Grand Rapids, Mich. (August 17, 2012) – The Acton Institute won a 2012 Templeton Freedom Award for Excellence in Promoting Liberty for its work on the PovertyCure educational initiative which promotes free enterprise practices as lasting and sustainable solutions in the global fight against poverty.
The Atlas Economic Research Foundation, the organization responsible for administering the award, praised PovertyCure for its “tangible impact on the poverty debate through high-impact partnerships, resources, and conferences.” Atlas also recognized PovertyCure’s diverse roster of 160 partner organizations, ranging from universities and entrepreneurial groups to church ministries, as integral to its mission. More than 50 countries are represented on PovertyCure’s list of partner organizations. Today, over 30,000 online viewers have seen the initiative’s powerful video shorts.
For more information, visit povertycure.org.
The Award marks the fifth Templeton Freedom Award for the Acton Institute. In 2010, Acton claimed first place in the Templeton Freedom Awards for Excellence in Promoting Liberty competition. And in 2007, The Institute won another award in the Free Market Solutions to Poverty category for its “Don’t Just Care, Think!” campaign. In 2005, Acton’s Toward a Free and Virtuous Society conferences were recognized in the Excellence in Promoting Liberty category. A year earlier, The Acton Institute was featured in the Ethics and Values category for “its extensive body of work on the moral defense of the free market.”
In 2010, Acton also shared the Ethics & Values award with the Centro de Divulgación del Conocimiento Económico para la Libertad (CEDICE) in Venezuela which won for its initiative, “A Country of Owners.” The project promotes awareness in Venezuelans of one of the most basic human rights, which is the right to own property. The purpose of “A Country of Owners” is to encourage ideas and actions in favor of individual private property through educational activities. The initiative has been called “a courageous and timely response to the events in Venezuela” as well as a “beacon in the growing darkness of Venezuela.”
Named after the late investor and philanthropist Sir John Templeton, the Templeton Freedom Award was established in 2003 and is the largest international prize program that celebrates think tank contributions to the understanding of freedom. The Templeton Freedom Awards program has awarded more than $1.5 million in prizes and grants in the past eight years. This year’s awards program grants a $10,000 prize to each winner.
About Atlas:
The Atlas Economic Research Foundation has supported a worldwide network of independent think tanks that promote a society of free and responsible individuals for nearly three decades. Atlas, based in Washington, currently works with more than 400 partners in 84 countries. More than half of these organizations were assisted in their formative years by Atlas through financial support or advisory services.