Atlas Network is pleased to announce the finalists for our prestigious Templeton Freedom Award, which is presented annually at our Liberty Forum & Freedom Dinner in New York City. Named for the late investor and philanthropist Sir John Templeton, the award honors his legacy by recognizing Atlas Network’s partner organizations for making innovative contributions to economic freedom and human progress.
The winning Atlas Network partner will be awarded a $150,000 grand prize, with the runners-up receiving $30,000 each. The Templeton Freedom Award is the signature prize in a program that in 2025 will award a total of $370,000 in grants to high-achieving organizations across Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America, and the Middle East & North Africa. Liberty Forum & Freedom Dinner will be held in New York’s Sheraton Times Square Hotel on Wednesday, November 12th and Thursday, November 13th.
More information about Liberty Forum & Freedom Dinner 2025 can be found here.
This year, one of the following Atlas Network partners will be chosen as the winner of the Templeton Freedom Award:
Georgia’s Future Academy
Georgia’s Future Academy (GFA) has become one of the country’s leading advocates for democracy and civil liberties, focusing on youth mobilization and civic education. In 2024, GFA’s flagship “My Vote” mission deployed over 2,000 trained election observers for the parliamentary elections, documenting widespread fraud in a highly contested election. Their findings were referenced in the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights’ official assessment, underscoring GFA’s role in safeguarding electoral integrity. Beyond elections, GFA runs major civic education initiatives—such as #IDEBATE, Franklin Academy, and others—serving over 5,000 participants and fostering a strong pro-liberty youth network. Innovative outreach, including the #MartisIdebi social media campaign with over ten million views, has amplified their impact. Despite restrictive measures like the “Foreign Agents Law,” GFA continues to build resilient youth networks to counter authoritarianism and protect democratic principles into 2025 and beyond.
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
The August 8, 2023, wildfires that devastated Lahaina, Maui, killed over 100 people, displaced thousands, and triggered long-term recovery challenges due to Hawaii’s highly restrictive land-use and zoning rules. These layered regulations, particularly in Lahaina’s shoreline and historic districts, have slowed rebuilding and worsened the state’s severe housing crisis, where median home prices in most counties exceed $1 million, which has in turn driven residents off the islands. The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii has worked to accelerate Lahaina’s recovery by identifying and challenging regulatory and tax barriers. Their approach—listening and learning, raising awareness, and advocating—has included meeting with affected residents, researching disaster recovery models, testifying over 60 times before Maui officials, collaborating with the governor’s office, and publishing widely in the media. Their efforts helped inspire the creation of a private permitting office to speed approvals, offering a model for post-disaster rebuilding in other communities.
Human Rights Foundation (United States)
The Human Rights Foundation’s (HRF) Financial Freedom program, launched in 2017, combats financial repression in authoritarian regimes by promoting Bitcoin and other open-source tools as lifelines for activists. Through education, training, grants, and community-building, HRF empowers dissidents to protect savings, receive donations, and continue operating even under censorship and financial restrictions. Founded in 2020, the Bitcoin Development Fund has supported projects enhancing privacy, security, decentralization, and adoption, alongside translation and community initiatives in Africa, Asia, and beyond. The fund awarded $2.5 million to over 80 projects in 2024 alone. Other key efforts include the Finney Freedom Prize, Bitcoin education for nonprofits in over 50 countries, the Financial Freedom Report newsletter, and high-profile public education engagements. Research projects like the Bitcoin & Stablecoin Adoption Index and the Central Bank Digital Currency Tracker advance global understanding of digital currency impacts on human rights. HRF also drives innovation via Bitcoin bounties for open-source developers tackling challenges faced by activists and through their support for decentralized tech like Nostr and Ecash, fostering resilient activism against authoritarian control.
Instituto de Ciencia Politica Hernán Echavarría Olózaga (Colombia)
Instituto de Ciencia Política Hernán Echavarría Olózaga (ICP) successfully defended private property rights, economic freedom, and the rule of law in Colombia by stopping legislative and executive actions that threatened constitutional safeguards for land ownership. The challenge centered on Article 61 of the National Development Plan and a related draft decree, which sought to expand the National Land Agency’s powers to seize “underutilized” rural land—without automatic judicial oversight—through agrarian forfeiture, a process more severe than expropriation as it offers no compensation. These measures posed serious risks to legal certainty—especially for small-scale landowners—and discouraged investment. ICP’s multi-pronged strategy included expert roundtables, academic publications, media outreach, formal objections to the Ministry of Agriculture, and a public unconstitutionality lawsuit. This coordinated legal, academic, and advocacy effort preserved constitutional property protections, reinforced due process, and underscored the role of secure land tenure in fostering innovation, investment, and long-term economic growth in Colombia.
Instituto de Estudos Empresariais (Brazil)
Instituto de Estudos Empresariais (IEE), founded in 1984 during Brazil’s military rule, develops business leaders through a program rooted in freedom, ethics, and free-market economic principles. Over four decades, it has trained business leaders whose companies generate more than $10 billion annually and employ 85,000 people. A cornerstone of IEE’s strategy is the Fórum da Liberdade (Freedom Forum), launched in 1988 and recognized by Forbes as Latin America’s largest forum for the debate of ideas. Held annually, the two-day event is headlined by global leaders including Nobel laureates, heads of state, and renowned intellectuals, to discuss topics such as economics, sustainability, freedom of expression, and geopolitics. Roberto Campos, Eduardo Marty, and Mario Vargas Llosa are just a few of the many high-profile names that have gathered at the event. The 2024 edition drew 5,000 in-person participants, from business leaders to students to the general public, interested in vigorous conversations guided by classical liberal principles. With the 38th edition of Fórum da Liberdade taking place in April 2025, the event remains a premier platform for advancing liberal ideas in Brazil and beyond.
Livres (Brazil)
The Livres Handbook on Public Policy was designed to influence municipal policymaking in Brazil by promoting evidence-based, classical liberal policy solutions ahead of the 2024 municipal elections involving 150 million voters. Developed through extensive research on national and international best practices, it contains 81 proposals covering economic development, education, urban planning, and transparency. Thirteen leading experts from academia, the private sector, and public administration contributed, ensuring credibility and alignment with classical liberal governance principles. Over 2,000 copies were distributed to policymakers, candidates, and community leaders, with 53 municipal executive candidates pledging to adopt at least one proposal. The handbook inspired tangible reforms, including Caruaru’s Economic Freedom Act to reduce bureaucratic red tape and new transparency measures in multiple cities. Livres amplified its impact through 12 regional policy events, 22 strategic candidate meetings, and 28 major media mentions, fostering political buy-in and measurable improvements in local governance across Brazil.
Join us in New York City this November at Liberty Forum & Freedom Dinner to be among the first to learn the winner of this year's Templeton Freedom Award.