January 30, 2018—The University of Pennsylvania today released the 2017 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report which examines and ranks more than 7,500 institutions worldwide. The goal of this intensive yearlong study is to “identify and recognize centers of excellence in all the major areas of public policy research and in every region of the world.”
The Acton Institute’s hard work in various areas has been recognized by the report since 2010 and this year was no different. In the category that Acton values most closely, “Social Social Policy Think Tanks,” Acton maintained its global position as among the top 15 think tanks worldwide (ranked 13th) amongst a list of think tanks of the left and right that are multiples of its size. Acton also ranked favorably in four other categories, including “Best Advocacy Campaign” (ranked 9th globally, for PovertyCure) and “Best Think Tank Conference.” You can download the full report here.
The think tank study follows on the heels of a news report that declared Acton the #1 charity in West Michigan, among 45 other charity and nonprofit organizations. Using publicly available data from a national watchdog group, WZZM TV said Acton
“attained a perfect 100 rating in Charity Navigator’s ratings which measure transparency and performance. There are only 58 organizations across the country with perfect scores (100) out of the 9,029 that have been evaluated by the web site.”
There are 7,815 think tanks worldwide with 20.7 percent in Europe and 25.2 percent in North America. The United States has the most think tanks with nearly 2,000 (397 of those are in DC). Michigan is home to 31 total think tanks. The University of Pennsylvania’s report is one important testament to Acton’s growing recognition as the world’s premier think tank on the relationship between markets and ethics.