Cato Institute
Individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Center for Educational Freedom
The Jeffersonian philosophy that animates Cato's work has come to be called "libertarianism" or "market liberalism." Rooted in the traditional American principles of individual liberty and limited government, it combines an appreciation for entrepreneurship, the market process, and lower taxes with strict respect for civil liberties and skepticism about the benefits of both the welfare state and foreign military adventurism. Cato's education research is founded on the principle that parents are best suited to make important decisions regarding the care and education of their children.
Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies
Cato's Center for Constitutional Studies and its scholars take their inspiration from the struggle of America's founding generation to secure liberty through limited government and the rule of law. The Center's scholars address a wide range of constitutional and legal issues.
Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies
The purpose of exchange is to enable each of us to focus our productive efforts on what we do best. By specializing in an occupation — instead of allocating small portions of our time to the impossible task of producing each of the necessities and luxuries we wish to consume — and exchanging the monetized output we produce most efficiently for the goods and services we produce less efficiently, we are able to produce and consume more output than would be the case in the absence of specialization and trade. The larger the size of the market, the greater is the scope for specialization, exchange, and economic growth.
Free trade is the extension of free markets across political borders. Enlarging markets in this manner – to integrate more buyers, sellers, investors and workers – enables more refined specialization and economies of scales, which lead to greater wealth and higher living standards. When goods, services, capital, and labor flow freely across borders, Americans can take full advantage of the opportunities of the international marketplace.
Defense & Foreign Policy Studies
Cato's foreign policy vision is guided by the idea of our national defense and security strategy being appropriate for a constitutional republic, not an empire. Cato's foreign policy scholars question the presumption that an interventionist foreign policy enhances the security of Americans in the post-Cold War world, and maintain instead that interventionism has consequences, including the formation of countervailing alliances, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and even terrorism. The use of U.S. military force should be limited to those occasions when the territorial integrity, national sovereignty, or liberty of the United States is at risk. Amid the troubling backdrop of the ongoing occupation of Iraq and talk of opening a new front in the Middle East, Cato scholars offered commentary and advanced policy proposals stressing the importance of peace. Cato trade analysts stressed the importance of cooperation and free trade in promoting peace.
Fiscal Policy Studies
Cato's economic research examines federal, state, and local spending and tax issues from a limited government perspective. Specifically, Cato's economic research explores the benefits of lower taxes, a significantly reduced federal budget, and less government involvement in market processes.
Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity
Cato seeks to promote a better understanding around the world of the benefits of market-liberal policy solutions to combat some of the most pressing problems faced by developing nations. In particular, Cato’s research seeks to advance policies that protect human rights, extend the range of personal choice, and support the central role of economic freedom in ending world poverty. Cato scholars also recognize that open markets mean wider choices and lower prices for businesses and consumers, as well as more vigorous competition that encourages greater productivity.
Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives
The Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives is dedicated to revealing the shortcomings of today’s centralized, bureaucratic, and discretionary monetary and financial-regulatory systems and to identifying, studying, and promoting alternatives more conducive to a stable, flourishing, and free society. The Center brings together unparalleled expertise with an Executive Advisory Council made up of financial experts, an Academic Advisory Council that includes many of the world’s leading monetary economists, and multiple scholar affiliates as adjuncts, senior fellows, and full-time experts at Cato. The Center engages with policymakers, academics, students, and the public through original research, public policy analysis, educational events, multimedia resources, and its blog, Alt-M.org.
Project on Criminal Justice
Cato’s Project on Criminal Justice and its scholars are dedicated to restoring the integrity and legitimacy of the criminal justice system in the United States. At the federal, state, and local levels, the institutions and individuals that make up our criminal justice systems lack appropriate oversight and accountability, leaving citizens vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. Moreover, much of our criminal law is both immoral and violates the original public meaning of the Constitution. The Project on Criminal Justice undertakes a focused, strategic approach to reforming the laws and institutions that have undermined both the efficacy and the legitimacy of our criminal justice system.
Sphere Education Initiatives
Cato’s Sphere Education Initiative works with grades 5–12 educators and administrators to provide them with the knowledge, experience, resources, and professional development opportunities to bring difficult conversations on the most pressing issues to the classroom and equip our country’s students to engage in civil dialogue. By bringing facts and reason to the conversation, and through emphasizing viewpoint diversity, Sphere works to rekindle the foundation of civic culture in America.
Where we work
Awards
Top Think Tank for Innovative Ideas 2008
University of Pennsylvania/Foreign Policy Magazine
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of unique website visitors
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Total number of visitors across all Cato websites (Cato.org, ElCato.org, HumanProgress.org, Libertarianism.org, and DownsizingGovernment.org)
Number of testimonies offered
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Total number of congressional testimonies, statements for the record, public comments at the federal level
Number of research or policy analysis products developed, e.g., reports, briefs
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Including briefing papers, white papers, policy analyses, economic research briefs, survey reports, and working papers.
Number of meetings with legislators and staffers
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
In-person meetings, phone calls, and Zoom meetings with legislators and staffers at the federal and state levels
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
The Cato institute's fundamental purpose is to originate, disseminate, and increase understanding of public policies based on the principles of individual libery, limited government, free markets, and peace.
Our ultimate goal, our vision, is to create free, open, and civil societies based on those libertarian principles.
To achieve our mission and vision, we will focus on four key strategic themes:
1. Engage best-in-class think tank talent operating in a high-performing organization;
2. Enable success with a growing, predictable, and sustainable funding engine;
3. Produce world-class, high-impact research and publications;
4. Expand and grow Cato's influence and brand strength though excellence in outreach.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
1. Drive organizational alignment and productivity through excellence in performance management
2. Drive balanced focus of and resource allocation to the highest impact policy areas and issues -- short-term, mid-term, and long-term
3. Identify, prioritize, target and impact opinion leaders
4. Attract, develop, and retain best-in-class talent -- build depth and breadth of the talent pipeline
5. Develop a growing, predictable, and sustainable funding engine
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
International renown; credibility; reputation for non-partisanship; outstanding scholars; commitment to liberty for all; dedicated support staff; excellent communications and marketing teams; an active and engaged board of directors
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Throughout 2023, Cato advocated policies that preserve individual sovereignty while decreasing government power in areas ranging from regulatory policy to education reform. The Institute has become a leading voice for the American principles of liberty, limited government, and peace. Utah governor Gary Herbert has stressed, Too many policy decisions are based on emotion and rhetoric, as opposed to having the facts. Having the Cato Institute say here are the facts, here's the data, here's the truth. That's the first thing, and we need more of it." Nadine Strossen, former president of the American Civil Liberties Union, has said, "It is truly wonderful and necessary to have an ally such as Cato, which will honestly live up to that statement attributed to Voltaire: 'I disagree with what you say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.'" Vox co-founder and New York Times columnist Ezra Klein remarked, Cato's role as a consistent critic and theorist of what happens when government gets too much power...is enduringly valuable in America."
The 2020 Global Go To Think Tanks Report rated Cato among the top 10 think tanks in domestic economic policy, domestic health policy, social policy, and advocacy. We are proud as well to note that Cato was the #1 amicus brief filer in major policy-shifting cases between 2000 and 2016, tied with the American Civil Liberties Union, according to Empirical SCOTUS.
A significant measure of our impact is the continual growth in outreach via the strategic use of web and multimedia technology. In 2023, 11.8 million users visited Cato websites and we engaged 1.8 million social media followers across platforms (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, etc.).
Engaging the next generation of leaders for liberties remains a major priority. We engaged over 6,500 educators who reached 780,000 students through our Sphere Education Initiatives. Cato podcastsincluding the Cato Daily Podcast, Free Thoughts, and the Cato Events Podcastwere downloaded nearly 4 million times in 2023.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
-
How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
-
Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We share the feedback we received with the people we serve
-
What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback
Financials
Unlock nonprofit financial insights that will help you make more informed decisions. Try our monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights?
Learn more
about GuideStar Pro.
Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Cato Institute
Board of directorsas of 02/15/2024
Jay Lapeyre
Laitram LLC
Howard S. Rich
U.S. Term Limits
Fred Young
Young Radiator Company
John A. Allison
Cato Institute
Baron Bond
The Foundation Group, LLC
Robert Gelfond
MQS Management
Peter N. Goettler
Cato Institute
James M. Kilts
Centerview Capital Holdings
James M. Lapeyre
Laitram, LLC
David C. Humphreys
TAMKO Building Products, Inc.
Ken Levy
Levy Family Fund
Robert A. Taylor
EBC Management
John P. Mackey
Whole Foods Market
Laura Holmes Jost
Chandler Residential Inc.
Eileen S. Leech
Lazy L Foundation
Kenneth R. French
Dartmouth College
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
Transgender Identity
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data