FEE's Vision

To make the ideas of liberty familiar, credible, and compelling to the rising generation

FEE's mission is to inspire, educate, and connect future leaders with the economic, ethical, and legal principles of a free society.

These principles include: individual liberty, free-market economics, entrepreneurship, private property, high moral character, and limited government.

FEE's Strategic Objectives

1

FEE will be the movement leader in knowing our customer.

2

FEE will be the leader in introducing freedom as a life philosophy.

3

FEE will be a leader in the leveraged distribution of ideas on liberty.

The Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) is a tax-exempt, 501(c)3 educational foundation and has been trusted by parents and teachers since 1946 to inspire students with sound economic principles and the entrepreneurial spirit with top-rated in-person seminars and webinars, free books and online materials for teachers and classrooms, and relevant daily online articles, podcasts, and videos.

~ F.A. Hayek, Nobel laureate in Economics

FEE, the first libertarian organization in the United States, was founded in New York in 1946 by Leonard E. Read to study and advance the freedom philosophy. FEE has published or hosted lectures by some of the finest minds of the modern age, including Ludwig von Mises, F.A. Hayek, Henry Hazlitt, Milton Friedman, James Buchanan, Vernon Smith, Israel Kirzner, Walter Williams, George Stigler, Frank Chodorov, John Chamberlain, F.A. “Baldy” Harper, and William F. Buckley, Jr., among many others.

FEE Timeline

2021

In 2021, FEE celebrates its 75th anniversary and launches a three-year campaign to reach 4 million young people weekly in addition to millions of other fans.

2020

In 2020, as the world dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic, FEE thrives and reaches nearly 200 million people online through videos, articles, and webinars.

Additionally, FEE completes its groundbreaking three-year Youth Education & Audience Research project, which developed new techniques for messaging and marketing the ideas of liberty to new youth audiences.

2019

Zilvinas Silenas becomes FEE's 11th president and Lawrence W. Reed becomes President Emeritus.

Additionally, FEE launches its Spanish-language program FEE en Español.

2017

FEE launched its three-year Youth Education & Audience Research project to develop and distribute new forms of pro-liberty media to newcomers.

2016

FEE.org readership reaches 50,000 readers per month, exceeding the circulation of The Freeman magazine at its height in the 1980s.

2014

FEE completes its move from its ancestral headquarters in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York to Atlanta, Georgia.

2008

Lawrence W. Reed becomes FEE’s tenth president as FEE changes its mission to focus on newcomers to the ideas of liberty.

2003

Richard Ebeling becomes FEE’s ninth president.

2001

Mark Skousen becomes FEE’s eighth president.

1997

FEE.org is launched.

1997

Donald J. Boudreaux becomes FEE’s seventh president.

1992

Hans Sennholz becomes FEE’s sixth president.

1988

Bruce Evans becomes FEE’s fifth president.

1985

Robert Love becomes FEE’s fourth president.

1984

Perry E. Gresham becomes FEE’s third president.

1983

John Sparks becomes FEE’s second president, following the death of founder Leonard E. Read.

1962

FEE republishes Frédéric Bastiat’s classic book The Law, translated into English by Dean Russell.

1952

FEE acquires The Freeman, a journal about ideas on liberty.

1950

FEE is subpoenaed by the U.S. Congress to defend its free-market principles and programs and is pivotal in saving the United States from the post-WWII socialist consensus.

1949

Ludwig von Mises dictates at FEE his masterpiece Human Action. FEE purchases the first few hundred copies, enabling its publication by the Yale University Press.

1946

Ayn Rand’s novella Anthem is published in the U.S. for the first time by FEE founder Leonard E. Read’s Pamphleteers, Inc.

1946

Leonard E. Read and associates found FEE on March 7th.

FEE publishes Milton Friedman and George Stigler’s ‘Roofs or Ceilings?,’ an influential publication against rent controls.

Learn more about FEE’s history from former New York Times

editorial board member and founding FEE trustee Henry Hazlitt.

FEE’s Impact

Making the ideas of liberty familiar, credible, and compelling to the rising generation.

FEE is one of the most innovative and effective organizations in the freedom movement.

Over the last decade, FEE has seen exponential growth in every programmatic area, becoming the global leader in reaching young people with the legal, economic, and ethical principles of a free society.

“FEE is paving the way for the freedom movement and its wider cultural acceptance with Generation Z through their innovative marketing, communications, messaging, and branding strategies. Their ideas and execution of liberty communications are setting a high standard to which other organizations in the field should aspire, as we all want to broaden our possibilities for success in attracting new audiences and establishing a new generation of pro-liberty leaders. Their example and active assistance to groups such as the Atlas Network community is enormously valued.” 

~Amanda Ashworth, Vice President, Marketing and Communications,
Atlas Network

Videos & Podcasts


FEE's videos reached over 170 million people on YouTube in 2020, having been viewed for over 60 million minutes in total.

Seminars & Webinars


In 2020, FEE's university professor faculty reached over 16,000 high school students through 1-day high school seminars and webinars that educated them on economics, government, personal finance, history, and other ideas of liberty.

FEE.org


In 2020, FEE.org was accessed over 25 million times by students of all ages seeking to learn more about the ideas of liberty during a year of global pandemic. 

Subscribers


Between FEE's industry-leading social media and subscribers to our channels on YouTube, FEE ended 2020 with nearly 1 million fans subscribed to our content.

Our People

The talent at FEE is our most valuable resource.

Our team represents expertise in a variety of fields, from economics to technology to education.

Support FEE

An investment in FEE is an investment in the
entire liberty movement.

DONATE TO FEE