The health of a free society can be measured by the willingness of ordinary people to take an active role in the nation’s democratic institutions and the extent by which elected officials conduct the government’s business with transparency and accountability. What began as a campaign finance reform organization has grown into a multi-issue think tank that champions the national interest by formulating and advocating meaningful reform in vital areas of public policy, including campaign finance and election reform, energy and climate stewardship, homeland security, immigration reform and economic policy.

The Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) educational organization dedicated to advancing a solutions-based reform agenda. The Institute recognizes that resolving the most intractable problems confronting our society will require fundamental reform to the core of our democratic system. Such an agenda includes promoting open and fair elections, reducing the influence of special interests in our politics, and encouraging a political discourse that rises above blatant partisanship.

The Reform Institute was founded in 2001 in direct response to the millions of Americans who, during the 2000 presidential campaign, expressed profound disillusionment with corrupt fundraising activities and the political “closed shop.” The initial bipartisan Honorary Chairs of the Advisory Committee were Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and former Senator Bob Kerrey (D-NE). After Senator McCain resigned his position in 2005, former Congressman and former Fortune 500 CEO Amo Houghton of New York served as President.

The Institute represents a unique, independent voice in the constellation of nonprofit organizations. As a nonpartisan public policy group, the Institute conducts objective research and analysis on critical issues and promotes a reform agenda that restores Americans’ faith in government and the political process. The Institute brings together a broad base of reformers from all ideological spectrums, including business leaders, policy experts, as well as retired and current elected officials and, most importantly, average Americans who are tired of politics as usual.

The Institute, working to reestablish the essential connection between citizens and their government, strives to renew the American tradition of meaningful, active citizen participation in the nation’s civic life, and to restore integrity and effectiveness to our government and the electoral process.

The Institute began its work toward reform during the 2001-2002 Congressional debate on a historic effort to end the corrupting scourge of “soft money” – vast, unregulated contributions from corporations and labor unions. The Institute also sought to end soft money funding of sham “issue ads”— the thinly veiled, largely anonymous attack ads that plague the airwaves near election time. This epic legislative battle was the catalyst behind the creation of the 37-member coalition known as Americans for Reform, which worked to raise awareness about soft money and conducted a large-scale campaign to educate the public about problems in our system of campaign finance.

Throughout the last six years, the Institute has built a presence in the states, working to educate policy makers and opinion leaders about values-based policy reforms that strengthen the people’s confidence in government.

Since Congress passed the initiatives in the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA), also known as McCain-Feingold, the Reform Institute has moved into new territory. Within campaign finance reform, we are working for proper implementation of BCRA by the Federal Election Commission (FEC), promoting restructuring of the troubled FEC itself, and calling for fair reform of 527 political organizations. The Institute has also expanded our policy expertise into other critical areas affected by the decline of bipartisanship and corrosion in our democratic institutions. This includes providing bipartisan leadership in the area of thoughtful energy policy and climate stewardship, innovative means of protecting the homeland, balanced solutions to the challenges faced by current immigration policies, and promoting opportunity and competitiveness in our economy.

The Institute works at the state level as well to implement key election reforms that will help open up the political process. This includes promoting open primaries, fair redistricting, public campaign funding, lowering barriers to voter registration, facilitating ballot access, and encouraging an independent judiciary.

The Reform Institute is proud to play a pivotal role in many policy areas on both the national and state level. Using our unique, nonpartisan position, the Institute successfully serves as a moderator between various stakeholders to accomplish vital reforms that put our nation’s interests first.