About

The Searle Freedom Trust is a Chicago-based charitable organization with over $135 million in assets at the end of 2010. That year, the most recent for which data is available, the foundation dispersed almost $14.5 million in grants. Founded in 1998 by Daniel C. Searle, the foundation lists as its mission: “to foster research and education on public policy issues that affect individual freedom and economic liberty.” To achieve that goal, the Searle Freedom Trust funds a variety of groups integral to the conservative movement.

For example, the American Enterprise Institute, a prominent conservative think tank, received over $6.5 million (including $1.5 million in 2010 alone). Other major recipients include: the Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank ($3,415,000 from 2001 to 2010); the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, a think tank focusing on free-market economics ($2,436,000 from 2001 to 2010); the Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University, which offers students the Charles G. Koch Summer Fellowship to “advance your career while advancing liberty!” ($1,897,532 from 2001 to 2010); the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy ($1,470,000 from 2001 to 2010); the Institute for Justice, “our nation’s only libertarian public interest law firm” (1,450,000 from 2001 to 2010); and the Cato Institute, a limited-government think tank (1,000,000 from 2001 to 2010). In addition to these ideological organizations, the Searle Freedom Trust also donated over $2.3 between 2001 and 2010 to DonorsTrust, a donor-advised fund that allows contributors to remain anonymous.

The trust’s founder and namesake, Daniel C. Searle, was president, CEO, and eventually chairman of his family’s pharmaceutical company, G.D. Seale & Company, which made Dramamine and Enovid, an oral contraceptive. Kim Dennis is the current president and CEO of the Searle Freedom Trust. She previously worked with the American Enterprise Institute, the John M. Olin Foundation, and was executive director of Philanthropy Roundtable from 1991 to 1996. In addition to her work with the Searle Freedom Trust, Dennis sits on the board of both DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund, as well as on the award committees for the William E. Simon Prize for Philanthropic Leadership and the Manhattan Institute’s Hayek Book Prize.

According to a National Review Online article, Searle said of his foundation: “If you look at the trend lines, you’ll find both economic freedom and individual freedom are becoming more constrained by laws and regulations. We have a political system that says ‘there ought to be a law’ whenever something appears to need a fix. I began to wonder: What if we could change the slope of the curve that leads to more loss of freedom?” From the same article: “Searle Freedom Trust is required to deplete its funds by 2025, following the model of the John M. Olin Foundation, which formally closed its doors two years ago. ‘By requiring the Foundation to spend itself out of existence, I seek to ensure that the Foundation will always remain in the hands of people who understand my intentions and are committed to carrying out the Foundation’s mission,’ wrote Searle.”