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Non-profit

The Leadership Institute

Tax ID:

51-0235174
Tax-Exempt Status:

501(c)(3)

Budget (2019):

Revenue: $19,638,460
Expenses: $18,769,317
Assets: $23,983,389
Website:

leadershipinstitute.org
Location:

Arlington, VA
Formation:

1987
Type:

Non-Profit
President:

Morton Blackwell
President's Salary:

$332,270 1

References

  1. Leadership Institute, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2020, Part VII, Section A, Line 1a.

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The Leadership Institute (LI) is a conservative educational organization that influences public policy through direct citizen participation and activism. LI provides training in leadership, campaigning, organizing, and youth politics. 1

The Leadership Institute was founded in 1979 by Morton Blackwell, a longtime member of the Republican National Committee as committeeman for Virginia. LI has trained over 200,000 conservative activists and leaders and claims a college campus network of over 1,700 groups and newspapers. 2

The Leadership Institute is an associate member of the State Policy Network, a coalition of free-market state-level policy organizations. 3

Activity

The Leadership Institute provides training for conservative activists on topics that include the history of the Constitution, the foundations of conservatism, conservative podcasting, and how to become a pundit. 4 Additionally, LI offers a series called the “Campaign Academy,” which trains future candidates, campaign managers, and campaign staff. The Academy training includes segments on campaign creation, budget development, fundraising, and targeting and mobilizing voters. 5

The Leadership Institute claims that the majority of school boards are run by liberal parents and that teachers’ unions back candidates that favor a liberal agenda, including the teaching of critical race theory. In response, LI launched its “School Board Campaign Training” in 2021 in order to train conservatives to win school board races and restore American education. 6

The Leadership Institute hosts the “Wednesday Wake-up Club Breakfast,” a monthly video featuring a conservative speaker. Past speakers include Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), Grover Norquist (president of Americans for Tax Reform), James Lindsay (founder of New Discourses), and Michael Farris (president and CEO of Alliance Defending Freedom). 7

The Leadership Institute’s other projects include Campus Reform, an online news site that acts as a conservative watchdog exposing liberal bias on college campuses, 8 and ConservativeJobs.com, a jobs website specifically designed for conservative employers and job seekers. 9

Funding

The Leadership Institute is funded by donations from individuals, foundations, and corporations. While LI does not disclose its donors, tax filings confirm donations from Greater Horizons ($6.1 million in 2015), 10 the Sedwick Charitable Foundation ($100,000 in 2016), 11 and the Charles Koch Foundation ($52,112 in 2014). 12

People

Morton Blackwell is the founder and president of the Leadership Institute and a member of the Republican National Committee as national committeeman for Virginia. Blackwell is the former national vice chairman at large of the Young Republican National Federation and former executive director of the College Republican National Committee. Blackwell sits on the Republican National Committee’s Standing Committee on Rules 13 and sits on the boards of the American Constitutional Rights Union, 14 the American Conservative Union, the American Civil Rights Union, the Conservative Leadership PAC, the Free Congress Foundation, and the National Right to Work Committee. 15

David Fenner is vice president of programs at LI. Fenner formerly worked as director of programs at the Council for National Policy (CNP), vice president of CNP Action, and treasurer of the Conservative Leadership PAC. 16

Board of Directors

Ed Corrigan is the secretary of the board of the Leadership institute. Corrigan formerly worked as the group vice president for policy promotion at the Heritage Foundation, as a senior adviser on policy and strategy to former Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC), and as the executive director of the Senate Republican Steering Committee. 17

Chuck Cunningham was the senior advisor for intergovernmental and external affairs at the Department of Energy In the Trump administration. Cunningham is a former vice president at Securing America’s Future Energy, a former senior policy advisor at Take Back Our Republic, and a former senior advisor at the National Rifle Association. 18

Dario Paya is the president of The Leadership Institute in Chile and a co-founder and secretary general of the Independent Democratic Union (UDI), a center-right political party in that country. 19

Justin Ouimette is a former policy director of the Freedom Caucus. 20

Star Parker is the founder and president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education. 21

References

  1. “About the Leadership Institute.” Leadership Institute, 2021. Accessed November 1, 2021. https://www.leadershipinstitute.org/aboutus/.
  2. “About the Leadership Institute.” Leadership Institute, 2021. Accessed November 1, 2021. https://www.leadershipinstitute.org/aboutus/.
  3. “The Network: Virginia.” State Policy Network, 2021. Accessed October 29, 2021. https://spn.org/directory/#VA.
  4. “Courses.” Leadership Institute, 2021. Accessed November 1, 2021. https://leadershipinstitute.teachable.com/courses.
  5. “Campaign Academy.” Leadership Institute, 2021. Accessed November 1, 2021. https://leadershipinstitute.teachable.com/p/campaign-academy.
  6. “School Board Campaign Training.” Leadership Institute, 2021. Accessed November 1, 2021. https://teachable.leadershipinstitute.org/p/schoolboard?utm_source=leadershipinstitute.org&utm_medium=landingpage&utm_campaign=schoolboard&utm_id=schoolboard.
  7. “Conservative Speakers.” Leadership Institute, 2021. Accessed November 1, 2021. https://www.leadershipinstitute.org/speakers/.
  8. “Mission.” Campus Reform, 2021. Accessed November 1, 2021. https://www.campusreform.org/about.
  9. “About.” Conservative Jobs, 2021. Accessed November 1, 2021. https://conservativejobs.com/about.
  10. Greater Horizons, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2015, Schedule I, Part II.
  11. [1] Sedwick Charitable Foundation, Return of Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2016, Part XV, Line 3a.
  12.  Charles Koch Foundation, Return of Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2014, Part XV, Line 3a.
  13. “Morton Blackwell.” Leadership Institute, October 19, 2021. Accessed October 29, 2021. https://www.leadershipinstitute.org/aboutus/morton.cfm.
  14. “Board of Directors and President.” The American Constitutional Rights Union, 2021. Accessed October 29, 2021. https://theacru.org/board-of-directors/.
  15. “Morton Blackwell.” Townhall. Accessed October 29, 2021. https://townhall.com/columnists/mortonblackwell/
  16. “David Fenner.” Leadership Institute. Accessed October 29, 2021. https://www.leadershipinstitute.org/contactUS/staff/?staff=10345.
  17. “Ed Corrigan.” The Heritage Foundation, 2021. Accessed October 29, 2021. https://www.heritage.org/staff/ed-corrigan.
  18. “Chuck Cunningham.” LinkedIn, 2021. Accessed October 29, 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuck-cunningham-8262a2100/.
  19. “Dario Paya.” Leadership Institute. Accessed October 29, 2021. https://www.leadershipinstitute.org/training/contact.cfm?FacultyID=19060.
  20. French, Lauren. “Freedom Caucus hires new executive director.” Politico, February 24, 2016. Accessed October 29, 2021. https://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/freedom-caucus-executive-director-219724.
  21. “Star Parker.” Center for Urban Renewal and Education. Accessed October 29, 2021. https://curepolicy.org/star-parker/.
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Nonprofit Information

  • Accounting Period: December - November
  • Tax Exemption Received: June 1, 1987

    • 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
    2019 Dec Form 990 $19,638,460 $18,769,317 $23,983,389 $3,718,557 Y $17,441,402 $350,355 $170,830 $1,417,624 PDF
    2018 Dec Form 990 $15,965,603 $19,298,125 $23,694,474 $4,057,393 Y $14,869,266 $177,517 $256,542 $2,033,236 PDF
    2017 Dec Form 990 $15,292,500 $17,041,908 $28,385,208 $4,481,248 Y $14,531,903 $204,932 $185,423 $1,771,670 PDF
    2016 Dec Form 990 $14,566,169 $15,808,115 $29,800,517 $4,739,539 Y $13,964,317 $179,181 $139,719 $1,743,709
    2015 Dec Form 990 $24,175,069 $13,908,431 $30,348,544 $4,366,537 Y $23,611,999 $242,328 $173,012 $1,821,424 PDF
    2014 Dec Form 990 $14,894,507 $13,576,928 $20,865,164 $4,825,489 N $13,981,261 $357,186 $118,527 $1,548,235 PDF
    2013 Dec Form 990 $10,981,090 $12,443,201 $19,426,449 $4,504,375 N $10,040,661 $314,372 $91,356 $1,365,349 PDF
    2012 Dec Form 990 $11,750,817 $11,954,255 $19,590,212 $4,477,941 N $10,872,158 $395,925 $135,268 $1,196,924 PDF
    2011 Dec Form 990 $9,168,949 $8,877,767 $19,690,103 $4,389,698 N $8,297,087 $425,229 $133,902 $909,843 PDF

    Additional Filings (PDFs)