Economic Freedom Audit Grant

Important Notice: Grant Cycle Transition and New Deadlines

We've transitioned to three grant cycles per year. Please note the updated deadlines:

• 2024: Feb 15, Jun 1, Oct 1

• 2025 and forward: Feb 1, Jun 1, Oct 1

For questions or concerns, contact Grauben Lara at grauben.lara@atlasnetwork.org

Economic Freedom Audit Grant

Atlas Network is excited to partner with the Fraser Institute to provide funding for Economic Freedom Audits to Atlas Network partners all around the world. This opportunity is restricted to organizations based in countries placed in the lower half of the Economic Freedom of the World Ranking.

The Economic Freedom Index not only provides the most comprehensive economic policy description of a nation available, but the information also creates a prescription for reform—showing where a country is weak and strong, how its regional competitors are doing, and where best practices can be found.

The University of Pennsylvania Global Go To Think Tanks Report has recognized the Economic Freedom of the World Ranking as one of the most influential reports published by the world’s 6,600+ think tanks. Nobel Laureate Douglass North has called it the “best available … description of efficient markets.”

Economic Freedom Audits effectively convey the advantages of economic freedom and free markets to policy reformers and are a powerful media tool to communicate to the public. They are designed to develop practical policy reform ideas, create local ownership, and deliver these ideas to governments and the people of the nation. They enable participants and the public to see how their nation does against the region, world, and top 10 averages in economic freedom in 42 dimensions, and provide world-class policy examples for improvement.

The audits provide ample opportunity for communication to the public through the media: pre-audit news releases and interviews; coverage at the audit, typically including television; a post-audit press release and interviews; and then, with the preparation of the final report, its presentation to the public and government.

Audits have been or are being undertaken in Burundi, Ecuador, Vietnam, Greece, Serbia, Argentina, Turkey, Ukraine, Venezuela, Uruguay, Sri Lanka, Oman, Panama, Jordan, Egypt, Côte d’Ivoire, Morocco, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tunisia, Malaysia, Lebanon, Brazil, Namibia, Ghana, Nepal, Honduras, Mauritania, Colombia, Philippines, Poland, Tanzania, and Uganda. For an example of a successful audit, please refer to the 2018 Economic Freedom Audit of Egypt conducted by Atlas Network partner the Egyptian Center for Public Policy Studies.

The grant amount should fall between $15,000 and $20,000, which should include the responsibilities listed below for the partner organization as well as the cost of travel and accommodation for a Fraser Institute representative to participate in the Economic Freedom Audit main event.

Responsibilities:

The Fraser Institute provides the booklet and analysis. No fees are charged for the booklet or speaker besides the aforementioned travel costs included in the total grant amount.

The local partner is responsible for on-site logistics and organization, including but not limited to planning the launch event of the Audit including booking venues and meals, translation of the booklet produced by the Fraser Institute, marketing costs, and media releases.

From the recommendations developed in the separate workshops and through ongoing consultations, a final report analyzing the nation’s policy situation and presenting recommendations is prepared by the partner organization and circulated to the participants for comments.

To apply and learn more about the structure of this grant opportunity please click here.

We favor organizations that participate in the Atlas Network Academy and, in particular, those who have completed Think Tank Fundamentals and Think Tank Theory & Practice, which are both free online courses offered within the Academy.

Our 2024 deadlines will be February 15, June 1, and October 1.

Questions? Contact Grauben.Lara@atlasnetwork.org. Our Institute Relations team is always happy to provide feedback on grant applications before they are submitted.