Information about Think Tank Fund

Vision To ensure decision-makers and relevant stakeholders in the countries of operation use high quality, evidence-informed research to develop and implement policies that lead to and sustain more open and prosperous societies.

Mission The Think Tank Fund (TTF) supports independent policy research centers that strengthen democratic processes by identifying political, economic and social problems, researching them in a non-partisan and policy relevant way and providing policy alternatives that enrich public debate. TTF also examines the various roles and functions that think tanks play in the political and policy arenas. As such, it serves as a knowledge hub and advocate for evidence-informed policy research.

Modes of support TTF pursues this mission through operational and grant making programs.  Grant making programs: o Core and institutional grants, and o Project grants to organizations in the European Union  Operational program: o Innovation through improved communication and data visualization o Organizational and individual capacity building for high quality policy research.

Core values TTF believes that:  Policy research should use fully disclosed, scientifically rigorous methodology  Participatory decision-making approaches yield results only when they include high quality evidenceinformed policy alternatives  Political actors should rely on evidence-informed research in their decision-making  Policy work should target multiple audiences, beyond decision-makers, epistemic and expert communities  Best policy solutions are initiated locally by competent actors, think tanks being one of them  Think tanks are best equipped to decide their agendas independently, an action that sets them apart from consultancies  An effective think tank is an innovative and flexible organization both in the choice of problems they address and in how they address them.  Ideas have power to change policy.

Contact information: Think Tank Fund Open Society Foundations Oktober 6. u. 12. Budapest 1051, Hungary E-mail: ttf_applications@opensocietyfoundations.org Tel: +36-1-882-3210 http://www.thinktankfund.eu Twitter: @thinktankfund http://www.facebook.com/thinktankfund