345,000	$200,000	$105,000	$137,000	$57,500	$42,250	$439,700	$77,200			$1,838,650
Walton Family Foundation							$75,000	$50,000	$50,000		$50,000	$100,000		$325,000
Friedman Foundation For Educational Choice							$140,000		$76,000	$55,000				$271,000
The Roe Foundation		$20,000	$25,000	$30,000	$20,000		$20,000	$20,000	$25,000	$25,000	$25,000		$25,000	$235,000
John Templeton Foundation										$193,280				$193,280
State Policy Network							$10,000		$80,000		$50,350			$140,350
Charles Koch Foundation											$57,500	$50,000		$107,500
DonorsTrust		$6,000			$32,500						$25,290	$39,500		$103,290
Thomas W Smith Foundation									$25,000			$25,000	$25,000	$75,000
Atlas Economic Research Foundation												$40,000		$40,000
Jaquelin Hume Foundation			$15,000	$18,750										$33,750
Adolph Coors Foundation									$25,000					$25,000
National Philanthropic Trust									$5,000	$10,000	$10,000			$25,000
Americans for Prosperity										$10,000				$10,000
Castle Rock Foundation				$10,000										$10,000
National Christian Charitable Foundation									$2,500					$2,500
Grand Total	$50,000	$151,000	$300,000	$403,750	$252,500	$105,000	$382,000	$127,500	$330,750	$732,980	$295,340	$254,500	$50,000	$3,435,320

990 Forms

Key People

Board of Directors

Name

2006

2007

2008

2009

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

Description

John Cerasuolo

Chairman of the Board of Directors

Larry White