TheState Policy Network (SPN) is an Americannonprofit organization that serves as a network forconservative andlibertarian think tanks focusing onstate-level policy in theUnited States.[3][4][5] The network serves as a public policy clearinghouse and advises its member think tanks on fundraising, running a nonprofit, and communicating ideas.[6] Founded in 1992, it is headquartered inArlington, Virginia, with member groups located in all fifty states.
SPN describes itself as a "professional service organization" for a network of state-level think tanks across the United States.[7][8][9] The president of SPN is Chris Dauer, formerly the chief operating officer of theHoover Institution.[1]
SPN was an outgrowth of the Madison Group, a collection of state-level think tanks inSouth Carolina,Colorado,Illinois, andMichigan that had been meeting periodically at theMadison Hotel inWashington, D.C. Roe was chairman of the board of directors of SPN from its founding until his death in 2000.[14]Gary Palmer, co-founder and president of the conservative think tank theAlabama Policy Institute from 1989 until 2014, helped found SPN and served as its president.[15]
Initially, SPN's network consisted of fewer than 20 member organizations.[15]Lawrence Reed, the first president of theMackinac Center for Public Policy, aMichigan-basedfree marketthink tank, fostered new state-level regular member organizations through delivery of his think tank training course.[16] By the mid-1990s, SPN had a network of 37 think tanks in 30 states.[13] By 2014, there were 65 member organizations, including at least one in each state.[14][15]
Starting in 1993, the SPN has held an annual meeting in various U.S. cities. These meetings serve as a chance for members to discuss and analyze policy priorities, train and build members, and refine operations, among other topics.[17]
Policy initiatives supported by SPN members have included reductions in state health andwelfare programs,state constitutional amendments to limit state government spending, expanded access tocharter schools, andschool vouchers.[16][18] Another area of activity has been opposition topublic-sector trade unions.[11] Tracie Sharp, SPN's former president, has said the organization focuses on issues such as "workplace freedom, education reform, and individual choice in healthcare."[19]
Theliberal magazineMother Jones stated that in 2011 SPN and its member organizations were backing a "war on organized labor" by Republican state lawmakers.[11] Legislative actions taken by the GOP included the introduction and enactment of bills reducing or eliminatingcollective bargaining for teachers and other government workers and reducing the authority of unions to collect dues from government employees.[11] InIowa, GovernorTerry Branstad cited research by the Public Interest Institute, an SPN affiliate in Iowa, when asking to amend laws to limit collective bargaining by public employees.[11]
In December 2013,The Guardian, in collaboration withThe Texas Observer and thePortland Press Herald, obtained, published and analyzed 40 grant proposals from SPN regular member organizations. The grant proposals sought funding through SPN from theSearle Freedom Trust. According toThe Guardian, the proposals documented a coordinated strategy across 34 states, "a blueprint for the conservative agenda in 2014." The reports described the grant proposals in six states as suggesting campaigns designed to cut pay to state government employees; oppose public sector collective bargaining; reduce public sector services ineducation andhealthcare; promoteschool vouchers; oppose efforts to combatgreenhouse gas emissions; reduce or eliminateincome andsales taxes; and study a proposedblock grant reform toMedicare.[19][20][21][22][23]
SPN introduced model legislation for state legislators to implement on the state level to undermine the Affordable Care Act.[24] The organization also pushed for states not to expand Medicaid.[24]
Tracie Sharp served as SPN's president and CEO for 25 years. In 2025, she announced that she would be stepping down from her role upon the appointment of a successor.[25] InThe Wall Street Journal,Kimberley Strassel wrote that during Sharp's tenure, "SPN has in that time become the hub for conservative and libertarian think tanks focused on state-level reform and played a huge role in wins on school choice and tax reform."[26] In August 2025, Chris Dauer was named SPN's next president.[1]
Lawson Bader, who is the president and CEO ofDonorsTrust, serves as the chairman of SPN's board of directors.[2]
SPN is a501(c)(3)nonprofit organization. Its independently audited 2013Internal Revenue ServiceForm 990 showed $8 million in revenue and $8.4 million in expenditures, of which $1.3 million was used forgrants and payments to other organizations.[27][28] In 2023, SPN had annual revenue of $27.1 million and annual expenses of $25.8 million.[2]
Between 2008 and 2013, SPN received $10 million fromDonors Trust, a nonprofitdonor-advised fund. In 2011, the approximately $2 million investment from Donors Trust accounted for about 40% of annual revenue.[32]
SPN provides grant funding to its member organizations for start-up costs and program operating expenses.[11][19][28][32] In 2011, SPN granted $60,000 in start-up funds to theFoundation for Government Accountability, afree market think tank based inNaples, Florida.[33] SPN also provides practical support to its members, who meet each year at SPN conferences. SPN member organizations exchange ideas and provide training and other support for each other.[16] In 2008, a spokesperson for theprogressive advocacy groupPeople for the American Way said in 2008 that SPN trained its member organizations to run likebusiness franchises.[34] In a 2013 statement toThe New Yorker, then SPN president Sharp denied that SPN was a franchise and said that member organizations were free to select their own staff and priorities.[35]
SPN is a member of theAmerican Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), an organization that drafts and shares state-levelmodel legislation for conservative causes,[36] and ALEC is an associate member of SPN.[29] SPN is among the sponsors of ALEC.[32] A 2009 article in an SPN newsletter encouraged SPN members to join ALEC,[37] and many SPN members are also members of ALEC.[38] ALEC is "SPN's sister organisation," according toThe Guardian.[19]
SPN member think tanks aided theTea Party movement by supplying rally speakers and intellectual ammunition.[39]
As of 2015, SPN had a membership of 65 think tanks and hundreds of affiliated organizations in all 50 states.[40] Membership in SPN is by invitation only and is limited to independently incorporated 501(c)(3) organizations that are "dedicated to advancing market-oriented public policy solutions."[41] The SPN membership program consists of affiliate and associate organizations. While affiliate members are state-based, associate members are national in scope and are not necessarily focused on a single state.[42] According toPolitico, SPN's associate members include a "who's who of conservative organizations," including theCato Institute,Heritage Foundation,Americans for Prosperity Foundation,FreedomWorks,Americans for Tax Reform, andAmerican Legislative Exchange Council.[29] In 2011, SPN and its regular member organizations received combined total revenues of $83.2 million, according to a 2013 analysis of their federal tax filings by the liberalwatchdog groupCenter for Media and Democracy.[29][20]
The Roe Award, first presented in 1992, is named after SPN founderThomas A. Roe. It honors individuals who have successfully promoted free market philosophy while displaying innovation and accomplishment in public policy. The physical statue is an eagle, "a symbol of liberty with courage and conviction necessary for its preservation".[44]
The Overton Award was created in 2003 after the death ofJoseph Overton at age 43. Overton is known for the idea, posthumously called theOverton window, about the range of policies politically acceptable to the mainstream at a given time.[45]
The award is given to chief operating officers or executive vice presidents of non-profit free market organizations who demonstrate the personal qualities that Overton possessed. These include humility in supporting their peers, leadership that builds a team, and developing strategies that magnify the ideas and influence of their organization. As of 2022, the award had been given five times.[46][47]
^Caldwell, Patrick (7 March 2013)."Outmatched". The American Prospect. Retrieved8 June 2015.
^Matthew Medvetz, Thomas (2007).Think Tanks and Production of Policy-knowledge in America. University of California, Berkeley. p. 168.ISBN978-0549529002.
^Marley, Patrick; Stein, Jason (2013).More Than They Bargained For: Scott Walker, Unions, and the Fight for Wisconsin. University of Wisconsin Press. p. 37.ISBN978-0299293833.
^abMiller, John J. (19 November 2007). "Fifty flowers bloom: Conservative think tanks—mini-Heritage Foundations—at the state level".National Review. Vol. 59, no. 21. pp. 42–44.
