The Atlas Economic Research Foundation announced the recipients of its inaugural class of Dorian & Antony Fisher Venture Grants. Each of these nine young think tanks will receive up to $100,000 from Atlas over the next three years:

Alternate Solutions Institute (Lahore, Pakistan)

Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions (Kentucky, USA)

Canadian Constitution Foundation (Calgary, Canada)

Cathay Institute for Public Affairs (Beijing, China)

Fundación Ecuador Libre (Guayaquil, Ecuador)

Fundación F. A. von Hayek (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

IMANI: Center for Policy and Education (Accra, Ghana)

Istituto Bruno Leoni (Turin, Italy)

New Economic School-Georgia (Tbilisi, Georgia)

Atlas established the Fisher Venture Grants program in January 2008 to recognize and assist think tanks that represent "great investments" for the future of liberty. Grantees are younger institutes with a track record that suggests a strong potential for improving the climate of ideas among their target audience.

Alejandro A. Chafuen, Atlas's President & CEO remarked, "Independent think tanks can play a crucial role to ensure that public policy debates are not dominated by government insiders."

Each of the recipients of Fisher Venture Grants has been educating policy-makers and the broader public about the virtues of limiting government, so individual initiative and free enterprise can flourish.

More than 180 think tanks competed for the grants in this program, which honors the memory of Atlas's founders, Sir Antony Fisher and his wife Dorian, who passed away in 2007.

Dorian and Antony Fisher believed that independent think tanks can produce enormous leverage for changing the climate of ideas in a country. They saw that investments in emerging think tanks could be extremely cost-effective, especially when complimented with mentoring to further improve those think tanks' prospects for long-term success.

For this reason, Atlas structured the Dorian and Antony Fisher Venture Grants program to provide funding to think tanks over a three-year term, during which time Atlas will be in frequent contact to help develop plans and to monitor performance. Half of the grant is structured as a "matching program," providing strong incentive for think tanks to attract new local supporters for their important work.

Founded in 1981, the Atlas Economic Research Foundation is a tax-exempt charity based in Arlington, Virginia, that develops and strengthens a worldwide network of independent think tanks. Atlas does not seek or accept government funding. Its grants and programs are made possible entirely by voluntary contributions from individuals and organizations sharing Atlas's belief in the principles of a free society.