Project will create innovative free-market media with data-driven distribution and analytics.
Atlanta, GA.–The Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) has been awarded a three-year, $1.8 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation to define new and better ways to communicate with Millennials about the humane values and ethical principles of a free society. Through experimental message testing, digital distribution, and data feedback analysis, FEE will communicate to Millennials that the pathway to human flourishing, dignity, and abundance is through individual liberty, free markets, limited government, and the entrepreneurial spirit.
“With massive digital distribution now within our reach, FEE has the opportunity to illuminate the hearts of the rising generation,” said FEE’s president Lawrence W. Reed. “This project will generate — both for FEE and our worldwide partners — actionable data on the messages, media, and styles to which key segments of the Millennial audience respond.”
Sir John Templeton, renowned philanthropist and founder of the John Templeton Foundation, believed a society may prosper only when it “recognized and established broad principles of freedom, competition, and personal responsibility.” Additionally, for Sir John, “self-awareness and personal growth depended on a deeper understanding of the circumstances in which good character flourishes and of the roots of good character in human nature.”
"We are excited to support FEE in making sure that free market values are presented to Millennials in relevant ways, so they see these ideas are every bit as valuable and timely today as in the past,” said Daniel Austin Green, Director of Individual Freedom and Free Markets at the John Templeton Foundation.
Since its founding, FEE has advanced the idea that strong personal character and the principles of freedom are inseparably bonded and the key to a prosperous society. This project, which will begin in January 2017, will emphasize this connection by employing a variety of media, messaging, and distribution tactics focusing on Millennials’ personal values.
The project will be directed by Richard N. Lorenc (FEE’s Chief Operating Officer) with Jeffrey Tucker (Director of Content), David Veksler (Director of Technology), and award-winning producer Sean Malone (joining FEE on August 1st as Director of Media). FEE is currently in discussions with potential strategic partners to accomplish the goals of this important project.
“‘Freedom’ is not some cheap notion to be abused in political talking points,” said Lorenc. “This project will communicate in many new and creative ways that freedom is a life philosophy by which individuals can create value in their lives and their communities. We are deeply grateful to the John Templeton Foundation for their shared vision and support, both for FEE and freedom.”
Contact Richard Lorenc with questions or to express interest in partnering on the project.
FEE has been a leading non-profit organization in teaching the principles of a free society since its founding in 1946 by Leonard E. Read. Today, FEE focuses on introducing freedom as a life philosophy to uncommitted newcomers in the youth audience, striving to bring about a world in which the economic, ethical and legal principles of a free society are familiar and credible to the next generation. FEE produces student seminars, free online courses, classroom resources, and engaging classic and contemporary content available at FEE.org and on social media. FEE is supported solely by contributions from individuals, private foundations, and businesses and by the sale of our publications. We invite you to advance liberty with us at FEE.org.
The John Templeton Foundation serves as a philanthropic catalyst for discoveries relating to the Big Questions of human purpose and ultimate reality. We support research on subjects ranging from complexity, evolution, and infinity to creativity, forgiveness, love, and free will. We encourage civil, informed dialogue among scientists, philosophers, and theologians and between such experts and the public at large, for the purposes of definitional clarity and new insights. The Foundation’s vision is derived from the late Sir John Templeton's optimism about the possibility of acquiring “new spiritual information” and from his commitment to rigorous scientific research and related scholarship. The Foundation's motto, "How little we know, how eager to learn," exemplifies our support for open-minded inquiry and our hope for advancing human progress through breakthrough discoveries.
Foundation for Economic Education
The Foundation for Economic Education, founded 1946, works for a free and prosperous world.