Why Not Start Your Own Think Tank?

Presentation to The Centre for Free Economic Thought

Tallinn, Estonia

April 28^th, 2026

By Ron Manners AO

Founder of Mannkal Economic Education Foundation – Australia

Jaan Kross (1920–2007) was an Estonian writer, a symbol of resistance against totalitarianism and the ‘conscience of the Estonian people’. (one-minute video)

Contents:

1. Background – my personal experience

2. What are you trying to achieve?

3. How are we performing?

4. Twin Objectives – Philanthropy and Policy Formation

5. Where to go for advice?

6. Saving the best advice for last – Your vital document The Donor Intent.

7. Good Luck!

At the tender age of sixteen, I was lucky to discover Think Tanks.

Quite by accident I found myself ‘absorbing wisdom’ from one of the original Think Tanks in the world, The Foundation for Economic Education (FEE).

Match This Legacy!

September 26^th marks the birthday of Leonard E. Read, founder of the Foundation for Economic Education and author of the iconic free-market essay I, Pencil.

If anyone sets the standard for leaving a legacy for future generations, it is this man.

As a sixteen-year-old, after school, working in my father’s mining engineering business, I stumbled across some copies of FEE’s The Freeman magazine that was used as packing material in machinery crates. I was electrified to read the contents about free markets and personal responsibility. I eventually wrote to Leonard Reed, the President of FEE to seek clarification.

He was kind enough to respond to me, and over the years our regular correspondence blossomed into a friendship, and mentorship that lasted until his passing in 1983. In responding to my first letter Leonard Read opened up my world, and the example he set is the reason that I try to answer every letter or email I receive.

Of course, I am not the only person who has been influenced by Leonard Read’s open and persuasive style. Emeritus President of FEE Lawrence W. Reed makes the following observation in his article Leonard Read: The Man:

“Though he knew as well as anyone that the stakes were high in the intellectual battle for liberty, his weapons looked nothing like those deployed on physical battlefields. He never aimed to insult a foe, let alone annihilate him. He saw every opponent as a potential ally, never an incorrigible enemy. And if you were already part-way to embracing liberty as a life philosophy, it would never occur to him to berate you until you came the full distance. He was a humble encourager, never a pompous, breast-beating turn-off. He intended to build a movement by building individuals, one at a time. He understood that one accomplishes that far more effectively with honey than with nettles.”

Leonard Read appreciated the importance of not making enemies out of opponents due to his own ‘Road to Damascus’ experience. Once upon a time he was an ideological enforcer of Roosevelt’s “New Deal”, however a compelling encounter with an ardent libertarian spokesperson for free markets, low tax and personal freedom caused him to change his thinking. As a result, he took up the flame of liberty with the intensity of a “zealous convert”.

In I, Pencil, Read illustrates that even in the production of a humble pencil, not one person is the holder of all the knowledge and expertise that goes into the production process from beginning to end. In making this point, he reveals the shortcomings of centrally planned approaches that claim to hold such knowledge for even more complex production processes than that of a mere pencil. In his own words (as excerpted from I, Pencil):

“The lesson I have to teach is this: Leave all creative energies uninhibited. Merely organize society to act in harmony with this lesson. Let society’s legal apparatus remove all obstacles the best it can. Permit these creative know-hows freely to flow. Have faith that free men and women will respond to the Invisible Hand. This faith will be confirmed.”

Above all, what is most compelling about Leonard Read’s legacy is his indisputably gentle style. He believed that the ideas spoke for themselves and didn’t beat anyone around the head with them. He avoided propaganda and instead appealed to reason at every opportunity. Instead of taking an adversarial approach he ‘saw every opponent as a potential ally.’ “

The result has been his continuing influence through the remarkable work of those who were lucky enough to have been exposed to him.

I tell this story in greater detail in chapter 11 of my book The Lonely Libertarian

FEE’s idea of combining philanthropy with policy formation in their quiet, non-intrusive way appeared to be an ideal way of striving toward a ‘better world’. This was FEE’s way of executing Leonard Read’s ‘method’.

FEE’s style was to ‘bring ideas to the threshold of people’s consciousness and then leave it to them to reject or accept it’.

If they accepted those ideas, this could have tremendous outcomes for all concerned.

So, after 45 years of constant contact with FEE, I launched a FEE ‘look-alike’ named Mannkal Economic Education Foundation, on November 25^th, 1997 (the date we registered mannkal.org).

Now, we are preparing to celebrate our 30^th anniversary during 2027. This will coincide with us having launched our 3,000^th Mannkal scholar. They attend our seminars for the required training, enabling them to take up positions with our valued Australian and international Think Tanks (mostly with links to the Atlas Network).

In much the same fashion, as FEE, Mannkal is ‘committed to nothing more or less than the defence of our civilisation against intellectual error’ as our favourite economist F.A. Hayek stated.

Or, in our own words:-

So, what is it that we are trying to achieve?

“Our Mannkal scholars come to us from all parts of Western Australia. They will go on to take up influential roles in their professions, in their industries, in law, commerce, mining and other productive industries.

They will join our Alumni Group that now reads like an international Who’s Who (we are constantly receiving feedback from Mannkal scholars, wherever they are, sprinkled around the globe).

What they share is not ideology; it is the ability to develop their own consistent philosophies which they can apply equally to their careers, to their family and their community. (Without any conflicts.)

They will demonstrate a willingness to display their pride in Australia and instil that pride in others.

They will, as we do at Mannkal, focus entirely on supporting those who have an optimistic view of Australia, and absolutely ignoring those who are attempting to tear it down.

We can see what happens when institutions, including politics, business, and our educators, fail to keep pace with the Australia they serve.

In an age when so many platforms reward outrage and entrench division, let us make that optimistic view shine through with laser-like clarity.”

Upon reflection, after these 30 years , how have we performed in the twin objectives of;

Philanthropy – our Mannkal Scholar Program

&

Policy Formation – Publications, such as The Education Crisis in Australia and Project W.A.

I’ll make some observations on both aspects, as that is why I am here in Estonia, talking to you today as you quickly move toward forming your own Policy Think Tank. It may be instructive to hear from someone who has made mistakes along the way as we experimented on ‘what works best for us’. This may assist you.

Upon receiving your invitation, I immediately asked, “Why does Estonia, (or similarly Switzerland), need policy Think Tanks when it appears that you have government performing an ideal minimalistic role?” The feedback I received indicated considerable concern at the ‘creeping Europeanism’ becoming a threat to Estonia’s entrepreneurial spirit.

I have some sense of your concerns in this respect, as part of utilizing my Estonia E-Residency status I set up both an Estonian company and a charitable entity in June 2019 to enable me to support international scholars who fell outside the ‘Australian only’ parameters of our Mannkal Foundation.

I was encouraged with our initial successes building on some earlier scholarships:-

• A young man from Dubai was sent to an Austrian Economic conference in Turkey.

• A young man from Madrid was sent to a Mont Pelerin Society Regional Meeting in Seoul, South Korea.

• Plus, several others, to Atlas Network functions.

BUT that all came to an abrupt halt a few years later when I was suddenly ‘debanked’. That is when I noticed the ‘Europeanisation’ of conformity that runs the risk of impeding the excellent structures created in Estonia, enabling international citizens from all countries to successfully operate businesses via Estonia and avoiding the ‘bureaucratical tentacles’ stifling commerce in their own countries.

My advice to anyone attempting to create Estonian entities, is to ‘firstly get their banking arrangements in order to avoid the disaster of debanking’. The ‘debanking’ process was in the form of demanding from me, not only the source of ‘my funds’ but also the source of ‘the funds provided by several other Donors’ to the Estonian Not-For-Profit which were mainly individuals wishing to support these scholarship sponsorships through this structure.

The source of their funds was certainly none of my business and, even less of the business of the banking authorities, so we solved the problem by ‘closing shop’ and confining our activities to ‘Australia Only’.

Let us look now at Policy Formation, the important aspect for Think Tanks, where you convert theory into practice.

In our case, to remove the many ‘roadblocks to progress’ and maximize human endeavours and self-reliance.

My personal experience has shown that directing time and effort into Policy Documents can deliver immense leverage and outcomes and I will mention several from our own agenda.

• Kalgoorlie – A case for a Regional Centre (1973) This document was the foundation for successfully bringing Kalgoorlie up to speed so that it could fully participate and maximise the economic benefits of the mineral resurgence in the region.

• Kalgoorlie and Australia Looking Good Feeling Awful (1977) This document was assembled to fight the creeping bureaucracy that threatened the region’s emerging prosperity.

  It’s national response was beyond our expectations.

• Project Western Australia (a growth and productivity agenda for the next government.) Although there was very little immediate take-up of these ideas for the State Government, it has raised these possibilities on the several policy headings listed.

The surprise to us is that this document has formed a template for other governments elsewhere, even including Ukraine, in their economic preparation for ‘after the war’.

Further particulars of these documents are detailed in pages 63-84 in my book The Impatient Libertarian.

Now Back to Starting Your Own Think Tank

Where to go for advice.

So, what were my initial steps?

At a Mont Pelerin Society meeting I saw two legendary Think Tankers talking, Alex Chafuen and John Blundell, and asked them, “How do you start a Think Tank?”

They enjoyed the question as it had obviously been asked of them several times.

Their answer was ……..

“Go to the Atlas webite, click on the appropriate button, then print and bind these pages into a book and simply work your way through the various chapters.”

So, that is what I did and here is the output of that 1996 question:-

PART 1: Nuts and Bolts, Virtual Phone Book, Financial Questions.

PART 2: Guidelines & Suggestions for setting up a Public Policy Institute.

PART 3: Fundraising.

This 1996 information is no longer on their website as naturally a lot has changed over the subsequent 29 years. When I asked the same question of Brad Lips, current CEO of Atlas Network, these were the suggested links provided as useful advice but augmented over the years with considerable wisdom.

Liberty Forum of Greece, Markos Dragoumis Business Plan rev.

Here is a link to the Atlas Leadership Academy “Roadmaps” documents that John Blundell and others wrote.

Additionally, Atlas has templates for a business plan and examples from existing organizations that they share with new partner organizations as they are getting set up.

Atlas Network short explainer video

Michel Kelly Gagnon from the Montreal Economic Institute also created a document called “Best Practices for Free Market Think Tanks” that we share with new partners.

Several other useful Items

• Jim Collins’ brief monograph Good to Great and the Social Sectors (Why business thinking is not the answer). This book helps to explain how we found, from experimentation, that ‘scaling up’ whilst works in business, certainly does not work with philanthropy.

• Damn Good Advice for Board Members – This document contains useful information from the Australian Institute of Company Directors

Your governing document, the Donor Intent

Now to the most important item for your consideration, which is your Donor Intent.

But, first, it is important to understand what ‘you are up against’.

Nora Dimitrova Clinton clearly explains the current anti-western bias of western intellectuals in her penetrating piece Is the Anti-Western Bias of Western Intellectuals an Incurable Affliction?

To fully understand the importance of your Donor Intent I direct you to one of the world’s leading advisors DonorsTrust.

Start with this YouTube Donor Intent: What It Is and Why It Matters.

Peter Lipsett from DonorsTrust gives vital advice on Crafting an Air-Tight Donor Intent Statement and provides a link to a further webcast seminar, as below:-

The Australian Experience

From my own observation it would seem that philanthropy has never been encouraged (to the extent that it is in the USA) and around 2002 our Prime Minister, Hon. John Howard, asked why there was so little philanthropy in Australia, compared to the USA.

He was told that, “It is too hard.”

His response was, “Make it easy”, and as a result Australia’s Private Ancillary Funds (PAFs) were created and Mannkal Foundation converted from being a registered corporation to a PAF (one of Australia’s earliest).

My U.S. associates were horrified to observe that such foundations could be created without having an accompanying detailed Donor Intent.

Could this defect be by design?

I am cynical enough to believe that may be the case, as the remaining corpus of any PAF could fall into the hands of the government’s General Revenue and be used against us.

Mannkal Foundation’s Donor Intent is now at Vsn24, as a result of our continued experimentation and each variation has been produced to overcome any drift from our original intent.

Our future Donor Intent version may contain specific instructions on ‘when the Founder Hands Over’.

My several attempts to ‘Hand Over’ have not gone well and when analysed it seems that not all of us have sufficient corporate governance knowledge to realise that the Founder is handing over to the Trustees / Board, and not to operatives.

Constant attention is also needed to compensate for our educational system not covering one important topic, being ‘the stewardship of other people’s money’.

So here is Mannkal Foundation’s Donor Intent page 1 of 7 pages. Only the first page shown here as versions are being updated.

My above comments will assist you to understand the reasoning and the importance of this document to our continued success.

I wish you well for your own Policy Think Tank and assure you that apart from the occasional ‘speedbumps’ the end result is worthwhile.

My concluding comment is simply, “Good Luck!”.

Ron Manners AO

April 2026

This subsequent article by former Mannkal scholar, Cian Hussey, “Pride in Passing It On” is an important antidote to the guilt-driven fad of giving it all away. More effort I know, but there is no substitute for ‘focussed personal philanthropy’.