The Heartland Institute is in its 32nd year of operation. Over its history it has saved taxpayers billions of dollars, helped free hundreds of thousands of students from failing and dangerous public schools, and led to the repeal or prevented the expansion of countless unnecessary and costly regulations saving consumers billions of dollars more.
From modest beginnings with a single part-time staff member and an annual budget of only $20,000, Heartland has grown to become one of the largest free-market think-tanks in the United States with 36 full-time staff and an annual budget of approximately $6 million. Operating from its own building in Arlington Heights, a suburb of Chicago, it has some 270 policy advisors in all 50 states and
reaches more national and state elected officials, more often, than any other think tank.
The following history of The Heartland Institute was originally written for Heartland’s board of directors in 2013 as part of a new five-year plan for the organization, so it describes as objectively as possible how the organization has changed over the years. It lists some achievements and victories, but it also includes challenges and disappointments and describes how the organization changed in response to them.
This history necessarily leaves out the names and contributions of many people who served on the organization’s board of directors, as staff or as authors, advisors, and donors. The organization was genuinely blessed by the generosity, hard work, and guidance of extraordinary people. Their omission from this brief history in no way is meant to minimize or overlook their contributions.
Read the full history here: https://josephbast.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/History-of-The-Heartland-Institute.pdf
