The Think Thanks and Civil Societies Program at the University of Pennsylvania has just published their seventh “Global Go To Think Tank Index.” This report takes almost a full year to compile and looks at almost 7,000 think tanks worldwide and ranks them in 47 categories. Their website states that “the purpose of the rankings is to help improve the profile and performance of think tanks while highlighting the important work they do for governments and civil societies around the world.”
The Acton Institute was named in four categories:
- 34th in “Top Think Tanks in the United States” (same as last year)
- 11th in “Top Social Policy Think Tanks” (up from 13th in 2012)
- 10th in “Best Advocacy Campaign” (19th in 2012)
- 17th in “Best Think Tank Conference” (new category)
The “advocacy campaign” refers to Acton’s initiative PovertyCure, an international network of organizations and people looking towards free market entrepreneurial solutions to poverty. Acton sponsors a number of events throughout the year including, Acton University, Toward a Free and Virtuous Society, Thriving Churches, Flourishing Communities, and Liberty and Markets. Acton’s largest event, Acton University, is a four-day conference held each June in Grand Rapids exploring the intersection of virtue and individual liberty. The event consists of lectures and informal discussions on practical topics in free-market economics, public policy, popular culture, private charity, and entrepreneurship. In 2013, Acton welcomed nearly 900 participants (of 1,200 applications received) from six continents.
You can visit TTCSP’s “rankings page” to view the 2013 or any of the older reports. You can visit this page to see the exact timeline and process of their report. Acton’s full release is available here.
