Logo for InfluenceWatch InfluenceWatch

Donate
Non-profit

Calvert Institute for Policy Research

Website:

www.calvertinstitute.org
Location:

Baltimore, MD
Tax ID:

52-1930230
Tax-Exempt Status:

501(c)(3)

Budget (2011):

Revenue: $9,940
Expenses: $10,441
Assets: $2,552
Type:

Non-profit

Contact InfluenceWatch with suggested edits or tips for additional profiles.

The Calvert Institute for Policy Research is a right-of-center nonprofit organization that operates as a public policy think tank located in Baltimore, Maryland. The Institute frequently publishes reports and commentary on political issues ranging from economic regulation to foreign policy. 1 The Institute was founded in 1996 by Ronald W. Dworkin2 and Douglas P. Munro. 3

The Calvert Institute is associated with the right-of-center State Policy Network (SPN), a coalition of right-of-center organizations that focuses on state-level policy across the United States. 4 Despite its right-of-center affiliations, the Calvert Institute has also supported a number of left-of-center policies, including decreased foreign military intervention, the decriminalization of marijuana, and the creation of “work councils” to promote labor organizing in workplaces without unions. 5 6 7

Overview

The Calvert Institute conducts research on topics including healthcare, education, religion, criminal justice, culture wars, economic regulation, and foreign affairs. The Institute publishes commentary along with its findings in book reviews, reports, commentaries, and news series. Most of the Institute’s work is self-published on its website or featured in various right-of-center publications. 8

Policy Areas

Criminal Justice

The Calvert Institute is associated with the “Right on Crime” initiative, signing onto the campaign’s statement of principles on conservative criminal justice reform. Other signatories included representatives from the Heritage Foundation, Americans for Tax Reform, and the Manhattan Institute. 9

In 2011, the Calbert Institute joined several left-of-center organizations, including the Drug Policy Alliance, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, in filing an amicus brief In the case of Shelton v. Department of Corrections. The brief argued that Florida’s removal of an intent requirement to charge and convict individuals of drug possession or distribution violated the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, with the Calvert Institute arguing that the law was an example of the over-criminalization of nonviolent crimes. 10

In 2018, the Calvert Institute was one of a number of organizations across the political spectrum that endorsed the First Step Act, a bipartisan sentencing reduction and prison-conditions reform bill signed into law by then-President Donald Trump. 11

Economic Regulation

The Calvert Institute has adopted both right-of-center and left-of-center economic policy positions. The Calvert Institute has proposed strengthening economic regulations including antitrust laws, pricing restrictions, and statutes on bribery. 12 The Institute has also advocated for the creation of “single-plant work councils,” organized labor units at private companies that are not currently unionized, to negotiate wages on behalf of workers. Such a proposal was first proposed by a commission convened by former Secretary of Labor and left-of-center activist Robert Reich. 13

The Institute has also advocated for the creation of tax incentive programs to meet various social goals, such as small tax incentives to promote private development, tax credits for homeowners to add second kitchens to their properties to create more low-income housing units, and tax credits for old age community cooperative programs. 14 The Institute has sought to relieve the tax burden on young people, advocating for a complete abolition of the payroll tax for all people under 25 and the establishment of universally available unemployment services for young adults. 15

The Calvert Institute has supported rolling back regulations on small credit unions and community banks. 16

Education

The Calvert Institute has advocated in favor of the development of charter schools and voucher programs in the K-12 education space, accusing contemporary public schools of making students “illiterate” by previous standards and “innumerate” on the international scale. The Institute has also decried efforts to implement more standardized testing into schools, rather than implementing value-based accountability measures. 17

The Institute has criticized the efforts of teachers’ unions, insisting that schools should be able to provide flexibility in pay schedules to accommodate more highly trained personnel, to fire teachers without lengthy grievance proceedings, and to accommodate uncertified instructors from varying career backgrounds who may be more qualified than certified teachers. The Institute has also opposed efforts to standardize curriculum and remove the teaching of traditional American values from the classroom. 18

Other Advocacy

The Calvert Institute has advocated against the imposition of environmentalist regulations , accusing left-of-center environmentalists of being out of touch with the American working class. The Institute has, however, advocated in support of conservation proposals, such as reforestation in the United States to provide work for those displaced in a transition away from the use of conventional energy sources. 19 The Calvert Institute has also endorsed the revival of the Civilian Conservation Corps, a proposal supported by self-described democratic socialist U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), to invest public funding into environmentalist projects. 20

The Calvert Institute was an opponent of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), publishing a piece in 2013 that criticized the legislation for taking an approach to health care centered on insurance companies, thereby decreasing accountability in health care pricing and allowing costs to skyrocket. The Institute instead advocated for issues of primary care to be delegated to the states, in addition to raising annual Medicare deductibles and the Medicare payroll tax. 21

The Calvert Institute has argued that illegal immigrants employed in the United States should be allowed to pay an application fee to receive work permits, with decisions about granting full citizenship left to the jurisdiction of states. 22 On other foreign policy and national security issues, the Calvert Institute has advocated in favor of decreased classification of government documents, decreased use of economic sanctions, and decreased foreign interventions to minimize the number of refugees entering the United States. 23 24

The Calvert Institute has also taken stances on various cultural issues, most notably against the rise of Black Lives Matter. In July of 2020, the Calvert Institute released an opinion piece claiming that Black Lives Matter riots in 2015 spurred the election of former President Trump and that the riots across the summer of 2020 were “less political than recreational in nature.” 25 The Institute has referred to Black Lives Matter as creating an “epidemic of ideas” for profit that has allowed gangs and drug dealers to evade law enforcement mechanisms, such as stop-and-frisk, that have been cast as racist by the organization. 26

Aside from its advocacy work, the Calvert Institute has weighed in on issues within the Republican party, condemning former President Trump after the Capitol Riot of January 6, 2021. Institute executive director George Liebmann has referred to President Trump as a “nihilist,” accusing him of having no “positive vision” or “administrative competence.” 27

In a later piece published on behalf of the Institute in January 2021, Liebmann claimed that President Trump “did everything he could to undermine confidence” in the election results of both 2016 and 2020. Despite his criticism of President Trump in the piece, Liebmann nonetheless called for the implementation of widespread voter integrity measures, including biannual voter roll purges, ballot secrecy measures, limits on early and absentee voting, and voter identification requirements. 28 Liebmann also wrote in favor of the elimination of “disparate impact” tests for voting districts and decreased regulations on campaign finance. 29

People and Funding

The Calvert Institute for Policy Research is a member of the State Policy Network (SPN), an organization of right-leaning organizations that work on policy reform at the state level. 30 31 The Calvert Institute has received donations from a number of right-of-center organizations, including the Roe Foundation, the Armstrong Foundation, and the JM Foundation. 32

Douglas P. Munro is the founding president of the Calvert Institute for Policy Research. He has written for a number of right-of-center organization, including the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, Goldwater Institute, and the Heritage Foundation. He was a former senior policy analyst for the Southern Governors Association. 33

Ronald W. Dworkin is one of the co-founders of the Calvert Institute. He is a senior fellow at the right-of-center Hudson Institute and a practicing anesthesiologist. 34

George W. Liebmann is an attorney and the executive director of the Calvert Institute for Policy Research. 35 Liebmann is listed as the author of almost all Calvert Institute publications. 36 Liebman is a member of and contributor to the Federalist Society, a life member of the American Law Institute, an expert at the Hudson Institute, and an affiliate of the Hoover Institution. 37 Liebmann is an avowed opponent of former President Donald Trump, voting for libertarian candidate Gary Johnson in 2016 and claiming that President Trump’s behavior in the lead up to the 2020 election especially his supposedly telling the Proud Boys to “stand by” “should doom the Trump presidency in the minds of all responsible Republicans.” 38

References

  1. “Calvert Institute for Policy Research.” C-SPAN.org | National Politics | History | Nonfiction Books. Accessed February 15, 2021. https://www.c-span.org/organization/?103132/Calvert-Institute-Policy-Research.
  2. “Ronald W. Dworkin.” Hudson Institute. Last modified October 17, 2018. https://www.hudson.org/experts/105-ronald-w-dworkin.
  3. “Dr. Douglas P. Munro.” Calvert Institute. Last modified July 14, 2011. https://www.calvertinstitute.org/?post_type=post&p=249.
  4. “Conservative Transparency: List of State Policy Network Members.” Conservative Transparency. Accessed February 15, 2021. https://conservativetransparency.org/list-of-state-policy-network-members/.
  5. Liebmann, G. “America’s Paramount Foreign Policy Goal: Minimizing Refugees.” Calvert Institute, December 3, 2017. http://www.calvertinstitute.org/?p=1528.
  6. Liebmann, George W. “Eleven Populist Proposals.” Calvert Institute, January 14, 2021. http://www.calvertinstitute.org/?p=1774.
  7. Liebmann, George W. “Eleven Populist Proposals.” Calvert Institute, January 14, 2021. http://www.calvertinstitute.org/?p=1774.
  8. “Calvert Institute » Publications.” Calvert Institute. Accessed February 15, 2021. https://www.calvertinstitute.org/?cat=4.
  9. “Statement of Principles.” Right on Crime. Last modified January 24, 2021. https://rightoncrime.com/statement-of-principles/.
  10. Foster, Todd. “Mackle Vincent Shelton v. Secretary, Department of Corrections Todd.” National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Last modified January 28, 2011. https://www.nacdl.org/getattachment/af4b4e18-ff79-4ec2-aea1-81480215a862/shelton_amicus.pdf.
  11. “Diverse Group of Organizations Endorse Bipartisan First Step Act.” Chuck Grassley | United States Senator for Iowa. Last modified November 21, 2018. https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/diverse-group-organizations-endorse-bipartisan-first-step-act.
  12. Liebmann, George W. “Eleven Populist Proposals.” Calvert Institute, January 14, 2021. http://www.calvertinstitute.org/?p=1774.
  13. Liebmann, George W. “Eleven Populist Proposals.” Calvert Institute, January 14, 2021. http://www.calvertinstitute.org/?p=1774.
  14. Liebmann, George W. “Eleven Populist Proposals.” Calvert Institute, January 14, 2021. http://www.calvertinstitute.org/?p=1774.
  15. Liebmann, George W. “Eleven Populist Proposals.” Calvert Institute, January 14, 2021. http://www.calvertinstitute.org/?p=1774.
  16. Liebmann, George W. “Eleven Populist Proposals.” Calvert Institute, January 14, 2021. http://www.calvertinstitute.org/?p=1774.
  17. Liebmann, George W. “K-12 Education Reform: A 19 Point Check List.” Calvert Institute, May 11, 2017. http://www.calvertinstitute.org/?p=1472.
  18. Liebmann, George W. “K-12 Education Reform: A 19 Point Check List.” Calvert Institute, May 11, 2017. http://www.calvertinstitute.org/?p=1472.
  19. Liebmann, George. “Beyond the Paris Accord.” Calvert Institute, February 11, 2021. http://www.calvertinstitute.org/?p=1779.
  20. Liebmann, George W. “Eleven Populist Proposals.” Calvert Institute, January 14, 2021. http://www.calvertinstitute.org/?p=1774.
  21. Liebmann, George. “The Problem with Obamacare.” Calvert Institute, October 23, 2013. http://www.calvertinstitute.org/?p=1262.
  22. Liebmann, George W. “Eleven Populist Proposals.” Calvert Institute, January 14, 2021. http://www.calvertinstitute.org/?p=1774.
  23. Liebmann, George. “Three Vested Interests A New Administration Should Assail.” Calvert Institute, December 19, 2020. http://www.calvertinstitute.org/?p=1749.
  24. Liebmann, G. “America’s Paramount Foreign Policy Goal: Minimizing Refugees.” Calvert Institute, December 3, 2017. http://www.calvertinstitute.org/?p=1528.
  25. Liebmann, George W. “The 2015 Baltimore Riots Accomplished Nothing.” Calvert Institute, July 2, 2020. http://www.calvertinstitute.org/?p=1642.
  26. Liebmann, George. “BLM: An Epidemic of Ideas.” Calvert Institute, October 14, 2020. http://www.calvertinstitute.org/?p=1712.
  27. Liebmann, George. “Trump’s Path to the Political Graveyard.” Calvert Institute, January 12, 2021. http://www.calvertinstitute.org/?p=1769.
  28. Liebmann, George. “How America Can Restore Confidence in Its Elections.” Calvert Institute, January 7, 2021. http://www.calvertinstitute.org/?p=1762.
  29. Liebmann, George. “How America Can Restore Confidence in Its Elections.” Calvert Institute, January 7, 2021. http://www.calvertinstitute.org/?p=1762.
  30. “Conservative Transparency: List of State Policy Network Members.” Conservative Transparency. Accessed February 15, 2021. https://conservativetransparency.org/list-of-state-policy-network-members/.
  31. “About State Policy Network.” State Policy Network. Last modified May 5, 2016. https://spn.org/state-policy-network-about/.
  32. “Calvert Institute for Policy Research.” Conservative Transparency. Accessed February 15, 2021. conservativetransparency.org/recipient/calvert-institute-for-policy-research/.  
  33. “Dr. Douglas P. Munro.” Calvert Institute. Last modified July 14, 2011. https://www.calvertinstitute.org/?post_type=post&p=249.
  34. “Ronald W. Dworkin.” Hudson Institute. Last modified October 17, 2018. https://www.hudson.org/experts/105-ronald-w-dworkin.
  35. “Liebmann, George W. 1939–.” Encyclopedia.com | Free Online Encyclopedia. Last modified February 15, 2021. https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/liebmann-george-w-1939.
  36. “Publications.” Calvert Institute, Accessed February 18, 2021, http://www.calvertinstitute.org/?cat=4.
  37. “George W. Liebmann.” The Federalist Society. Accessed February 18, 2021. https://fedsoc.org/contributors/george-liebmann.
  38. Liebmann, George. “Two Little Words…” Calvert Institute, November 2, 2020. http://www.calvertinstitute.org/?p=1721.
  See an error? Let us know!

Nonprofit Information

  • Accounting Period: December - November
  • Tax Exemption Received: May 1, 1958

    • Available Filings

    Period Form Type Total revenue Total functional expenses Total assets (EOY) Total liabilities (EOY) Unrelated business income? Total contributions Program service revenue Investment income Comp. of current officers, directors, etc. Form 990
    2011 Dec Form 990EZ $9,940 $10,441 $2,552 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 PDF

    Additional Filings (PDFs)

    Calvert Institute for Policy Research

    8 W HAMILTON ST
    Baltimore, MD 21201-5008