Atlas Network

Atlas Network was founded in 1981 in San Francisco as the Atlas Economic Research Foundation by Antony Fisher, a British entrepreneur who was influenced by Austrian School economist F.A. Hayek and his 1944 book The Road to Serfdom.{{Cite web|date=2013-04-10|title=Margaret Thatcher and Antony Fisher: Free markets and philanthropy|url=https://www.philanthropydaily.com/margaret-thatcher-and-antony-fisher-free-markets-and-philanthropy/|access-date=2021-07-31|website=Philanthropy Daily}}{{Cite journal |last=Castro Rea |first=Julián |date=2018-02-13 |title=Right-Wing Think Tank Networks in Latin America: The Mexican Connection |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/pgdt/17/1-2/article-p89_89.xml |journal=Perspectives on Global Development and Technology |volume=17 |issue=1–2 |pages=89–102 |doi=10.1163/15691497-12341468 |issn=1569-1500|url-access=subscription }}{{cite magazine |last=Fischer |first=Karin |date=9 July 2018 |title=The Atlas Network: Littering the World with Free-Market Think Tanks |url=https://globaldialogue.isa-sociology.org//articles/the-atlas-network-littering-the-world-with-free-market-think-tanks |access-date=2024-03-14 |magazine=Global Dialogue|publisher= International Sociological Association }} After founding the Institute of Economic Affairs in London in 1955, Fisher had helped establish the Fraser Institute, the International Center for Economic Policy Studies (later renamed the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research), and the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy in the 1970s.{{Cite news |date=1984-01-19 |title=A quiet Briton whose think tanks back a free market |work=Christian Science Monitor |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1984/0119/011934.html |access-date=2021-07-31 |issn=0882-7729}} The late Linda Whetstone, Fisher's daughter, served as chairman of Atlas Network.{{Cite news|date=2021-12-20|title=Linda Whetstone, evangelist for the free market who also helped to raise standards in British dressage – obituary|work=The Telegraph|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2021/12/20/linda-whetstone-evangelist-free-market-also-helped-raise-standards/|access-date=2022-01-07|issn=0307-1235}}{{Cite web|date=2021-12-22|title=Global Freedom Fighters Remember Their Humble Leader, Linda Whetstone|url=https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/12/global-freedom-fighters-remember-their-humble-leader-linda-whetstone/|access-date=2022-01-07|website=National Review}}

F.A. Hayek, Margaret Thatcher, and Milton Friedman, all friends of Fisher, formally endorsed the organization.{{Cite book |last=Plehwe |first=Dieter |url=https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/215796/1/Full-text-book-Plehwe-et-al-Nine-lives-of-neoliberalism.pdf |title=Nine Lives of Neoliberalism |publisher=Verso |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-788-73253-6 |location=London |pages=16, 259–261}} Atlas Network connected various think tanks via a global network,{{cite book |last=Salles-Djelic |first=Marie-Laure |chapter=Building an Architecture for Political Influence: Atlas and the Transnational Institutionalization of the Neoliberal Think Tank |date= 2017 |title=Power, Policy and Profit |location=Chelthenham|pages=25–44 |chapter-url=https://www.elgaronline.com/edcollchap/edcoll/9781784711207/9781784711207.00007.xml |access-date=31 December 2024 |publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing|isbn=978-1-78471-120-7 }} and was part of a transatlantic network including academics, journalists, and businesspeople who supported and promoted like minded ideology.{{cite news |last=Geoghegan |first=Peter |date=29 May 2024 |title=The Invisible Doctrine by George Monbiot and Peter Hutchison review – neoliberalism's ascent |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/article/2024/may/29/the-invisible-doctrine-by-george-monbiot-and-peter-hutchison-review-neoliberalisms-ascent |access-date=January 1, 2025 |work=The Guardian |issn=0261-3077}} In the words of Richard Meagher, it was founded as a "think tank that creates think tanks".{{cite book |last=Meagher |first=Richard |url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/61c67fed68ededd7bb2c49dd0bfbc704/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750 |title=Right Ideas: Discourse, Framing, and the Conservative Coalition |publisher=City University of New York |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-549-80710-0 |page=94 |access-date=1 January 2025 |via=ProQuest}}{{cite book |last=Innset |first=Ola |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NCLNDwAAQBAJ |title=Reinventing Liberalism: The Politics, Philosophy and Economics of Early Neoliberalism (1920-1947) |date= 2020 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=978-3-030-38885-0 |location=Berlin |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=NCLNDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA187 187] |access-date=1 January 2025 |via=Google Books}} Timothy Mitchell writes that by 1979, when Thatcher won the election, "what had begun as a fringe right-wing intellectual current" had just become "the most powerful political orthodoxy in the West".{{cite journal |last=Mitchell |first=Timothy |date=2005 |title=The Work of Economics: How a Discipline Makes Its World |journal=European Journal of Sociology |volume=46 |issue=2 |pages=299–310 |doi=10.1017/S000397560500010X |s2cid=146456853|doi-access=free|jstor=23999581 }}

Fisher conceived Atlas Network as a means to connect various think tanks via a global network through which the organizations could learn best practices from one another and "pass the best research and policy ideas from one to the other".{{cite book |last=Steinmo |first=Sven |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mfy3k0BWBNAC |title=Growing Apart?: America and Europe in the 21st Century |date=2007 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-46861-9 |pages=145–149 |access-date=1 January 2025}} Initially comprising only Fisher's think tanks, Atlas Network grew to include many others, including those affiliated with the Koch family.{{Cite magazine |last1=Westervelt |first1=Amy |author-link=Amy Westervelt |last2=Dembicki |first2=Geoff |author2-link=Geoff Dembicki |date=2023-09-12 |title=Meet the Shadowy Global Network Vilifying Climate Protesters |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/175488/meet-shadowy-global-network-vilifying-climate-protesters |access-date=2023-09-14 |magazine=The New Republic |issn=0028-6583}} Major American think tanks in Atlas Network have included the American Legislative Exchange Council, Cato Institute, The Heritage Foundation (until 2020),{{Cite news |last=Stöcker |first=Christian |date=2024-07-16 |title='Project 2025': Der Masterplan für den fossilen Gottesstaat – Kolumne |url=https://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/mensch/project-2025-der-masterplan-fuer-den-fossilen-gottesstaat-der-rationalist-kolumne-a-0ea020d7-082f-4398-ac84-59a1db6c3932 |access-date=2024-07-23 |work=Der Spiegel |language=de |issn=2195-1349}} and the Heartland Institute, which are active in conservative politics.

Although it is thought that the organization is named after Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged,{{Cite book |title=The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making of the Neoliberal Thought Collective |date=2015 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-08834-4 |editor-last1=Mirowski |editor-first1=Philip |edition=paperback |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |editor-last2=Plehwe |editor-first2=Dieter}} Atlas Network has denied this.{{Cite web |title=Was Atlas Network named after the book Atlas Shrugged? |url=https://www.atlasnetwork.org/faq/category/general-questions |website=Atlas Network|quote=Was Atlas Network named after the book Atlas Shrugged? The name was not derived from the book. }} Atlas Network states on its website that it is nonpartisan.{{Cite web |title=For Journalists |url=https://www.atlasnetwork.org/faq/category/for-journalists |access-date=2024-02-06 |website=Atlas Network }} Atlas Network has received funding from American and European businesses and think tanks to coordinate and organize libertarian organizations in the developing world.{{Cite web |last=Fang |first=Lee |date=2017-08-09 |title=Sphere of Influence: How American Libertarians Are Remaking Latin American Politics |url=https://theintercept.com/2017/08/09/atlas-network-alejandro-chafuen-libertarian-think-tank-latin-america-brazil/ |access-date=2024-03-26 |website=The Intercept}} In 1981, Atlas Network helped economist Hernando de Soto found the Institute for Liberty and Democracy (ILD) in Peru, and also invested in the Institut Economique de Paris (IEP) in France.{{Cite journal|last=Salles-Djelic|first=Marie-Laure|date=2017-10-27|title=Building an architecture for political influence: Atlas and the transnational institutionalization of the neoliberal think tank|url=https://www.elgaronline.com/view/edcoll/9781784711207/9781784711207.00007.xml|journal=Power, Policy and Profit|pages=25–44|doi=10.4337/9781784711214.00007|isbn=9781784711214|doi-access=free}} In 1983, Fisher helped launch the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) in Dallas, Texas, and the Jon Thorlaksson Institute in Iceland (now replaced by the Icelandic Research Centre for Innovation and Economic Growth). Atlas Network helped establish the Hong Kong Centre for Economic Research in 1987 and the Liberty Institute in New Delhi in 1996. Atlas Network grew from 15 think tanks in nine countries in the mid-1980s to 457 think tanks in 96 countries as of 2020.

Atlas Network has been described as "self-replicating, a think tank that creates think tanks". The 2019 and 2020 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report, which is "one measure of a think tank's performance and impact ... designed for use in conjunction with other metrics to help identify and evaluate public policy research organizations around the world", ranked Atlas Network as 54th among the "Top Think Tanks in the United States".{{cite web |last=McGann|first=James G. |author-link=James McGann |date=January 27, 2020 |title=2019 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report |url=https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1018&context=think_tanks |access-date=May 16, 2020}}{{Cite web |last=McGann |first=James G. |date=January 28, 2021 |title=2020 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report |url=https://www.iris-france.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-Global-Go-To-Think-Tank-Index-Report.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307035231/https://www.iris-france.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-Global-Go-To-Think-Tank-Index-Report.pdf |archive-date=2021-03-07 }} Atlas Network's think tank partners "produce white papers, meet with politicos, liaise with the media, write legislation, and much more", as described by WNYC.{{Cite web |title=The Powerful Think Tanks Portraying Climate Protest as Dangerous {{!}} On the Media |url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/powerful-think-tanks-portraying-climate-protest-dangerous-on-the-media |access-date=2023-12-22 |website=WNYC Studios }}{{Cite book |editor-last1=Plehwe|editor-first1=Dieter|editor-last2=Slobodian|editor-first2=Quinn|editor-last3=Mirowski|editor-first3=Philip|url=https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/215796/1/Full-text-book-Plehwe-et-al-Nine-lives-of-neoliberalism.pdf |url-status=dead|title=Nine Lives of Neoliberalism |date=2020 |publisher=Verso|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240407090158/https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/215796/1/Full-text-book-Plehwe-et-al-Nine-lives-of-neoliberalism.pdf|archive-date=April 7, 2024|isbn=978-1-78873-255-0}} In 2018, academic Karin Fischer described Atlas Network campaigns for deregulation and property rights as having so much influence that the World Bank's Doing Business Index "follows exactly Atlas' policy recommendations".{{Cite web |last=Fischer |first=Karin |date=July 9, 2018 |title=The Atlas Network: Littering the World with Free-Market Think Tanks |url=https://globaldialogue.isa-sociology.org/articles/the-atlas-network-littering-the-world-with-free-market-think-tanks |website=Global Dialogue, magazine of the International Sociological Association}}

Atlas Network has promoted entrepreneurship in Africa and other parts of the world, including what it calls "freedom-oriented idea entrepreneurs."{{Cite web |last=Gillespie |first=Nick |date=2024-03-10 |title=Magatte Wade on Africa, foreign aid, and free markets |url=https://reason.com/2024/03/10/magatte-wade-on-african-entrepreneurship/ |access-date=2025-01-13 |website=Reason.com |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Atlas Network Names Three Finalists for 2024 Africa Liberty Award - AfricaBusiness.com |url=https://africabusiness.com/2024/06/27/atlas-network-names-three-finalists-for-2024-africa-liberty-award/ |access-date=2025-01-13 |website=africabusiness.com}}

According to The Guardian, more than a fifth of Atlas Network affiliates worldwide had either opposed tobacco controls or taken tobacco donations.{{cite web |last=Glenza |first=Jessica |date=January 23, 2019 |title=Revealed: the free-market groups helping the tobacco industry |url=http://www.theguardian.com/business/ng-interactive/2019/jan/23/free-market-thinktanks-tobacco-industry |access-date=2022-07-30 |website=The Guardian}} A 2017 paper in the International Journal of Health Planning and Management said that Atlas Network "channeled funding from tobacco corporations to think tank actors to produce publications supportive of industry positions."{{Cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Julia |last2=Thompson |first2=Sheryl |last3=Lee |first3=Kelley |date=2016-01-01 |title=The Atlas Network: a 'strategic ally' of the tobacco industry |journal=The International Journal of Health Planning and Management |volume=32 |issue=4 |pages=433–448 |doi=10.1002/hpm.2351 |issn=1099-1751 |pmc=5716244 |pmid=27125556}} The University of Bath's Tobacco Control Research Group said Atlas Network "appears to have played a particular role in helping the tobacco industry oppose tobacco control measures in Latin America" during the 1990s.{{Cite web |title=Atlas Network |url=https://tobaccotactics.org/wiki/atlas-network/ |access-date=2022-07-30 |website=Tobacco Tactics |publisher=Tobacco Control Research Group, Department of Health, University of Bath }} In 2021, {{Lang|fr|Le Monde}} and The Investigative Desk identified 17 Atlas Network partners engaged in lobbying and advocacy for "tobacco harm reduction", which supports vaping as a substitute for smoking.{{cite news |date=3 November 2021 |title=Vaping: The real dollars behind fake consumer organisations |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2021/11/03/vaping-the-real-dollars-behind-fake-consumer-organisations_6100848_3224.html |access-date=2021-11-04 |work=Le Monde}}

Atlas Network and its affiliates, such as the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Cato Institute, the Fraser Institute, the Heartland Institute, the Macdonald–Laurier Institute, the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, the Montreal Economic Institute, and Second Street,{{cite journal |last1=Neubauer |first1=Robert |last2=Graham |first2=Nicolas |date=2021-11-30 |title=Fuelling the Subsidized Public: Mapping the Flow of Extractivist Content on Facebook |url=https://cjc.utpjournals.press/doi/10.22230/cjc.2021v46n4a4019 |journal=Canadian Journal of Communication |volume=46 |issue=4 |pages=911, 928–929 |doi=10.22230/cjc.2021v46n4a4019 |issn=0705-3657 |quote=Meanwhile, the Fraser Institute, the MLI, Second Street, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, the Montreal Economics Institute, the Manhattan Institute, and the Cato Institute—whose materials are all repurposed as information subsidies or shared directly—are all members of the Atlas Network, the oil-industry-funded transnational network that supports market fundamentalist think tanks and whose members include a rogue's gallery of climate denying organizations (including America's Heartland Institute alongside the Fraser Institute). Atlas Network groups often interlock, with members moving from group to group throughout their careers.|url-access=subscription }} have been linked to oil and gas producers, efforts opposing governments' and activists' efforts against climate change,{{Cite journal |last1=Brulle |first1=Robert J. |last2=Hall |first2=Galen |last3=Loy |first3=Loredana |last4=Schell-Smith |first4=Kennedy |date=May 2021 |title=Obstructing action: foundation funding and US climate change counter-movement organizations |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10584-021-03117-w |journal=Climatic Change |volume=166 |issue=1–2 |pages=2, 3 |doi=10.1007/s10584-021-03117-w |bibcode=2021ClCh..166...17B |issn=0165-0009}}{{cite book |editor-last1=Mackert|editor-first1= Jürgen|editor-last2=Wolf|editor-first2=Hannah|editor-last3=Turner |editor-first3=Bryan S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m0QvEAAAQBAJ |title=The Condition of Democracy: Volume 1: Neoliberal Politics and Sociological Perspectives |date=2021 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-000-40191-2 |location=Abingdon |chapter=Introduction: Waves of Democracy |oclc=1252704834 |access-date=1 January 2025|via=Google Books|quote=Their vehicle is something called the Atlas Network, which at this writing claims over 400 affiliates in 95 countries, their operations partly funded by Koch and allied capitalists, with heavy support from fossil fuel-based fortunes ... The timing suggests one critical prompt. While the Atlas Network had been created a decade and a half earlier, its work notably escalated at this particular moment in the late 1990s. That was just as global recognition of climate change spread and parties across the spectrum began coordinating policies to address it, with the Kyoto Protocol adopted in 1997 being the prime example. }} and the spreading of climate change denial.{{Cite web |last=Harkinson |first=Josh |date=December 22, 2009 |title=Climate Change Deniers Without Borders |url=https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2009/12/climate-deniers-atlas-foundation/ |access-date=2024-03-22 |website=Mother Jones }}{{Cite book |last1=Brulle |first1=Robert J. |title=Climate Obstruction Across Europe |last2=Roberts |first2=J. Timmons |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2024 |isbn=978-0-19-776208-0 |editor-last1=Brulle |editor-first1=Robert J. |location=New York |pages=14 |chapter=Introduction |quote=Global networks of think tanks—especially the Atlas Network—have also played a key role in diffusing denial internationally. |editor-last2=Roberts |editor-first2=J. Timmons |editor-last3=Spencer |editor-first3=Miranda C.}} According to documents described in The Guardian, Atlas Network collaborated with Canada's Macdonald–Laurier Institute in a push for oil and gas development on Indigenous land.{{cite web |last=Dembicki|first=Geoff |date=2022-07-18 |title=How a conservative US network undermined Indigenous energy rights in Canada |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jul/18/conservative-us-network-undermined-indigenous-energy-rights-in-canada |access-date=2022-07-28 |website=The Guardian |quote=A US-based libertarian coalition has spent years pressuring the Canadian government to limit how much Indigenous communities can push back on energy development on their own land, newly reviewed strategy documents reveal. Atlas Network partnered with an Ottawa-based thinktank – the Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI) ... .}}{{Cite journal |last=Graham |first=Nicolas |date=2024-03-27 |title=Think tanks and climate obstruction: Atlas affiliates in Canada |journal=Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue Canadienne de Sociologie |volume=61 |issue=2 |pages=110–130 |doi=10.1111/cars.12467 |issn=1755-6171 |pmid=38535618 |doi-access=free}} After The New Republic blamed Atlas Network for its partners' efforts in some countries to criminalize climate protests, particularly in Germany, Atlas Network said it supports free speech for climate protesters.{{Cite web |last= |date=2024-05-27 |title=European liberty campaigners gather in Madrid |url=https://www.brusselsreport.eu/2024/05/27/european-liberty-campaigners-gather-in-madrid/ |access-date=2024-08-30 |website=Brussels Report }} Some academics have described Atlas Network as an "oil-industry-funded transnational network", as well as "the predominant vehicle for fossil capital's global mobilization against climate science and policy",{{Cite book |last=Walker |first=Jeremy |title=Market Civilizations: Neoliberals East and South |date=2022 |publisher=Zone Books |isbn=978-1-942130-68-0 |editor-last1=Slobodian |editor-first1=Quinn |series=Near futures |location=Brooklyn, New York |chapter=Freedom to Burn: Mining Propaganda, Fossil Capital, and the Australian Neoliberals |editor-last2=Plehwe |editor-first2=Dieter}} and its affiliates as being "partly funded by Koch and allied capitalists, with heavy support from fossil fuel-based fortunes". Atlas Network told The New Republic that it has "no partnerships with extractive industries such as oil and gas companies, we receive no funding from oil and gas companies and have not received funding from oil and gas companies for nearly 15 years."

The Intercept, The Guardian, and The New Republic have described Atlas Network as having ties to right-wing and conservative movements, including the administration of Donald Trump in the United States, Brexit in the United Kingdom, and anti-government protests in Latin America.{{cite news |last=Fang |first=Lee |date=August 9, 2017 |title=Sphere of Influence: How American Libertarians Are Remaking Latin American Politics |work=The Intercept |url=https://theintercept.com/2017/08/09/atlas-network-alejandro-chafuen-libertarian-think-tank-latin-america-brazil/ |access-date=27 December 2017}} A 2024 study analyzing 52 Atlas Network partners found that "while some Atlas-affiliated partners show readiness to confront the threat of nationalist and authoritarian societal mobilization, others conceive it as a tactical or strategic opportunity to advance free market causes."{{cite journal |last=Vucetic |first=Srdjan |date=August 5, 2024 |title=Atlas Asunder? Neo-Liberal Think Tanks and the Radical Right |url=https://academic.oup.com/ia/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ia/iiae132/7726098 |access-date=December 31, 2024 |journal=International Affairs |volume=100 |issue=5 |pages=2173–2193 |doi=10.1093/ia/iiae132|url-access=subscription }} According to The Guardian, "Atlas took no position on Brexit itself, and many of its European partners were opposed, but directors of UK groups in the network were prominent in the official campaign to take Britain out of the EU." In Brazil, Atlas Network had a role in the Free Brazil Movement, which led to the rise of Jair Bolsonaro,{{cite web |last=Subramanian |first=Samanth |date=March 24, 2021 |title=Why have two long-dead Austrian economists become cult figures in Brazil? |url=https://qz.com/1987280/the-austrians-behind-brazils-love-for-free-market-economics/ |access-date=2021-09-27 |website=Quartz}} and it sponsors the Liberty Forum where policies of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva were opposed.{{Cite web |last=Araldi |first=Lucas |date=2023-08-25 |title=In Brazil, Right-Wing Think Tanks Align with Agribusiness to Seek a Path Back to Power |url=https://www.desmog.com/2023/08/25/brazil-rightwing-think-tanks-align-with-agribusiness-to-regain-power/ |access-date=2023-09-14 |website=DeSmog }}

According to disinformation expert Julián Macías Tovar, Atlas Network was linked to an online campaign that used fake accounts against the Cuban government during the 2021 Cuban protests. Tovar also said that Atlas Network partners' Twitter accounts had been involved in bot or troll center campaigns during the 2019 Bolivian political crisis, the 2021 Ecuadorian general election, and the 2021 Peruvian general election.{{cite web |title=Why the internet in Cuba has become a US political hot potato |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/03/why-the-internet-in-cuba-has-become-a-us-political-hot-potato |website=the Guardian |access-date=10 November 2022 |date=3 August 2021}}

Atlas Network partners opposed the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Atlas Network worked with its partners to create the Ukraine Freedom Fund, acquiring, transporting, and providing goods to Ukrainians,{{Cite web |last=Francovich |first=Eli |date=April 3, 2022 |title=In Ukraine, an informal web of Libertarians becomes a 'resistance network' |url=https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2022/apr/03/in-ukraine-an-informal-web-of-libertarians-becomes/ |access-date=2022-08-19 |website=The Spokesman-Review}}{{Cite web |last=Brest |first=Mike |date=2022-12-06 |title=Libertarian organization tops $3.5 million in aid to Ukraine |url=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/libertarian-organization-aids-ukraine |access-date=2022-12-08 |website=Washington Examiner}} and supporting Atlas Network partner groups in the country. The Washington Examiner reported that the humanitarian aid totaled $3.5 million by December 2022. According to Reason, Atlas Network supports nonprofit organizations that fight against authoritarianism and support free markets, self-determination, and rule of law.{{Cite web |date=2023-03-29 |title=Deirdre McCloskey: 'What we want is a nonslave society' |url=https://reason.com/podcast/2023/03/29/deirdre-mccloskey-what-we-want-is-a-nonslave-society/ |access-date=2025-01-13 |website=Reason.com |language=en-US}}

As of 2020, Debbi Gibbs is Atlas Network's chair.{{Cite web|url=https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/942763845/05_2021_prefixes_92-94/942763845_202012_990_2021052118161289|title=Atlas Economic Research Foundation – Form Form 990 for period ending Dec 2020|date=2020|website=ProPublica|access-date=1 January 2024}} The chief executive officer of Atlas Network is Brad Lips. Lips joined Atlas Network, then known as the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, in 1998, and became CEO in 2009.{{cite web|date=2021|title=Our People|url=https://www.atlasnetwork.org/about/people/|access-date=1 January 2024|website=Atlas Network|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250101073804/https://www.atlasnetwork.org/our-people|archive-date=1 January 2025}} He is the author of Liberalism and the Free Society in 2021.{{Cite web |date=2021-09-17 |title=As we endure COVID-19, don't underestimate our extraordinary freedom crisis |url=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/as-we-endure-covid-19-dont-underestimate-our-extraordinary-freedom-crisis |access-date=2022-03-25 |website=Washington Examiner }} He stated that he advocates for a "freedom philosophy",{{Cite web |date=2022-08-11 |title=Interview: Brad Lips, CEO of Atlas Network |url=https://merionwest.com/2022/08/11/brad-lips-atlas-network/ |access-date=2022-08-19 |website=Merion West }} and quoting Friedman, has summarized Atlas Network's function as "to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive until the politically impossible becomes the politically inevitable."{{cite web |last1=Lawrence |first1=Felicity |last2=Evans |first2=Rob |last3=Pegg |first3=David |last4=Barr |first4=Caelainn |last5=Duncan |first5=Pamela |date=2019-11-29 |title=How the right's radical thinktanks reshaped the Conservative party |url=http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/nov/29/rightwing-thinktank-conservative-boris-johnson-brexit-atlas-network |access-date=2022-07-30 |website=The Guardian }} In an opinion article in The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Lips argued for funding market-oriented nonprofit groups instead of increasing traditional foreign aid.{{Cite web |last=Lips |first=Brad |date=2023-06-06 |title=Opinion{{!}}To Fend Off Threats to Freedom, Support Local Economic Development — Not More Foreign Aid |url=https://www.philanthropy.com/article/to-fend-off-threats-to-freedom-worldwide-support-local-economic-development-nonprofits-not-more-foreign-aid |access-date=2023-06-14 |website=The Chronicle of Philanthropy }} He said that Atlas Network is nonpartisan and "willing to talk to all parties".{{Cite web |last=Coley |first=Victoria |date=2020-09-11 |title=The History and Future of the Freedom Movement |url=https://www.iwf.org/2020/09/11/the-history-and-future-of-the-freedom-movement/ |access-date=2024-02-06 |website=Independent Women's Forum }}

Matt Warner is the organization's president, while Tom Palmer serves as executive vice president for international programs.{{cite book|last1=Ball|first1=Stephen|title=Global Education Inc: New Policy Networks and the Neo-liberal Imaginary|date=2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0415684095|pages=19–40}}{{Cite web |first=Eli |last=Francovich |title=Spokane doctor arrives at Ukraine military hospital ready to help — but what will that entail? |url=https://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/spokane-doctor-arrives-at-ukraine-military-hospital-ready-to-help-but-what-will-that-entail/article_66d472a2-a15c-11ec-89e3-e773bd5920f1.html |access-date=2022-03-25 |website=The Wenatchee World |date=11 March 2022 }} Warner and Palmer co-authored the book Development with Dignity: Self-Determination, Localization, and the End of Poverty.{{Citation |last1=Palmer |first1=Tom G. |title=Development with dignity |date=2022 |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/mono/10.4324/9781003229872-11/development-dignity-tom-palmer-matt-warner |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9781003229872 |isbn=978-1-003-22987-2 |access-date=2022-03-25 |last2=Warner |first2=Matt|s2cid=244873522 }} Palmer, known in American libertarian circles since the 1970s, has promoted economic libertarian efforts in various countries including Communist and post-Communist Eastern Europe, as well as Iraq and Afghanistan; after the 2022 Russian invasion, he traveled inside Ukraine to help coordinate Atlas Network aid. He has spoken out against far-right and far-left authoritarian populist movements in the United States and other countries.{{Cite web |last=Palmer |first=Tom |date=2019-07-14 |title=The Terrifying Rise of Authoritarian Populism |url=https://reason.com/2019/07/14/the-terrifying-rise-of-authoritarian-populism/ |access-date=2025-01-13 |website=Reason.com |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Why is Populism So Popular? |url=https://www.libertarianism.org/podcasts/free-thoughts/why-is-populism-so-popular |access-date=2025-01-13 |website=www.libertarianism.org}} Palmer blames "envy and resentment" for driving collectivist impulses that are authoritarian in nature.{{Cite web |last=DemDigest |date=2019-07-25 |title=The 'authoritarian dynamic' behind the rise of populism |url=https://www.demdigest.org/the-authoritarian-dynamic-behind-the-rise-of-populism/ |access-date=2025-01-13 |website=Democracy Digest |language=en-US}}

Only 30 people work specifically for Atlas Network, although more than 1,000 people participate in it via its partner think tanks, according to Global Think Tanks: Policy Networks and Governance, published in 2020.{{cite book|last1=McGann|first1=James|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R3rRDwAAQBAJ|title=Global Think Tanks: Policy Networks and Governance|last2=Whelan|first2=Laura|publisher=Routledge|year=2020|isbn=978-0-367-27854-0|location=New York}} Atlas Network is organized into centers by region.{{Cite web |last=Pozzebon |first=Stefano |title=Analysis: Ecuador and Peru signal political divides that could trouble the region |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/13/americas/ecuador-peru-election-early-results-analysis-intl-latam/index.html |access-date=2022-03-25 |website=CNN|date=13 April 2021 }} Entrepreneur Magatte Wade is director of the Center for African Prosperity and the historian Ibrahim B. Anoba is a fellow at the center. Wade said in Reason that the solution to Africa's economic problems lies in a "cheetah generation" of young Africans who embrace free markets, individualism, human rights, and transparency in government.{{Cite web |date=2024-01-10 |title=Magatte Wade: The Real Reasons Why Africa Is Poor and Why It Matters |url=https://reason.com/podcast/2024/01/10/magatte-wade-the-real-reasons-why-africa-is-poor-and-why-it-matters/ |access-date=2024-03-07 |website=Reason }} In her words, "[Africa is] poor because we don't let our entrepreneurs work."{{Cite web |last=Gillespie |first=Nick |date=2024-03-10 |title=Magatte Wade on Africa, foreign aid, and free markets |url=https://reason.com/?p=8265820 |access-date=2024-03-07 |website=Reason}} Antonella Marty of Argentina served as a fellow for the Center for Latin America, which publishes the annual Index of Bureaucracy.{{Cite news |last=Wade |first=Magatte |date=2021-11-26 |title=Opinion {{!}} The COP26 Plan to Keep Africa Poor |work=The Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-cop26-plan-to-keep-africa-poor-climate-change-clean-energy-11637964581 |access-date=2022-03-25 |issn=0099-9660}}{{Cite web |date=2021-12-14 |title=How Leftist 'Saviors' Ruined Latin America |url=https://reason.com/video/2021/12/14/how-leftist-saviors-ruined-latin-america/ |access-date=2022-03-25 |website=Reason}} Atlas Network also runs the Center for United States and Canada and the Center for Asia and Oceania.{{Cite web |last=Dembicki |first=Geoff |date=2020-04-24 |title=The Emperor Kenney's New Clothes |url=https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2020/04/24/The-Emperor-Kenneys-New-Clothes/ |access-date=2022-06-10 |website=The Tyee }}{{Cite web |date=2021|title=Atlas Network |url=https://www.atlasnetwork.org/partners/center-for-asia-oceania |access-date=2022-06-10 |website=Atlas Network}}

{{Conservatism US|expanded=other organizations}}

Atlas Network has been described as a "connector", putting "freedom intellectuals" and local think tanks in contact and financing their trips.{{Cite book |url=https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/215796/1/Full-text-book-Plehwe-et-al-Nine-lives-of-neoliberalism.pdf |title=Nine Lives of Neoliberalism |date=2020 |publisher=Verso}} The organization offers training, consulting, and professional certification related to fundraising, marketing, organizational leadership, and think tank management through its Atlas Network Academy program.{{Cite web |date=2022-10-25 |title=SFL alumnus from Nigeria, Bayonle Fesobi, attends Atlas Network Academy training in Tanzania |url=https://studentsforliberty.org/blog/sfl-alumnus-bayonle-fesobi-attends-atlas-network-academy-training/ |access-date=2023-12-13 |website=Students For Liberty}} In 2020, Atlas Network trained nearly 4,000 people in promoting free-market voices,{{cite web|last=Armiak|first=David|title=Koch-Backed Donor Network Wants to Blame COVID Deaths on Public Health Measures|url=https://truthout.org/articles/koch-backed-donor-network-wants-to-blame-covid-deaths-on-public-health-measures/|access-date=2021-10-11|website=Truthout|date=4 April 2021 }} preparing nearly 900 people to work at global think tanks.Philadelphia described Atlas Network as "supporting free-market approaches to eliminating poverty and noted for its refutation of climate change and defense of the tobacco industry."{{Cite web|last=Hingston|first=Sandy|date=2020|title=Science and Religion Have Never Been More at Odds. Can Conshohocken's Templeton Foundation Bridge the Divide?|url=https://www.phillymag.com/news/2020/10/10/john-templeton-foundation-philadelphia/|url-status=live|website=Philadelphia Magazine|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201013165734/https://www.phillymag.com/news/2020/10/10/john-templeton-foundation-philadelphia/ |archive-date=2020-10-13 }}

Atlas Network holds four regional Liberty Forums (in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe) and an international conference in the United States. At its December 2021 "Liberty Forum and Freedom Dinner" in Miami, Florida, for think tank partners from around the world, Mario Vargas Llosa and Yeonmi Park were among the 800 attendees, and Yotuel Romero performed.{{Cite web|last=Fund|first=John|date=2021-12-13|title=Think Tanks Can Be a Frontline Defense against Pandemic Setbacks|url=https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/12/think-tanks-can-be-a-frontline-defense-against-pandemic-setbacks/|access-date=2022-01-07|website=National Review}}{{Cite web|last=Rosell|first=Rosi|date=2021-12-22|title=Yotuel Romero Shook Up LoanDeopt Park – Calle Ocho News|url=https://calleochonews.com/yotuel-romero-shook-up-loandepot-park-in-the-name-of-freedom/|access-date=2022-01-07|website=Calle Ocho News}}{{Cite web|title='En Cuba se está dando un cambio fenomenal'|url=https://www.diariolasamericas.com/america-latina/en-cuba-se-esta-dando-un-cambio-fenomenal-n4239076|access-date=2022-02-14|website=Diario Las Américas|language=es|date=14 December 2021 }} Llosa, a Nobel Prize winner and classical liberal, is considered a friend of the organization.{{Cite web |title=A Classical Liberal in Peru – Javier Fernández-Lasquetty |url=https://lawliberty.org/book-review/a-classical-liberal-in-peru/ |access-date=2023-12-08 |website=Law & Liberty |date=13 March 2023 }}{{Cite web |last=Villasmil |first=Juan P. |date=2023-12-18 |title=Why Libertarianism Is Rising in Latin America |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/11/16/argentina-election-milei-venezuela-machado-libertarianism-economics-us-influence/ |access-date=2023-12-08 |website=Foreign Policy }} Adam Weinberg, an Atlas Network executive, wrote in the New York Post that its Liberty Forums are "like an Anti-Davos", offering trade-show-type environments for think tanks to exchange ideas.{{Cite web |last=Weinberg |first=Adam |date=2024-02-07 |title=How I became part of a 'global conspiracy' — for advancing freedom |url=https://nypost.com/2024/02/07/opinion/how-i-became-part-of-a-global-conspiracy-for-advancing-freedom/ |access-date=2024-02-13 |website=New York Post }}

In Canada, Atlas Network partners with about a dozen think tanks, including the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, Montreal Economic Institute, the Fraser Institute, the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, SecondStreet.org.{{Cite web |title= Atlas Network partners in Canada and United States on...| access-date = February 16, 2025|date=December 6, 2021| url = https://www.atlasnetwork.org/articles/atlas-network-partners-in-canada-and-united-states-on-the-list-for-2022-smart-bets|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220605020045/https://www.atlasnetwork.org/articles/atlas-network-partners-in-canada-and-united-states-on-the-list-for-2022-smart-bets |archive-date=June 5, 2022}}{{Cite news| last = Fisher| first = Michael| title = Atlas Network| work = DeSmog|date=March 2021| access-date = February 16, 2025| url = https://www.desmog.com/atlas-economic-research-foundation/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250131221601/https://www.desmog.com/web/20250131221601/https://www.desmog.com/atlas-economic-research-foundation/ |archive-date=January 31, 2025}} Atlas Network has also partnered with the F. A. Hayek Foundation in Slovakia, the Association for Liberal Thinking in Turkey, the Lithuanian Free Market Institute, and Libertad y Desarrollo in Chile to establish Free Enterprise Training Centers. The organization also partners with Chile's Fundación Piensa and Argentina's Libertad y Progreso.

In 2021, Atlas Network partnered with Cuban anti-communism activist Ruhama Fernandez to share her story after Fernandez was arrested for criticizing the Cuban government.{{Cite web|last=Fernandez|first=Ruhama|title=I'm a Cuban dissident. We need America to stand with us against this communist regime.|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2021/08/31/cuba-protests-castro-communism-havana-freedom-political-prisoner/5652092001/|access-date=2021-09-08|website=USA Today}} The Ukraine-based Bendukidze Free Market Center is also an Atlas Network partner.{{Cite web |last=Melnyk |first=Nataliya |title=A plea from Ukraine: Continue to stand with us |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-a-plea-from-ukraine-20220315-4i6t2gdgfbcchkadoil4ctj3ga-story.html |access-date=2022-03-18 |website=nydailynews.com|date=15 March 2022 }} Commentator Deroy Murdock, an Atlas Network senior fellow as of 2017, wrote that the organization "encourages institutions to use local knowledge to reduce government obstacles to upward mobility", featuring local entrepreneurs who overcome such obstacles.{{Cite web |last=Murdock |first=Deroy |date=2017-12-22 |title=Deroy Murdock: Atlas Network defeats poverty for $4.88 per person |url=https://www.unionleader.com/opinion/columnists/deroy-murdock-atlas-network-defeats-poverty-for-488-per-person/article_e65ca84a-d8ac-5e19-982b-9ed0de54baf0.html |access-date=2023-12-19 |website=UnionLeader.com }}

In Australia, Atlas Network has partnered with several free-market think tanks, including the Centre for Independent Studies, Institute of Public Affairs, and LibertyWorks.{{cite journal |last1=Walker |first1=Jeremy |title=Silencing the Voice: the Fossil-fuelled Atlas Network's Campaign against Constitutional Recognition of Indigenous Australia |journal=Cosmopolitan Civil Societies |date=30 September 2023 |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=105–125 |doi=10.5130/ccs.v15.i2.8813 |url=https://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/mcs/article/view/8813/8267 |access-date=20 February 2024|doi-access=free }}{{cite web |last=Williams |first=David |title=Chiding in plain sight, Part II |url=https://newsroom.co.nz/2023/11/02/chiding-in-plain-sight-part-two/ |access-date=20 February 2024 |website=Newsroom |date=2 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240204203510/https://newsroom.co.nz/2023/11/02/chiding-in-plain-sight-part-two/ |archive-date=4 February 2024}} In New Zealand, Atlas Network has partnered with the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union.{{cite web |last1=Williams |first1=David |title=Chiding in plain sight |url=https://newsroom.co.nz/2023/10/31/chiding-in-plain-sight/ |access-date=20 February 2024 |website=Newsroom |date=31 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240204203511/https://newsroom.co.nz/2023/10/31/chiding-in-plain-sight/ |archive-date=4 February 2024}} ACT New Zealand leader David Seymour once worked for the Atlas Network-affiliated Frontier Centre for Public Policy in Canada.{{Cite news |last=Pannett |first=Rachel |date=2024-07-02 |title=New Zealand, once a utopia for Trump-weary exiles, turns to the right |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/07/02/new-zealand-america-moving-trump/ |access-date=2024-07-15 |newspaper=The Washington Post |issn=0190-8286}} Atlas Network chair Debbi Gibbs' father helped found the ACT party. In May 2024, Atlas Network co-hosted its Europe Liberty Forum in Madrid with its Spanish partner Fundalib (Foundation for the Advancement of Liberty).{{Cite web |date=2024-05-27 |title=European liberty campaigners gather in Madrid |url=https://www.brusselsreport.eu/2024/05/27/european-liberty-campaigners-gather-in-madrid/ |access-date=2024-07-18 |website=Brussels Report }}{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable (WP:NOTRS).|date=July 2024}}

In the early 2000s, Atlas Network moved to distribute general purpose funds through grant competitions.{{Cite book |url=https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/215796/1/Full-text-book-Plehwe-et-al-Nine-lives-of-neoliberalism.pdf |title=Nine Lives of Neoliberalism |publisher=Verso |year=2020}} The organization provides limited amounts of financial support to new think tanks on a case-by-case basis. Grants are usually given for specific projects and range between $2,000 and $5,000.{{cite book|last1=Wyszomierski|first1=Sara|title=Guide to Funding for International & Foreign Programs|date=2010|publisher=University of Michigan|page=409}} In 2020, Atlas Network provided more than $5 million in the form of grants to support its network of more than 500 partners worldwide.{{Cite web|title=Atlas Economic Research Foundation – Form Form 990 for period ending Dec 2020 |url=https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/942763845/05_2021_prefixes_92-94/942763845_202012_990_2021052118161289|access-date=2021-08-22|website=ProPublica|date=9 May 2013}}{{Cite web |last=Nunez |first=Joaquin |title=In a country where doing business is almost impossible, Papa Coriandre proves to be the exception to the rule |url=https://voz.us/in-a-country-where-doing-business-is-almost-impossible-papa-coriandre-proved-to-be-the-exception-to-the-rule/?lang=en |website=Voz Media|date=24 June 2023 }} According to Atlas Network, its grants fund coaching, networking, pitch competitions, award programs, and other "ambitious projects for policy change". By the end of 2024, Atlas Network claimed 581 partners in more 100 countries worldwide;{{cite web|date=2024|title=The Network |url=https://www.atlasnetwork.org/partners|url-status=live|website=Atlas Network|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250101071950/https://www.atlasnetwork.org/partners|archive-date=1 January 2025|access-date=1 January 2025}} The Guardian reported it had "more than 450 thinktanks" in May 2024.

The organization funds Costa Rica's IDEAS Labs, which helped reform the country's pension laws in 2020. Atlas Network also supports the Philippines-based Foundation for Economic Freedom, which works on property rights. Atlas Network supports the Burundian think tank CDE Great Lakes, which has helped reduce the paperwork and fees required to start a business in the country. The think tank works with local entrepreneurs, such as "Papa Coriandre", who formalized his small business and has since grown it from two to 139 employees.{{Cite web |last=Núñez |first=Joaquín |date=2023-06-25 |title=In a country where doing business is almost impossible, Papa Coriandre proves to be the exception to the rule |url=https://voz.us/en/world/230625/9236/in-a-country-where-doing-business-is-almost-impossible-papa-coriandre-proved-to-be-the-exception-to-the-rule.html?lang=en |access-date=2023-06-29 |website=Voz Media}}

Atlas Network's Templeton Freedom Award, supported by Templeton Religion Trust and named after Sir John Templeton, was established in 2004.{{Citation |title=Commemorating Sir John Templeton (1912–2012) |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.3726/978-3-653-04874-2/12 |work=The Science and Religion Dialogue |year=2014 |publisher=Peter Lang |doi=10.3726/978-3-653-04874-2/12 |isbn=9783631651858 |access-date=2021-08-31|url-access=subscription }} In 2015, the Acton Institute was awarded $100,000 for its documentary film Poverty, Inc.{{Cite web |date=2015-11-13 |title=Acton Institute film about poverty wins $100,000 Templeton Freedom Award |url=https://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/2015/11/acton_institute_film_about_pov.html |access-date=2021-08-31 |website=M-Live }} In 2020, the Center for Indonesian Policy Studies won the award for its Affordable Food for the Poor Initiative.{{Cite web |title=Promoting Food Security Through Free Trade Ideas, A Congratulations to the Center for Indonesian Policy Studies |url=https://www.propertyrightsalliance.org/news/promoting-food-security-through-free-trade-ideas-a-congratulations-to-the-center-for-indonesian-policy-studies/ |access-date=2021-09-30 |website=Property Rights Alliance}}{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable (WP:NOTRS).|date=December 2022}} In 2021, India's Centre for Civil Society was the winner.{{Cite web |last=Rosell |first=Rosi |date=2021-12-22 |title=Yotuel Romero Shook Up LoanDeopt Park – Calle Ocho News |url=https://calleochonews.com/yotuel-romero-shook-up-loandepot-park-in-the-name-of-freedom/ |access-date=2022-12-12 |website=Calle Ocho News }} In 2022, the Sri Lanka–based Advocata Institute, an Atlas Network partner, won its Asia Liberty Award and the Templeton Freedom Award.{{Cite web |title=Advocata Institute wins 2022 Asia Liberty Award |url=https://www.ft.lk/business/Advocata-Institute-wins-2022-Asia-Liberty-Award/34-740882 |access-date=2022-12-06 |website=Daily FT }}{{Cite web |title=Americans Should Pay Attention to Sri Lanka's Economic Crisis with Dhananath Fernando |url=https://www.lionsofliberty.com/episodes/americans-should-pay-attention-to-sri-lankas-economic-crisis-with-dhananath-fernando |access-date=2022-12-20 |website=Lions of Liberty }}

The organization's Think Tank Shark Tank competition allows professionals to pitch their projects to judges.{{Cite web |date=2019-08-18 |title=ILAPI to compete in 2019 Think tank shark tank Award in Kenya |url=https://www.rainbowradioonline.com/ilapi-to-compete-in-2019-think-tank-shark-tank-award-in-kenya/ |access-date=2021-09-10 |website=Rainbow Radio International |archive-date=2021-09-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210910152945/https://www.rainbowradioonline.com/ilapi-to-compete-in-2019-think-tank-shark-tank-award-in-kenya/ |url-status=dead }} In 2018, Dhananath Fernando won the Asia Think Tank Shark Tank championship for his research on the high cost of construction in Sri Lanka and his proposal to lower the taxes on construction materials.{{Cite web |title=Dhananath Fernando wins US$ 10,000 for Sri Lanka in Think Tank Shark Tank in Asia |url=https://www.dailymirror.lk/business-news/Dhananath-Fernando-wins-US-for-Sri-Lanka-in-Think-Tank-Shark-Tank-in-Asia/273-145799 |access-date=2021-09-11 |website=Dailymirror.lk }} In 2019, Students for Liberty and Entrepreneurship (South Sudan) led by John Mustapha Kutiyote won the award for promoting home ownership by women.{{cite web| url =https://www.atlasnetwork.org/articles/kutiyote-wins-the-2019-think-tank-shark-tank-prize| title =Kutiyote wins the 2019 Think Tank Shark Tank prize| website =Atlas Network| date =22 August 2019}}{{cite web|url=https://admin.atlasnetwork.org/assets/documents/financials/AR_2019_Revised.pdf|title=Atlas Network 2019 Annual Report Page 12|access-date= 1 March 2024}}{{Third-party inline|date=March 2024}} Students for Liberty Brasil won the 2021 Latin America competition for their project on educating Brazilian favela residents about property rights.{{Cite web |date=2021-06-26 |title=Projeto para favelas do Brasil vence Shark Tank da América Latina |url=https://www.clickguarulhos.com.br/2021/06/26/projeto-para-favelas-do-brasil-vence-shark-tank-da-america-latina/ |access-date=2021-09-10 |website=Click Guarulhos |language=pt-br}}

As a non-governmental 501(c)(3) organization, Atlas Network receives donations from foundations, individuals, and corporations, but not government funding. It has received major funding from Koch family foundations including the Charles Koch Foundation and the Charles Koch Institute, along with Koch-affiliated funds such as Donors Trust. Other donors include the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the John Templeton Foundation and the Lilly Endowment.

Research by the activist website DeSmog said Atlas Network had received millions of dollars from Koch-affiliated groups, the ExxonMobil Foundation, and the Sarah Scaife Foundation. As of 2005, Atlas Network had received $440,000 from ExxonMobil itself.{{Cite news |title=Put a Tiger In Your Think Tank |url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2005/05/put-tiger-your-think-tank |access-date=2017-09-22 |work=Mother Jones }} In 2023, Atlas Network said it had received no funding from oil and gas companies "for nearly 15 years".{{Cite magazine |title=Meet the Shadowy Global Network of Right-Wing Think Tanks |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/175488/atlas-shadowy-global-network-right-wing-think-tanks |access-date=2024-07-18 |magazine=The New Republic |issn=0028-6583}}

Of Atlas Network partners, 57% in the United States received funding from the tobacco industry between 1990 and 2000. Analysis in the International Journal of Health Planning and Management in 2016 said that a lack of transparency and data about think tank funding had made it difficult to ascertain the amounts of tobacco industry funding to Atlas Network and partners since 2003. Atlas Network said that corporate funding accounted for less than 2% of its total donations in 2020. National Review said in 2021 that "fossil-fuel and tobacco interests" provided less than 1% of Atlas Network's funding over two decades, versus 98% from individuals and foundations.

As of 2020, Atlas Network had assets of $13,849,965.{{cite web|url=https://www.atlasnetwork.org/assets/uploads/annual-reports/AR_2020_Spreads.pdf|title=Annual Report 2020|website=Atlas Network|date=2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817181410/https://www.atlasnetwork.org/assets/uploads/annual-reports/AR_2020_Spreads.pdf|archive-date=17 August 2021|access-date=1 January 2025}}{{cite web |last1=Roberts |first1=Andrea|last2= Suozzo|first2=Alec Glassford|last3= Ash Ngu|first3= Brandon |date=9 May 2013 |title=Atlas Economic Research Foundation - Nonprofit Explorer |url=https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/942763845 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250101074314/https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/942763845 |archive-date=1 January 2025 |access-date=1 January 2025 |website=ProPublica |postscript=. Updated through the years.}}{{Update needed|date=January 2025}}

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• {{official website|http://atlasnetwork.org}}
• {{ProPublicaNonprofitExplorer|942763845}}

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Category:501(c)(3) organizations

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Category:Conservative organizations in the United States

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Category:Political and economic think tanks in the United States