The mission of The Heartland Institute is to discover and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems. Such solutions include parental choice in education, market-based approaches to environmental protection, privatization of public services, and deregulation in areas where property rights and markets do a better job than government bureaucracies.
Among the hundreds of "think tanks" in the United States, The Heartland Institute is unique in the following ways:
- We focus on ideas that empower people to solve social and economic problems by expanding consumer choices in such areas as education, health care, and telecommunications.
- Our primary audiences are the nation’s 8,300 state and national elected officials and approximately 8,400 local government officials.
- 85 percent of state legislators and 63 percent of municipal officials report reading at least one Heartland publication. Nearly half of state elected officials say a Heartland publication influenced their opinions or led to a change in public policy. (Telephone survey conducted in 2007 by Victory Enterprises.)
- We produce five monthly public policy newspapers featuring the latest news and commentary on school reeform, environmental regulation, health care reform, budget and tax issues, and telecommunications regulation.
- Our Web site is the clearinghouse for the work of 350 other think tanks and advocacy groups. featuring the latest news and commentary on school reform, environmental regulation, health care reform, budget and tax issues, and telecommunications regulation. and approximately 8,400 local government officials.
The Heartland Institute is also outside the beltway, founded and operating continuously in Chicago since 1984. We actively oppose junk science and the use of scare tactics in the areas of environmental protection and public health. And we help governments lower taxes and spending by exploring opportunities to privatize services that are delivered poorly by government bureaucracies and impose constitutional tax and spending limits on state governments.
We welcome your support.
