Throughout the Cato Institute’s 40 years we have worked to move the public policy debate in a more libertarian direction. Today, the millions of people we engage in our defense of freedom is a testament to our Sponsors’ commitment to the Institute and our work. The Cato Legacy Society offers Sponsors a meaningful way to join our efforts through a planned gift.

Joining the Legacy Society may be as simple as informing us of plans to leave a bequest to Cato or of a beneficiary designation for the Institute in retirement assets such as IRA and 401(K) plans. Other giving vehicles used by Legacy Society Sponsors include gift annuities and charitable trusts. These Sponsors contributed more than $15 million to Cato this past year, which will be hugely impactful toward expanding Cato’s effectiveness.

As Cato executive vice president David Boaz recently wrote, “At the Cato Institute, we stand firmly on the principles of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution—on the bedrock American values of individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace.”

The occasion of Cato’s 40th anniversary in 2017 has encouraged reflection among our Sponsors and friends on the Institute’s leadership in the history and future of liberty.

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Ultimately, the battle for American freedom must be based on political philosophy and intellectual principles, the way the American Revolution was. (Think of the Cato Institute as a philosophical Washington crossing an intellectual Delaware.) Major political parties tend to avoid philosophy and fundamental principles. Most advocacy and activist groups do too. Cato embraces them.

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For health care reform, a lot of the ideas that I sometimes articulate—in our company, to the team members of Whole Foods, if I’m talking to the media—if you were to scratch far enough you’d see Cato had some influence there.

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It would be nice if Cato had more resources—we do a lot of great work. It’s hard to get the message out and I wish we could be more effective with impacting more people, and we just simply need more resources … to make that happen

— John A. Allison, Former President & CEO, Cato Institute; Retired Chairman & CEO, BB&T

Cato’s Board of Directors, staff, and Sponsorsare committed to upholding Cato’s future as a principled libertarian public policy organization that produces credible research of the highest quality. We invite those who share our values to explore opportunities to partner with us through a planned gift to ensure a bright future for Cato and, most importantly, for liberty.