Roger Ream has served as President and CEO of The Fund for American Studies (TFAS) since 1998. During his tenure, TFAS has grown significantly in the U.S. and internationally, offering programs that teach the principles of limited government, free-market economics, and honorable leadership to students and young professionals in America and around the world. Long a friend of the Bradley community and a recipient of a Bradley Prize, Mr. Ream joined the Impact Fund Board of Directors in 2024.
It’s been an exciting couple of months, to say the least. How is The Fund for American Studies engaged in this historic moment?
The mission of TFAS is to develop courageous leaders who are equipped and inspired to uphold American values and the values of a free enterprise system. And we do that in a variety of different ways. We were pleased that three of our alumni were elected to Congress on November 5 from North Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee. We had another alum retained on the Supreme Court of Arizona, and others elected to state office.
So, many of our alumni take a political route and try to make a difference through politics. But many go into other fields, including education, public policy, international careers, business, and journalism. Journalism is a particularly important field, so we put emphasis on it. This election revealed that we have serious issues with legacy media in this country. Through our Joseph Rago Fellowship at The Wall Street Journal and our Robert Novak Fellowships, we're developing a lot of young journalists who are moving forward in their careers. Just today I saw two articles in The Wall Street Journal—one by a current Novak Fellow on the topic of abortion, and another by a past Joseph Rago Fellow interviewing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. So, our fellows are in the media all the time running stories and shaping public debate.
In 2023, we began establishing and supporting newspapers on college campuses around the country. We've established twenty so far, including at the Ivy League schools and several large public universities. These newspapers accomplish two objectives. They provide a training ground for conservative students interested in careers in journalism, and they inform students about what is happening on campus, which was particularly important after October 7, 2023, when many of the official newspapers were not covering things on campus like they should have. The young journalism talent we develop feeds our Rago and Novak Fellowship programs.
So, at this moment in time, we are focusing a lot of our resources on journalism and on promoting free markets, or what we call “the economic way of thinking.” The latter is especially important to our country right now, and even within the conservative movement, when there is a notion that free trade is harmful to our country and that government should be empowered to more actively direct economic activity.
So, yes, this is an exciting time. The potential is for it to be a transformative time, when our country returns to the ideas of our Founders who established a Republic with a very constrained federal government. Our alumni are active in a variety of ways during this government transition—both, as we discussed, having won elections to Congress but also many others who are filling key staff positions. Our alumni network is becoming a very active talent pipeline for the next Congress and administration.
Donor-advised funds have been growing rapidly in popularity for philanthropists. Why are donor-advised funds so important today?
Let me give you an example. We had a donor at The Fund for American Studies who split his giving between local arts organizations and conservative movement organizations. He used a DAF account to accomplish the latter, and after passing away, his estate is still generously helping us and other conservative organizations fulfill his philanthropic goals. He died some fifteen years ago. But it just means so much to us to have this support every year from this man who we loved when he was alive, who really believed in our mission, and continues to support the work of teaching young people to appreciate free enterprise.
I was also just with a TFAS donor recently in California. He works in financial services and has a variety of clients, so to avoid unfavorable reactions, he gives to conservative groups through a DAF. This gives him anonymity, so clients won’t tie support to him. Donors can use DAFs to support unpopular but worthy projects without fear of retribution or boycotts. There are a number of projects we couldn’t have done were it not for DAF donors.
So, I’ve seen it from both sides—as someone who receives grants through the Impact Fund and other DAFs, as an account holder myself, as a member of the Board of the Bradley Impact Fund, and as someone who recommends to donors all the time that they consider the Impact Fund as a way to be effective grant makers and protect their intent as donors.
What sets the Bradley Impact Fund apart from other donor-advised funds?
One thing the Bradley Impact Fund offers is a community of donors who share many of the same concerns and objectives. They come together at events that the Impact Fund organizes—retreats in Wisconsin, Arizona, Florida and elsewhere in the country—where they can be with like-minded donors and meet with leaders in the conservative movement to find out how to be more effective in investing their philanthropic dollars.
The vetting that the Bradley community does is also incredibly valuable. We have one donor at TFAS who looks at the annual report of the Bradley Foundation and then gives to those organizations that Bradley supports. I imagine there are others who don’t tell us they do this, but it’s a good strategy. If Bradley supports the organization, you know it’s been vetted and is worthy of support. This is the Impact Fund model as well, of course, but you get the added benefit of protection of your intent if, God forbid, something were to happen to you. And obviously, there are tax benefits in investing in a DAF and giving money out in subsequent years.
But I do think the sense of community that’s created through those involved with the Impact Fund is so valuable.
Do you see the Impact Fund primarily as a vehicle for your national giving?
One reason I love the Bradley Impact Fund and The Bradley Foundation is because I grew up in Milwaukee. I even worked one summer for the Allen-Bradley Company, and they’ve had such a positive impact in Wisconsin and the Milwaukee community. They've stayed so supportive of the idea of civil society, of supporting organizations in the community as well as their understanding that you also have to be involved in what's happening in Washington and nationally in order to be effective in your community as well. So, this personal connection is very important to me.
One more thing. I was very impressed when, during the retreat in Kohler, Wisconsin, we met and heard from three people who'd been incarcerated in the Wisconsin prison system. The programs the Bradley Impact Fund is supporting are helping people recover from drug addiction, from really bad circumstances growing up, including those who come out of the prison system to contribute to the community and who go on to help others who are in similar circumstances. The same holds in the area of education, both K-12 and higher education. The Impact Fund is a leader supporting education reform. I wouldn’t be aware of programs in these areas and what's effective were it not for the Bradley Impact Fund focusing on those at their conferences.
So, for someone whose motivation is primarily national issues related to the ideas of freedom and free enterprise, the Impact Fund helps educate me on areas that I otherwise wouldn't know much about where you can be an effective grant maker.