page_title: The Heritage Foundation
section_title: Early years
hierarchical_section_title: The Heritage Foundation / History and major initiatives / Early years
caption_attribution_description: The Heritage Foundation building
context_page_description: The Heritage Foundation is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C., primarily geared towards public policy. The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the presidency of Ronald Reagan, whose policies were taken from Heritage's policy study Mandate for Leadership. Since then, The Heritage Foundation has continued to have a significant influence in U.S. public policy making, and is considered to be one of the most influential conservative public policy organizations in the United States.
context_section_description: The Heritage Foundation was founded on February 16, 1973 by Paul Weyrich, Edwin Feulner, and Joseph Coors. Growing out of the new business activist movement inspired by the Powell Memorandum, discontent with Richard Nixon's embrace of the "liberal consensus" and the nonpolemical, cautious nature of existing think tanks, Weyrich and Feulner sought to create a version of the Brookings Institution that advanced conservative activism. Coors was the primary funder of the Heritage Foundation in its early years.  Weyrich was its first president. Later, under president Frank J. Walton, the Heritage Foundation began using direct mail fundraising and Heritage's annual income grew to $1 million per year in 1976. By 1981, the annual budget grew to $5.3 million.
  Heritage advocated for pro-business policies, anti-communism and neoconservatism in its early years, but distinguished itself from the conservative American Enterprise Institute (AEI) by also advocating for the Christian Right . Through the 1970s, Heritage would remain small relative to Brookings and the AEI.
caption: The Heritage Foundation's headquarters building, on Massachusetts Avenue on Capitol Hill.
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