Vice President of Development

Company Description

The John Locke Foundation was created in 1990 as an independent, nonprofit think tank that would work “for truth, for freedom, and for the future of North Carolina.” The Foundation is named for John Locke (1632-1704), an English philosopher whose writings inspired Thomas Jefferson and the other Founders. The John Locke Foundation envisions a strong North Carolina committed to individual freedom, personal responsibility, and limited, constitutional government both now and for the future. As of January 2021, the John Locke Foundation has merged with the Civitas Institute to become a “powerhouse” for freedom in North Carolina.

JLF employs research, journalism, and outreach programs to transform government by applying the principles of competition, innovation, personal freedom, and personal responsibility to issues such as fiscal policy, regulation, education, health care, and transportation. JLF seeks to expose barriers to freedom and then advocate to advance public policy. The organization desires a better balance between the public sector and private institutions of family, faith, community, and enterprise. JLF currently has 31 employees working from its headquarters in the state capital, Raleigh, as well as a number of other contractors and freelancers.

CULTURAL DISTINCTIVES:

JLF stands for truth, for freedom, and for the future of North Carolina. They describe their conception of a freer North Carolina in these four statements:

• We are a land of liberty where the natural rights of individuals precede and supersede the power of the state.
• We are a constitutional republic in which government power is limited and employed for the purpose of providing legitimate public goods rather than for the benefit of insiders and narrow interest groups.
• We are a free market in which persons, individually or collectively, have the natural right to sell goods and services to willing buyers, and in which the individual pursuit of economic opportunity benefits all.
• We are a free society in which citizens solve social problems not only through government but also by working together in families, neighborhoods, churches, charities, and other private, voluntary organizations.