131 Million. This is not a population statistic, nor is it the answer to some clever math problem. It’s the number of people you reached through Acton over the past year.
Your support made possible a wide range of conferences, publications, media products, television interviews, and social media outreach that impacted leaders around the globe. For this, we are truly grateful.
As you know, Acton has been promoting liberty and virtue for 25 years now. Alumni of our programs and users of our products include heads of state, members of the U.S. House, Fortune 500 business executives, influential clergy, and professors and students from preeminent universities and seminaries. Many of these individuals have gone on to promote Acton insights in their own realms of influence and authority.
But you did. Over the years, you’ve supported us generously with your prayers, encouragement, and resources. That generosity has made us one of the most unique and respected organizations in the free-market movement.
As you read this Founders’ Report – and all of them, for that matter – we hope you will see yourself not as a passive supporter, but as an active collaborator. Over the last 25 years, your support has brought us to this place. And of that, you ought to be proud.
With gratitude,
Kris Mauren
Annual Dinner Information
131 Million. This is not a population statistic, nor is it the answer to some clever math problem. It’s the number of people you reached through Acton over the past year.
Your support made possible a wide range of conferences, publications, media products, television interviews, and social media outreach that impacted leaders around the globe. For this, we are truly grateful.
As you know, Acton has been promoting liberty and virtue for 25 years now. Alumni of our programs and users of our products include heads of state, members of the U.S. House, Fortune 500 business executives, influential clergy, and professors and students from preeminent universities and seminaries. Many of these individuals have gone on to promote Acton insights in their own realms of influence and authority.
But you did. Over the years, you’ve supported us generously with your prayers, encouragement, and resources. That generosity has made us one of the most unique and respected organizations in the free-market movement.
As you read this Founders’ Report – and all of them, for that matter – we hope you will see yourself not as a passive supporter, but as an active collaborator. Over the last 25 years, your support has brought us to this place. And of that, you ought to be proud.
With gratitude,
Kris Mauren
Poverty Cure Information
Help us move people beyond their good intentions. Help us share a vision of the material poor as full of creative capacity, dignity, and potential. Only then will we see true, human flourishing in the poorest corners of the earth.
PovertyCure, being an initiative of the Acton Institute, seeks to connect good intentions with sounds economics. So often the efforts of well-meaning people and organizations to address poverty do more harm than good. Our goal is to equip these same people and organizations with resources that promote satisfying and fruitful work, within the context of a free and virtuous society, as the best, and most sustainable, pathway out of poverty.
Your donations will help us reach additional schools, churches, nonprofits, and other organizations with this message. Through screenings of the PovertyCure Video Series, simple training sessions with organizations, and conferences with influential nonprofit leaders, we hope more and more people will move away from aid and embrace enterprise in their fight against material poverty.
ACTON INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES $300,000 BEIJING OLYMPICS BROADCAST AD CAMPAIGN ADVOCATING FOR THE RELEASE OF HONG KONG DEMOCRACY ACTIVIST JIMMY LAI
Ad campaign promotes upcoming documentary “The Hong Konger,” highlighting Jimmy Lai’s extraordinary struggle for freedom.
GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. (Feb. 4, 2022) — The Acton Institute, an international nonprofit whose mission is to promote the study of faith and freedom, today announced a new $300,000 Beijing Winter Olympics broadcast ad campaign promoting their upcoming film The Hong Konger: Jimmy Lai’s Extraordinary Struggle for Freedom. The film highlights Hong Kong’s hostility toward freedom of the press, freedom of expression, and human rights. The film advocates for the release of Hong Kong business leader Jimmy Lai.
Lai Chee-Ying, also known as Jimmy Lai, is a successful Hong Kong entrepreneur, media leader, and democratic activist who fled, young and penniless, to Hong Kong from mainland China. Lai eventually founded Apple Daily, one of the most well-read newspapers in Hong Kong.
Lai is best known for his pro-democracy activism and has come under fire from the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP, for challenging its overreach in Hong Kong.
Lai was convicted in a Hong Kong court on April 2021 of “unlawful assembly” during the 2019 pro-democracy protests, and received a 14-month prison sentence. In December 2021, he was convicted of participating in a banned candlelight vigil commemorating the victims of the Tiananmen Square massacre. He is currently awaiting a third trial on additional charges.
The ad campaign includes a media buy in 27 broadcast television markets and will run during the Opening Ceremonies, Olympic News coverage, Olympic games coverage, The Today Show, and the Closing Ceremonies.
Lai has commented notably on communist government tactics, saying, “If they can induce fear in you, that’s the cheapest way to control you and the most effective way, and they know it. The only way to defeat the way of intimidation is to face up to fear and don’t let it frighten you.”
This film brings needed attention to these issues.
“Jimmy’s fate is in our hands,” said Kris Mauren, co-founder and president of Acton Institute and executive producer of the upcoming film. “His cause must not die in a prison cell—for freedom is not merely his cause, but the cause of all Hong Kongers, the Chinese people, and indeed all humanity.”
To learn more about the upcoming film and Acton Institute, visit: thehongkongermovie.com
For bookings, interviews, or for an advanced look at the film, contact Eric Kohn at ekohn@acton.org.
About the Acton Institute
With its commitment to pursue a society that is free and virtuous, the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty is a leading voice in the national environmental and social policy debate. The Acton Institute is uniquely positioned to comment on the sound economic and moral foundations necessary to sustain humane environmental and social policies.
The Acton Institute is a nonprofit, ecumenical think tank located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The Institute works internationally to "promote a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles."
Interviews with Institute staff may be arranged by contacting Eric Kohn at (616) 454-3080 or at ekohn@acton.org.
