Year of Grant: 2014

Location: United States

 

Considered one of Atlas Network's most prestigious training programs, the Think Tank MBA (TTMBA) is a practical, intensive and cost-effective means of improving the credibility and impact of think tanks leaders and staff who often arrive to the liberty movement with ideas and passion but little practical know-how.

 

The two-week program teaches these individuals the best practices of non-profit management, including development and execution of strategic plans, leadership skills, staff management and fundraising. It further links them to a network of peers with whom they can share ideas and collaborate toward important policy goals.

 

Applicants go through a thorough selection process and only the most promising candidates are accepted into the program. Selected candidates are then trained further by experts in both the think tank movement and private sector. As a required product of the two-week program, they develop a strategic plan for either their institute or a key program within it.

 

Candidates’ leadership skills are analyzed through a personality assessment. Participants collaborate on a group issue campaign to test their creativity and to immediately put the skills learned to use.  They hone an “elevator pitch” that is delivered in front of a large audience, and they finally leave with more knowledge and more confidence in areas of program planning and execution, fundraising, operational management, and leadership tactics. 

 

The Think Tank MBA has been taught annually since 2008 and has steadily attracted quality participants and received uniformly positive feedback. Over the last six years, 144 think tank leaders have gone through this training program, and 97 of those remain involved in advancing liberty today, either through their think tanks or via new entrepreneurial ventures.