The Think Tank Fund works to ensure decision-makers and relevant stakeholders in the countries of operation use high quality, evidence-informed research to develop and implement policies that lead to and sustain more open and prosperous societies.
The Think Tank Fund supports independent policy research centers that strengthen democratic processes by identifying political, economic and social problems, researching them in a non-partisan and policy relevant way and providing policy alternatives that enrich public debate. Think Tank Fund also examines the various roles and functions that think tanks play in the political and policy arenas. As such, it serves as a knowledge hub and advocate for evidence-informed policy research.
The Think Tank Fund pursues this mission through one operational and two grant making programs.
- Grant making programs:
- Core and institutional grants, and
- Project grants to organizations in the European Union
- Operational programs:
- Innovation through improved communication and data visualization
- Organizational and individual capacity building for high quality policy research.
The Think Tank Fund believes that:
- Policy research should use fully disclosed, scientifically rigorous methodology.
- Participatory decision-making approaches yield results only when they include high quality evidence-informed policy alternatives.
- Political actors should rely on evidence-informed research in their decision-making.
- Policy work should target multiple audiences, beyond decision-makers, epistemic and expert communities.
- Best policy solutions are initiated locally by competent actors, think tanks being one of them.
- Think tanks are best equipped to decide their agendas independently, an action that sets them apart from consultancies.
- An effective think tank is an innovative and flexible organization both in the choice of problems they address and in how they address them.
- Ideas have power to change policy.
Focus Areas
The Think Tank Fund focus areas include:
- Core and Institutional Support (Western Balkans, South Caucasus, Ukraine and Moldova)
- Project Grants in the EU
- Innovation, Evaluation and Capacity Building
- Improving advocacy and communication strategies
- Data Initiative and Visualization of Policy Research
- Fellowships and Young Professional Development Programs
- Peer Learning, Exchange and Cooperation for Think Tanks