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Ficha técnica

Fundadores:

Robert A. Sirico

Miembro de la Mont Pélérin Society

Kris Alan Mauren

Año de fundación:

1990

Sede actual:

Grand Rapids, Michigan
Oficinas en Roma y Buenos Aires

Presidente:

Rev. Robert A. Sirico

Algunos miembros del consejo

Betsy DeVos

Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation

Hermana de Erik Prince, dueño de Blackwater

Alejandro Chafuen

Presidente de la Atlas Economic Research Foundation

Vivero de think tanks

Miembro de la Mont Pélérin Society
Fundador y presidente de la Hispanic American Center for Economic Research (HACER)
Miembro del consejo del Fraser Institute
Miembro del consejo de la Fundación Internacional para la Libertad (Madrid)

Presidente: Mario Vargas Llosa

Michael Novak

American Enterprise Institute
Miembro vitalicio de la Mont Pélérin Society
Fundador del Institute on Religion and Democracy

Directora:

Kris Alan Mauren

Negacionistas de referencia:

E. Calvin Beisner
Marvin Orlasky
David H. Padden

Fundador del Heartland Institute, sede del negacionismo tabáquico y climático más duro

Misión declarada:

La misión del Instituto es promover «una sociedad libre caracterizada por la libertad del individuo y sustentada por principios religiosos».

Orientación religiosa:

Católica, versión radical. Económicamente ultraliberal

Actividades

Para cumplir su misión, el Acton Institute organiza seminarios orientados a «educar a los líderes religiosos de todas las denominaciones, ejecutivos de empresa, empresarios, profesores de universidad e investigadores académicos en los principios económicos y en la posible conexión entre la virtud y el pensamiento económico». Además de  conferencias, el Acton Institute publica revistas que «conectan la religión y la teología con distintos principios económicos y sociales». Acton tiene su sede en Grand Rapids, Michigan, y tiene afiliados en Brasil, Austria, Zambia y Argentina.

Acton University
Acton School of Business
Center for Economic Personalism

Red de think tanks

Pertenece a la red Atlas Economic Research Foundation

Gastos

$5,372,926 (2008)

Orientación económica:

Ultraliberalismo empresarial, aboga por la desregulación total del capitalismo. Promueve el «ecologismo de libre mercado».

Medios de comunicación:

Acton Institute PowerBlog
Acton Notes
Religion & Liberty
Journal of Markets & Morality

Posicionamiento negacionista climático:

Partidario del “Free-market environmentalism”

“Los líderes religiosos se mantienen correctamente escépticos del esfuerzo de transformación de la ciencia y politica incorrecta (unsound) en una cruzada moral … El mercado ayuda a darse cuenta de que una buena administración del medio ambiente se ve recompensada por sus esfuerzos.”

“El Acton Institute reconoce que una economía fuerte y vibrante y un compromiso vigoroso con los derechos de propiedad son elementos esenciales para la creación de los incentivos necesarios que conducen a las prácticas correctas de administración del medio ambiente.”

Fuerte campaña anti-Kioto

Otros:

Deduce normativa económica a partir de la Biblia. Entre otras afirmaciones, destaca que la Biblia censura el establecimiento de un salario mínimo y la existencia de sindicatos.

Procedencia de la financiación documentada:

Ver nota

Total documentado: $18,798,995

Donors Capital Fund $2,989,609 (2007-2012)
Donors Trust $337,950 (2002-2012)

Donors Capital Fund y Donors Trust son intermediarios que permiten el anonimato de los donantes.

Exxon Mobil $315,000 (2001-2007)

Atlas Economic Research Foundation $30,000 (2010-2012)
Armstrong Foundation The  $5,000
Brady Education Foundation  $1,090,000
Castle Rock Foundation  $25,000 (2000)
Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation  $473,750 (2003-2012)
Charlotte and Walter Kohler Charitable Trust  $50,000 (1999)
Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation  $115,000 (1992-2001)
Dick and Betsy Devos Foundation  $1,034,750 (2000-2012)
Earhart Foundation  $498,000 (2000-2012)
Fred C. and Mary R. Koch Foundation $75,000 (2007)
Herrick Foundation $2,070,000 (2005-2012)
J.M. Foundation  $65,000 (200-2007)
John M. Olin Foundation  $390,500 (1991-2002)
John Templeton Foundation  $1,240,000 (2006-2011)
Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation $2,067,000 (1997-2012)
Orville D. and Ruth A. Merillat Foundation  $12,000
Philip M. McKenna Foundation  $158,000 (1996-2012)
Pierre F. and Enid Goodrich Foundation $290,000 (2001-2013)
Randolph Foundation  $698,250 (2000-2012)
Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation  $2,150,000 (2001-2012)
Robert and Marie Hansen Foundation $642,062 (2004-2012)
Rodney Fund  $90,500
Roe Foundation  $62,500 (2000-2012)
Ruth and Lovett Peters Foundation  $20,750
Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation  $15,000 (2005)
Sarah Scaife Foundation  $260,000 (2007-2012)
Scaife Family Foundation  $465,000 (1995-1999)
William E. Simon Foundation  $415,000 (2004-2009)
William H. Donner Foundation  $20,000 (2008)

Listado detallado de orígenes de la financiación

Fuentes

Referencias

Philip Morris – Tobacco Strategy – Tobacco Documents Bates 2022887066 – http://goo.gl/qMMbFr
“An esoteric policy group that focuses on illuminating the free market perspective on such issues as taxation and the environment to philosophic/religious organizations and the media principle of the marketplace to effectuate growth, prosperity and fairness for society use of cigarette excises as a funding mechanism for health care reform on grounds of social engineering, economic dislocation and because they are an unstable revenue source. Acton is presently preparing, with our assistance, a monograph for the Detroit News detailing arguments against «sin» taxes . I will be contacting them this week to elicit their assistance in rebutting the just Michigan report that attacks industry projections of economic dislocation caused by prohibitive excise tax hikes.”

Thomas Storck (2012) – Is the Acton Institute a Genuine Expression of Catholic Social Thought? – Social Justice Review 93 – Published online: 01/05/2002 – http://distributistreview.com/mag/2011/07/is-the-acton-institute-a-genuine-expression-of-catholic-social-thought/
“It is far from clear how Fr. Sirico and other Catholic libertarians can justify their attempt to reconcile Catholic tradition with classical liberalism. Do they really believe that the Church’s social teaching and traditon can change so easily as to make obsolete centuries of the papal magisterium? Are they really unaware that such notable Catholic thinkers of the twentieth century who turned their attention to economics, as G. K. Chesterton, Hilaire Belloc, Christopher Dawson and many others, were critics of capitalism? I cannot answer these questions. But what we can know is that the Acton Institute’s promotion of liberalism is not something that can be embraced by an orthodox Catholic. Sirico, like Acton and Döllinger, is not a safe guide but rather a dissenter from the fullness of the Faith, a blind guide who will only lead his followers into a pit. Please God, it will not be into the bottomless pit.”

Bill Berkowitz (2004) – The Acton Institute – Z Magazine,  Febrero 2004 – http://zcomm.org/zmagazine/the-acton-institute-by-bill-berkowitz/ –
“Rev. Zandstra and the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty have been imparting their own “moral legitimacy” to corporations for more than a decade. In May 2003, Zandstra and Father Robert Sirico, the president of the Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Institute, spoke against environmental and human rights resolutions brought by a number of religious organizations at Exxon Mobil’s annual shareholders meeting.”

Steve Benen (2004) – From Genesis To Dominion – Americans United for Separation of Church and State, 29/02/2004 – http://web.archive.org/web/20040323030339/http://www.dangerouscitizen.com/Articles/1090.aspx
“Ahmanson has also taken an interest in providing money for other political causes, including support for voucher subsidies for religious schools and opposition to gay rights and pornography. In the January/February 1997 issue of Religion & Liberty, published by the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, he argued that the Bible opposes minimum wage laws.”

Russ Barnes – Planting Seeds Worldwide – Philanthropy Roundtable,  01/03/2005 – http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/topic/excellence_in_philanthropy/planting_seeds_worldwide
“Although an economist can empirically describe what makes a society wealthy,” says Chafuen, “there is another, ineffable factor, and that has to do with values. This is where religion is vibrant in helping to produce social wealth,” Chafuen notes. “We are pleased to have helped bring into being an organization like Acton that examines such values.”

Chris Hedges (2006) – American Fascists. The Christian Right and the War on America – Cap 6: The war on truth – ISBN: 978-0-7432-8443-1 – Free Press, New York
“When used by the Christian Right, the term ‘liberty’ means the liberty that comes with accepting a very narrowly conceived Christ and the binary world view that acceptance promotes.”

Brian Kaylor (2006) – Signers of Environmental Statement Funded by ExxonMobil – Ethics Daily.com, 10/08/2006 – http://www.heatisonline.org/contentserver/objecthandlers/index.cfm?ID=6038
“The ISA statement claims that scientific research is not conclusive on the issue as the ECI document stated, and that much research suggests climate change will be minor or nonexistent. However, many of the signers of the document lead or work for organizations that have received donations from ExxonMobil, the world’s largest publicly traded oil and gas company. In all, ExxonMobil’s gave $715,000 in 2005 to organizations with singers of the ISA document. Following is a list of organizations, the amount of funding they received from ExxonMobil in 2005, and the individuals from the organizations that signed the ISA statement.”

Bill Berkowitz (2007) – Anti-Environment Think Tank Promoting ‘Enviropreneurs‘ – Scoop, 07/04/2007 – Working for Change – http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0704/S00126/bill-berkowitz-anti-environment-enviropreneurs.htm
“The only other U.S.-based think tank to win one of the [Property and Environmental Research Center] awards was Father Robert Sirico’s Michigan-based Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty which won first place in the Free Market Solutions to Poverty category. Acton ‘s Connecting Good Intentions to Sound Economics Advertising Campaign, «used the power of the popular media to challenge common beliefs about how to alleviate poverty. Using the tagline, ‘Don’t Just Care, Think!,’ the project used documentaries, short films, public service announcements, print ads, and other educational materials to make the case that good intentions alone will not help the world’s poor.».”

Thomas J. Herron (2007) – Robert Sirico and the Sins that Cry to Heaven for Vengeance – Culture Wars, May 2007 – http://www.culturewars.com/2007/Sirico.htm
“It has been nearly a month since Ms. Engel sent her letter to the Vatican requesting a full investigation of the history of Father Robert Sirico of the Acton Institute. An independent investigation of the Acton Instute is not based on detraction (It is not detraction when you quote from a book that won the Washington State and Jesuit book awards in 2004.); it is long overdue. Sirico’s homosexuality was hardly a momentary lapse; it was a career, and in an uncanny way, Sirico has maintained a certain consistency throughout his life in spite of its apparent vagaries and the obfuscations put up by libertarian gatekeepers like Richard Clark in wikipedia. The main thing that the libertine cleric of the Metropolitan Community Church in Seattle and the libertarian Catholic priest from Grand Rapids have in common is a career based on promoting sins that cry to heaven for vengeance, whether it be sodomy in the ‘70s or depriving workers of a just wage in the ‘90s and beyond. At this point all we can hope is that eventually those cries will be heard and answered.»

Miranda Blue (2012) – Santorum and the ‘Green Dragon’: Faith-Based Attacks on Environmentalism Nothing New from the Religious Right – Right Wing Watch, 21/02/2012 – http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/santorum-and-green-dragon-faith-based-attacks-environmentalism-nothing-new-religious-right
“The Religious Right’s relatively new antipathy to environmentalism is largely the result of the hard work of E. Calvin Beisner, a purveyor of dominion theology and the leader of The Cornwall Alliance, a group with financial ties to the oil industry. The Cornwall Alliance’s sole purpose is to convince the Religious Right to buy into the Corporate Right’s climate change denialism and help them demonize environmentalists … Beisner is a CFACT board member and an “adjunct fellow” of the Acton Institute , which is primarily funded by groups like ExxonMobil, the Scaife foundations and the Koch brothers. Beisner is also an adviser to the Atlas Economic Research Foundation.”

Jim Harger (2013) – Erik Prince is back with book defending Blackwater’s role in war on terror – Michigan Live, 19/11/2013 – http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2013/11/erik_prince_is_back_with_a_boo.html
“About a dozen of Prince’s detractors were gathered outside of the Acton Institute’s headquarters prior to the event. The group hoisted signs and shouted slogans that labeled Prince as a “war criminal.” Tom Burke, chairman of Left Forum of Grand Rapids, said their signs were aimed at alerting passers-by that Blackwater was fined $50 million by the U.S. government for smuggling arms in 2012. Mike Franz, a local coordinator for MoveOn.org, questioned why a religious organization like the Acton Institute was playing host to Prince. ”

Graham Readfearn – Exclusive: Mont Pelerin Society Revealed As Home To Leading Pushers Of Climate Science Denial – Desmogblog, 14/01/2014 – http://www.desmogblog.com/2014/01/15/exclusive-mont-pelerin-society-revealed-home-leading-pushers-climate-science-denial
“The US cohort of Mont Pelerin members includes many senior staff associated with «free market» think tanks that have manufactured doubt about the science of human-caused climate change or the need to act quickly. Alongside Charles Koch, DeSmogBlog’s document shows that Mont Pelerin Society members include senior staff, directors and associates from groups his family foundations have helped to fund. These include the Cato Institute, Heritage Foundation, the Acton Institute, the Reason Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute. Other members include Wall Street Journal editor and columnist Mary O’Grady and John O’Sullivan, a columnist with the conservative National Review.”

Jim Harger – Erik Prince tells his side of the Blackwater USA story at the Acton Institute – Michigan Live, 18/02/2014 – http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2014/02/erik_prince_tells_his_side_of.html – authors “Prince, who estimated his company became the world’s largest employer of former special operations soldiers at its peak, defended the work his operatives performed in Iraq and Afghanistan on the behalf of the U.S. State Department … Inside the Acton Institute, Prince was among old friends, including former U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, the Republican’s ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee during the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.”

Chris Clark – Acton Institute tax exemption denied, Grand Rapids says think tank not charitable – Michigan Live, 07/04/2014 – http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2014/03/acton_institute_tax_exemption.html – authors “But the city has ruled that Acton does not qualify as a charitable institution, Engerson said. “Most people think that if they’re a tax-exempt 501(c)3 they’re exempt from property tax, and that’s not the case in Michigan,” he said. “In regard to Acton, it’s the charitable piece that the city was not able to definitively conclude.”.”

Exxon Secrets – David H. Padden – Greenpeace – Accedido: 05/05/2014 – http://www.exxonsecrets.org/html/personfactsheet.php?id=183
“Founder and director Cato Institute, director Citizens for a Sound Economy, director Bionomics Institute, director Foundation for Economic Education, former director Center for Libertarian Studies, former director Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, director.”

Exxon Secrets – Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty – Greenpeace – Accedido: 05/05/2014 – http://www.exxonsecrets.org/html/orgfactsheet.php?id=5
“Environment is one area of research for the Acton Institute, and is divided into sub-categories that include «Economics & Environmentalism» and «Science & Ecology». The organization subscribes to market-based environmental theories, and believes God has given humans dominion over the natural world. Publications readily available on the group’s web site include: «Thou Shalt Not Burn Fossil Fuels: Global Warming and Religious Faith,» an anti-Kyoto Protocol article by Michael Barkey, and «Global Warming or Global Baloney? The Forgotten Case for Global Cooling,» by Phil Brennan, which promotes the idea that the idea of global warming is a socialist attempt to take over the United States. The Acton Insitute’s Environmental Stewardship web page (http://www.acton.org/ppolicy/environment/) links to the Cato Institute, Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Free-Market Environmental network, Green-Watch, the Heartland Institute and the Heritage Foundation, among others.”

 

This page has the following sub pages.

• Acton Institute: Detalle de orígenes de la financiación