The Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute is a left-of-center think tank that argues capitalism is inherently unjust. It brings together left-of-center and Democratic lawmakers, economists, and academics to attempt to reshape policies, from the federal to the local levels. ¹

The group has aligned with the left-of-center funder network Democracy Alliance, and the Alliance has categorized Roosevelt Institute as a “recommended organization.”² Right-leaning groups are critical of the Institute’s major programs, asserting that Roosevelt Institute would see the American economy changed into a system more resembling socialism. ³

In October 2025, the Roosevelt Institute released a report that advocated for Democrats to expand or “pack” the U.S. Supreme Court by adding Democratic-appointed justices the next time the party wins the presidency. ⁴

Initiatives

One of the institute’s major projects was the creation of a campus network for younger people with liberal ideologies, working together on such projects as Government By and For Millennial America where they learn organizing and campus activism. The group promotes such left-leaning ideas as automatic voter registration, public financing of political candidates, and more government support for public universities⁵

As an example, Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, reported in April 2017 it had worked on such issues as lobbying trainings for an on-campus gun control group, Kenyon Students for Gun Sense, and mental health issues on campus.⁶ At George Washington University in Washington, D.C., Roosevelt Institute campus members pushed for the overhaul of a student health insurance plan, including subsidized premiums for low-income students.⁷

Democracy Alliance, a major left-of-center donor collaborative, urged its members in 2015 to invest in groups like the Roosevelt Institute that pushed left-of-center economic policies. ⁸

The Roosevelt Institute was among the left-leaning groups defending the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as Republicans looked to curb some of its power following President Donald Trump’s first election. Republicans argued that the level of authority given to former CFPB Director Richard Cordray, a Democrat appointed by President Barack Obama, violated the Constitutional separation of powers. ⁹

In October 2024, the Roosevelt Institute released a report on a future Democratic government should restructure government with 161 ideas including expanding the U.S. Supreme Court, a practice also known as “court-packing.” ⁴

In March 2025, Roosevelt Institute president and CEO Elizabeth Wilkins wrote an article addressing the “abundance” movement and the book Abundance written by left-of-center political commentators Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. She praised the book’s call for eliminating burdensome regulations that prevent the construction of housing. But she also criticized the book and the movement for not examining the “economic power imbalances that shape our political possibilities.” She argued that easing homebuilding would not “eliminate either the problem of concentration in markets that can also choke or distort supply, or the problem of special interests with disproportionate power.” She said, “We also need to build countervailing power as a movement—including labor, tenants, and others—to keep the former in check, fight for the long-term policies we want to see, and defend our democracy against outsized corporate influence and capture.” ¹⁰

In November 2025, Oxfam America released a report claiming that between 1989 and 2022, the poorest household in the top 1 percent of the income distribution gained 987 times more wealth than the richest household in the bottom 20 percent. “The policy priorities in this report—rebalancing power, unrigging the tax code, reimagining the social safety net, and supporting workers’ rights—are all essential to creating that more inclusive and cohesive society. Together, they speak to our deepest needs as human beings: to live with security and agency, to live free from exploitation,” wrote Roosevelt Institute president Elizabeth Wilkins. ¹¹

Controversy

In December 2023, it was reported by Real News Michiana that Benjamin Falkowski, who was vice president of Rutgers University’s chapter of the Roosevelt Institute, was hired as the chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Rudy Yakym (R-IN) in 2022. ^{12 13} During his time at Roosevelt, in 2008, Falkowski worked with several election activists including former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) to publish, “25 Ideas for Election Reform,” which argued for several left-of-center election policy changes including reducing voter ID requirements, allowing for voter registration in high schools, increasing vote-by-mail, and advocating for open primaries. ¹²

In 2013, Falkowski joined the staff of then-U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-IN) as a legislative assistant, rising to chief of staff by 2015. He had left the post by 2019. ¹² Rep. Walorksi represented Indiana’s 2nd District from 2013 until her death in August 2022 due to a car accident. In November 2022, Rep. Yakym would go on to win the special election to fulfill Walorski’s remaining term of Indiana’s District 2 Congressional seat. ^{14 15}

In September 2025, the Roosevelt Institute announced that the controversial socialist website Teen Vogue would receive its 2025 Freedom of Speech and Expression Award. The group praised the website for understanding that, “freedom is about both speaking truth to power and the capacity to build power.” In November 2025, Conde Nast, the owner of the website announced that it was going to be folded into the overall Vogue property and that it would lose its political focus, laying off nearly all its political writers. The Roosevelt Institute responded to the folding of the website claiming, “The decision by Condé Nast today to collapse this publication into Vogue and eliminate the politics reporting staff at Teen Vogue is evidence that corporate concentration eliminates innovative ideas and silences voices with less power.” ¹⁶

Leadership

As of November 2025, Elizabeth Wilkins is the president and CEO of the Roosevelt Institute. She previously worked as the chief of staff to the chair and director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission. Before that, she worked in leadership roles at the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, including senior counsel for policy and chief of staff. She previously worked as a law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Elena Kagan and to then-Chief Judge Merrick Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Before law school, she worked as a policy advisor in the White House. She began her political career as an organizer for 32BJ SEIU. ¹⁷

Felicia Wong was the institute’s president and CEO until January 2025 and is a principal with the institute. She previously worked for the Democracy Alliance. She is a co-author of Rewrite the Racial Rules: Building an Inclusive American Economy. ¹⁸ The book claims that various laws, policies and institutions are the “driving force behind the patently unequal life changes and opportunities for too many individuals.” ¹⁹

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, granddaughter of former President Franklin Roosevelt, is the chairwoman of the board. She also worked as president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Northern New England. ²⁰

Funding

As a charitable nonprofit organization, the Roosevelt Institute is not required to disclose its donors, but according to its 2023 tax returns, the group had revenues of $13,214,279, expenses of $11,975,253, and net assets of $36,701,380. ²¹

Some reports over the years have revealed some sources of Roosevelt’s funding, such as the $200,000 grant in 2011 from the Peterson Foundation to have the institute’s campus network help prepare a fiscal summit to discuss methods for reducing the fiscal deficit. ²² The Rockefeller Brothers Fund reported giving $233,000 to the institute from 2013-15.²³ McArthur Foundation is a bedrock donor, having given $750,000 in 2014 and $700,000 in 2016.²⁴ The MacArthur Foundation gave another $1,000,000 in 2024 and another $500,000 in 2025. ²⁵

The institute also lists the recipients of its grants, including such colleges and universities as Columbia University ($174,250) and University of California-Berkeley ($10,000). Roosevelt Institute also reports spending more than $300,000 for stipends and fellowships for members of the campus network at left-leaning think tanks in 2015.²⁶

In 2020, the institute received three grants from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, totaling $1,294,000. These included $1 million for “general operating support,” $250,000 for the group’s “climate finance regulatory project,” and $44,000 for “strengthening strategic communications capacity. ²⁷

1. Roosevelt Institute About page. Accessed April 21, 2017. http://rooseveltinstitute.org/about/
2. “Roosevelt Institute.” Democracy Alliance. Accessed April 24, 2017. http://democracyalliance.org/organization/roosevelt-institute/
3. Discover the Networks: Roosevelt Institute. Accessed May 2, 2017. http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/printgroupProfile.asp?grpid=7903
4. Zickgraf, Ryan. “Inside the Democratic Identity Crisis.” UnHerd, November 3, 2025. https://unherd.com/2025/11/the-democrats-vision-quest-is-complete/.
5. Roosevelt Institute: Government by and for Millennial America. Accessed May 2, 2017. http://rooseveltinstitute.org/government-by-and-millennial-america-3/
6. Sun, Justin. “Local Roosevelt Institute chapter brainstorms policy ideas.” The Kenyon Collegian. April 6, 2017. Accessed April 21, 2017. http://kenyoncollegian.com/2017/04/06/local-roosevelt-institute-chapter-brainstorms-policy-ideas/
7. Erhardt, Sydney. “GW’s student health insurance plan needs an overhaul.” The GW Hatchet. April 20, 2017. Accessed April 21, 2017. https://www.gwhatchet.com/2017/04/20/gws-student-health-insurance-plan-needs-an-overhaul/
8. Gold, Matea. “Wealthy donors on left launch new plan to wrest back control of the states.” Washington Post. April 12, 2015. Accessed April 21, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/wealthy-donors-on-left-launch-new-plan-to-wrest-back-control-in-the-states/2015/04/12/ccd2f5ee-dfd3-11e4-a1b8-2ed88bc190d2_story.html?utm_term=.961ff31eb2bb
9. Lane, Charles. “How, And Why, Republicans Want To Change The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.” WSHU Public Radio. April 18, 2017. Accessed April 21, 2017. http://wshu.org/post/how-and-why-republicans-want-change-consumer-financial-protection-bureau
10.  Wilkins, Elizabeth. “On Abundance: Where We Agree, Where We Disagree, and How to Move Forward.” Roosevelt Institute, March 26, 2025. https://rooseveltinstitute.org/blog/on-abundance-and-how-to-move-forward/.
11. “Richest 1% in the US Grabbed at Least 987 Times More Wealth per Household than Bottom 20% since 1989, New Oxfam Research Shows.” Oxfam, November 3, 2025. https://www.oxfamamerica.org/press/richest-1-in-the-us-grabbed-at-least-987-times-more-wealth-per-household-than-bottom-20-since-1989-new-oxfam-research-shows/.
12. French, Clifton. “Congressman Yakym’s Chief of Staff worked to rig elections for Democrats with Jesse Jackson Jr. while member of socialist organization.” Real News Michiana, December 15, 2023. https://realnewsmichiana.com/2023/12/15/congressman-yakyms-chief-of-staff-worked-to-rig-elections-for-democrats-with-jesse-jackson-while-member-of-socialist-organization/
13. Staff Writer. “Family album.” Times Herald-Record (on record online), May 15, 2008. https://www.recordonline.com/story/news/2008/05/16/family-album/63064034007/
14. Woods, Naja. “Rudy Yakym wins District 2 Congressional seat formerly held by Jackie Walorski.” ABC 57, November 8, 2022. https://www.abc57.com/news/rudy-yakym-wins-second-congressional-district-seat
15. Karni, Annie. “Jackie Walorski, Indiana Congresswoman, Is Killed in Car Crash.” New York Times, August 3, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/03/us/politics/jackie-walorski.html
16. Molloy, Parker. “Teen Vogue’s Award-Winning Journalism Was Too Much Trouble for Condé Nast.” The Present Age, November 5, 2025. https://www.readtpa.com/p/teen-vogues-award-winning-journalism?r=72mj&triedRedirect=true.
17. “Elizabeth Wilkins.” Roosevelt Institute. Accessed November 17, 2025. https://rooseveltinstitute.org/authors/elizabeth-wilkins/.
18. Roosevelt Institute: Felicia Wong biography. Accessed April 21, 2017. http://rooseveltinstitute.org/felicia-wong/
19. Roosevelt Institute: Rewrite the Racial Rules: Building an Inclusive American Economy. Accessed May 2, 2017. http://rooseveltinstitute.org/rewrite-racial-rules-building-inclusive-american-economy/
20. Roosevelt Institute: Anna Eleanor Roosevelt biography. Accessed April 21, 2017. http://rooseveltinstitute.org/anna-eleanor-roosevelt-bio/
21. “The Roosevelt Institute, Full Filing – Nonprofit Explorer.” ProPublica. Accessed November 17, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/237213592/202442679349301474/full.
22. Smith, Yves. “Some Background on How the Roosevelt Institute Got Into Bed with Pete Peterson, the Enemy of Social Security.” Naked Capitalism. June 11, 2011. Accessed April 22, 2017. http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/06/some-background-on-how-the-roosevelt-institute-got-into-bed-with-pete-peterson-the-enemy-of-social-security.html
23. Rockefeller Brothers Fund: Grants to The Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute. Accessed April 22, 2017. http://www.rbf.org/grantees/franklin-and-eleanor-roosevelt-institute
24. McArthur Foundation: Grantee profile of The Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute. Accessed April 22, 2017. https://www.macfound.org/grantees/314/
25. “The Roosevelt Institute .” MacArthur Foundation. Accessed November 17, 2025. https://www.macfound.org/grantee/franklin-and-eleanor-roosevelt-institute-1983/.
26. Guidestar: Roosevelt Institute IRS 990 forms for 2015. Accessed April 21, 2017. http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2015/237/213/2015-237213592-0d051d9b-9.pdf
27. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. 2020. Part XV. https://www.hewlett.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/2020-Form-990-PF-full-return-with-attachments.pdf