John M. Olin Foundation

John M. Olin Foundation was founded by John Merrill Olin in 1953 from the profits of his successful chemical and munitions manufacturing business. It has provided over $380 million dollars in funding primarily to conservative think tanks, media outlets, and law programs at influential universities. Olin believed that law schools have a disproportionately large impact on society given their size and to this end decided to focus the majority of his funding there. The Olin Foundation is most notable for its early support and funding of the law and economics movement, a discipline that applies incentive-based thinking and cost-benefit analysis to the field of legal theory. Unlike most non-profit foundations, the Olin Foundation was charged to spend all of its assets within a generation of Olin's death, for fear of mission drift over time; as such, it closed its doors in the summer of 2005. The John M. Olin Foundation is different from the F. W. Olin Foundation, which established the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering.

Related Topics:
John Merrill Olin - 1953 - Conservative - Think tanks - Law and economics - 2005 - F. W. Olin Foundation - Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering

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While it was founded in 1953 the fund was largely inactive until 1969 when John M. Olin was disturbed by an anti-war building takeover at his alma mater, Cornell University. At the age of 80 he decided that he must pour his time and resources into preserving the free-market system that had allowed him to acquire his own wealth. Since this time, the Olin Foundation has become both an intellectual and financial root of the conservative movement in the United States.

Related Topics:
1953 - 1969 - Anti-war - Cornell University

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According to the official website, "the general purpose of the John M. Olin Foundation is to provide support for projects that reflect or are intended to strengthen the economic, political and cultural institutions upon which the American heritage of constitutional government and private enterprise is based. The Foundation also seeks to promote a general understanding of these institutions by encouraging the thoughtful study of the connections between economic and political freedoms, and the cultural heritage that sustains them."http://www.jmof.org/history_purposes.html

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William E. Simon served as president of the Olin Foundation from 1977 until his death in 2000. He frequently discussed the foundation's commitment to supporting the ?counterintelligentsia.? The Olin Foundation was formerly managed by Michael S. Joyce, who left to head the similar Bradley Foundation. James Piereson was the last executive director and secretary.

Related Topics:
William E. Simon - 1977 - 2000 - Michael S. Joyce - Bradley Foundation - James Piereson

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