Ayn Rand Institute - History

History

During her lifetime, Ayn Rand helped establish The Foundation for the New Intellectual, to promote Objectivist ideas. The Foundation was dissolved some 15 years after her death, as having been made redundant by the Ayn Rand Institute. Although Rand never intended for Objectivism to become an organized movement, she heartily approved of rational individuals with the same ideas working toward a common goal. Peikoff, her legal heir, was initially skeptical of creating the Ayn Rand Institute, but was impressed with the plans presented at the organizational meeting held in New York in fall of 1983, and agreed to go ahead with the project, and to serve as the first chairman of ARI's Board of Directors.

The Ayn Rand Institute began operations on February 1, 1985, three years after Rand's death. The ARI's first board of directors included psychologist Edith Packer and businessman Ed Snider. Snider was also one of the founding donors for the organization. Its first executive director was Michael Berliner, who was previously the chairman of the Department of Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education at California State University, Northridge. ARI also established a board of governors, which initially included Harry Binswanger, Robert Hessen, Edwin A. Locke, Arthur Mode, George Reisman, Jay Snider, and Mary Ann Sures, with Peter Schwartz as its chairman. M. Northrup Buechner and George Walsh joined the board of advisors shortly thereafter.

ARI's first two projects were aimed at students. One was developing a network of college clubs to study Objectivism. The other was a college scholarship contest for high-school students based on writing an essay about Rand's novel The Fountainhead. Later, additional essay contests were added based on Anthem, We the Living and Atlas Shrugged. In 1988 the institute began publishing a newsletter for contributors, called Impact.

In 1989, a philosophical dispute resulted in ARI ending its association with philosopher David Kelley. Board of advisors member George Walsh, who agreed with Kelley, also left. Kelley subsequently founded his own competing institute now known as The Atlas Society, which remains critical of ARI's stance on loyalty.

In January 2000, Berliner retired as Executive Director, replaced by Yaron Brook, then an assistant professor of finance at Santa Clara University. The institute was originally headquartered in Marina del Rey, California, but in 2002, it moved to larger offices in Irvine, California.

Charity Navigator, which rates charitable and educational organizations to inform potential donors, gives ARI three out of four stars. According to the latest data from Charity Navigator, ARI spends 81.4% of its expenses on programs, 11.1% on fundraising, and 7.4% on administration. As of June 2012 the institute's board of directors consists of Dr. Brook; Dr. Berliner (co-chair); Arline Mann (co-chair), retired attorney, formerly of Goldman, Sachs & Co.; Carl Barney, CEO of several private colleges; Dr. Harry Binswanger, long-time associate of Ayn Rand; Dr. Peter LePort, a surgeon in private practice; Dr. Tara Smith, professor of philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin; and John Allison, CEO of the Cato Institute and former CEO of BB&T.

Leonard Peikoff retains a cooperative and influential relationship with ARI. In 2006, he remarked that he approved of the work ARI has done and in November 2010 that the executive director "has done a splendid job." Peikoff was a featured speaker at ARI summer conferences in 2007 and 2010. In August, 2010, he demanded and received a change to ARI's board of directors.