Koch Family Foundations
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The Koch Family Foundations, consisting of the David H. Koch Foundation, the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, and the Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation, are a major funder of libertarian and free market-oriented institutions. The foundations have provided funding to organizations such as the Cato Institute, the Institute for Humane Studies, Citizens for a Sound Economy, the Institute for Justice, the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, and the Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment.
Funding for the foundations comes from the conglomerate Koch Industries, the "nation's largest privately held energy company, with annual revenues of more than $25 billion. ... Koch Industries is now the second largest family-owned business in the U.S., with annual sales of over $20 billion." [1] (http://www.mediatransparency.org/funders/koch_family_foundations.htm)
"The company is owned by two of the richest men in America, David H. Koch and Charles G. Koch ... who have a combined personal fortune estimated at more than $3 billion and who have emerged as major Republican contributors in recent years." [2] (http://www.mediatransparency.org/funders/koch_family_foundations.htm)
Charles Koch was a co-founder of the Cato Institute in 1977. David Koch is a former Libertarian vice-presidential candidate, helped found the Citizens for a Sound Economy in 1986, and has given over $21 million to the Cato Institute. [3] (http://www.theadvocates.org/celebrities/david-koch.html)
Sources
- Charles G. Koch Foundation (http://www.cgkfoundation.org/)
- Koch Industries (http://www.kochind.com)
- Media Transparency entry (http://www.mediatransparency.org/funders/koch_family_foundations.htm) on the Koch Family Foundations
- Koch Industries and the Pollution of the Bush White House (http://www.mediawhoresonline.com/koch.htm) Parts I & II; a critical on-line article with source links.
- "Ari & I; White House Press Briefing with Ari Fleischer (http://commondreams.org/headlines01/0503-03.htm) related by Russell Mokhiber regarding relationship between White House and Koch Industries, May 3, 2001.