Outlet profile

Goldwater Institute

U.S. right (libertarian-conservative)

Owned byIndependent nonprofit; not owned by any parent company or individual

Funding501(c)(3) donations from conservative and libertarian foundations and individual donors, including Koch-network groups (Charles G. Koch Foundation) and donor-advised funds like DonorsTrust; it does not disclose most individual donors and says it accepts no government funding

On the administrationmixed

Background

Founded July 4, 1988, in Phoenix with the backing of former Sen. Barry Goldwater, the Institute began as a free-market research group and has since built a national litigation arm that files lawsuits and amicus briefs in state and federal courts. It is a member of the State Policy Network, a coalition of state-level conservative think tanks, and has received funding tied to the Koch brothers' foundations and Koch-linked donor-advised funds such as DonorsTrust. It is best known for pioneering "right-to-try" laws letting terminally ill patients access experimental treatments, which later became federal law in 2018, along with work on school choice, occupational licensing reform, and property rights. Victor Riches has served as president and CEO since 2017. As a policy and legal advocacy organization rather than a traditional news outlet, it publishes opinion pieces, research reports, and litigation updates that consistently favor deregulation and reduced government power, occasionally putting it at odds with both Democratic and Republican administrations depending on the issue.

Sources

Profile compiled 2026-09-25; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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