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John M. Olin Foundation

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Not to be confused with the F. W. Olin Foundation or Spencer T. Olin Foundation.
John M. Olin Foundation was a grant-making foundation established in 1953 by John M. Olin, president of the Olin Industries chemical and munitions manufacturing businesses. Unlike most non-profit foundations, the John M. Olin Foundation was charged to spend all of its assets within a generation of Olin's death, for fear of mission drift over time. It made its last grant in the summer of 2005 and officially disbanded on November 29 of that year after having disbursed over $370 million in funding, primarily to conservative think tanks, media outlets, and law programs at influential universities.

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History and purpose

The fund was largely inactive until 1969, when John M. Olin was disturbed by a 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.

The 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. 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.

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."[link]

William E. Simon served as president of the 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.

Gun controversy

The John M. Olin Foundation funded the John M. Olin Fellowship at University of Chicago. While serving in the position professor John Lott produced a study that argued that relaxing concealed weapons laws can reduce crime. The study was attacked by gun control supporters for its funding from the John M. Olin Fellowship and its relationship with the Olin Corporation, though one commentator noted that this was akin to claiming that the Ford Foundation serves the interests of automakers.[link]

2005 Board of Directors

Partial list of grant recipients

Think tanks

Universities

The John M. Olin Foundation has also given large amounts of money to conservative groups at prestigious colleges and universities, including the Federalist Society.

Professorships

There are several dozen John M. Olin Professors at universities and law schools around the world, including:

Publications

Authors and researchers

External links

 

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