The R Street Institute (RSI) is a leading think tank focused on solving complex public policy challenges through free markets and limited, effective government.
As we look back at 2024, one thing is clear: the political and policy landscape continued to evolve in ways that will shape our shared future. At the R Street Institute (RSI), we see this as an opportunity to lead with optimism and focus. And our culture—our source of stability and strength—remains solid as we use our talents and resources to make a meaningful impact.
Against this backdrop of change, think tanks like RSI have a critical role to play. We build trust, we inject evidence into the policymaking process, and we create space for difficult but necessary conversations. This work is essential—not just for better policy, but for the health of our democracy.
Last year, RSI focused on the 3 C’s: Credibility, Conflict, and Collaboration. We challenged ourselves to behave credibly, to create cultures where healthy conflict could thrive, and to collaborate across divides to find common ground. These principles strengthened our work internally and prepared us for what lies ahead externally.
However, as we look to 2025, we know the challenges aren’t just political; they are cultural and civic. That’s why we’re evolving our framework to reflect what the moment demands: Credible Optimism, Cultural Bravery, and Civic Responsibility.
Credible Optimism is about facing uncertainty with evidence-driven hope. It’s not blind positivity, but rather a belief in progress grounded in rigorous thinking and real solutions.
Cultural Bravery calls us to confront hard truths about ourselves and our society. It means creating spaces where diverse ideas and perspectives collide—not to divide, but to strengthen.
Civic Responsibility reminds us that democracy isn’t a spectator sport. It requires each of us to engage—to listen deeply, to build connections, and to actively shape the systems that govern us.
This is the work ahead of us. It’s the work we’re ready to do.
We are especially excited to host our second Real Solutions Summiton Tuesday, May 6. This year’s theme ties to the nation’s upcoming semiquincentennial, a celebration of 250 years of American independence. Much like in 1776, the strength of our republic today depends on our ability to foster trust, bridge divides, and engage in principled debate—the very ethos that drives RSI’s work.
But this isn’t just about us. It’s about you too. It’s about everyone who believes in the power of evidence, the importance of ideas, and the necessity of trust. As we close the chapter on 2024, we invite you to join us—to lean into Credible Optimism, to practice Cultural Bravery, and to embrace your Civic Responsibility. Together, we can meet this moment with strength, purpose, and hope.
Thank you for standing with us, for believing in our work, and for helping us build a stronger future. Here’s to 2025 and all we can accomplish together.
RSI’s Government Affairs and Shared Services Teams
RSI achieves impact and influence by centering the organization around its mission, focusing on the guiding lights of credibility and authenticity while striving to achieve real solutions through free markets and limited, effective government. In addition, since its founding in 2012, RSI’s leaders have combined deep expertise with a light-hearted approach—a unique pairing that not only supports RSI’s scholarship but also its culture.
While a majority of this report highlights RSI’s public policy influence and the experts behind it, other teams within the organization—referred to as shared services more generally—are just as critical to RSI’s success. These include the operations, business development, publications, communications, events, and federal and state government affairs teams.
By embracing humor, supporting work-life balance, and recognizing staff members’ contributions, experience, and value, RSI’s operations team is the engine at the center of the organization (which has grown to 75 full-time staff who live in the United States and around the world). The team coordinates hiring and onboarding, offering compensation packages superior to those of other think tanks and nonprofits. The team has also developed a highly competitive benefits package that includes unlimited paid time off, alternating Fridays off, diverse health insurance options (including one fully paid for by RSI, even for families), as well as reimbursable benefits for wellness activities, mobile equipment, internet service, cellular service, and child care, pet care, or student loan repayment assistance. In addition, the operations team organizes and executes RSI’s annual fly-in, which brings staff members to our Washington, D.C. headquarters for professional development and team building.
The business development team prospects and helps build relationships with individuals and organizations who are aligned with RSI’s mission of offering pragmatic, real solutions that foster American innovation, bolster competition, and safeguard individual liberty—all with the understanding that life in a democratic society sometimes requires compromises that do not necessarily represent first, best solutions. RSI’s focus on deep expertise and dedication to credibility across all facets of the organization help the business development team not only secure new support but also regularly renew existing relationships, securing millions of dollars in funding for the think tank every year.
The publications and communications teams read, edit, and help ideate the best products for RSI to achieve impact. From white papers to scorecards, blog series and opinion pieces, infographics and podcasts and events, the creative toolbox runs as deep as the expertise of RSI’s scholars. These teams shepherd thousands of pieces of content through editing and publishing pipelines every year, manage the visual identity of the brand, and oversee the e-mail and digital channels that promote the work of RSI’s scholars.
The federal government and state affairs teams’ work spans RSI’s institutional policy areas and takes the form of educational outreach, testimony, vote alerts, coalition letters, and more. The federal affairs team engages with Congress and executive agencies to promote pragmatic, free-market solutions to the most pressing national policy challenges, whereas the state government affairs team divides the country into regions (with staff based in California, Georgia, Ohio, Texas, and Virginia) and works with state-based public policy organizations to educate lawmakers across our policy issues, facilitating coalition work, testimony, and more. These efforts make RSI unique in the think tank ecosystem and help our experts dive deep into state-level issues.
The R Street Institute (RSI) is a leading think tank focused on solving complex public policy challenges through free markets and limited, effective government. RSI consistently offers pragmatic, real solutions that foster American innovation, bolster competition, and safeguard individual liberty—all with the understanding that life in a democratic society sometimes requires compromises that don’t necessarily represent first, best solutions.
RSI is upfront about the ideology that underpins its work. Its research independence allows it to take an objective, problem-solving approach to complicated economic and societal challenges. Similarly, this independence allows RSI to cultivate strong alliances across the political spectrum with a diverse group of policymakers and partners others often cannot.
Above all else, RSI is dedicated to credibility across all facets of the organization—public policy influence, research, fundraising, internal culture, and brand. The organization works to protect the civic space where healthy conflict and collaboration can flourish. RSI is not interested in collecting political wins; rather, it rises above the political fray to put policy over posturing, find common ground, and advance sensible, market-based reforms.
The following values are the principles that guide how R Street fulfills its mission and operates. Our organization believes in these values and we live them:
Always be better
We want to achieve preeminence in every area where we work. We encourage a bias for action, innovation, creativity and courage in everything that we do. We measure ourselves by the quality, credibility and impact we achieve as a result.
Different is good.
We believe that great minds think differently and building broad coalitions has made us who we are. Making progress on policy requires that we operate outside of the echo chamber and take non-traditional approaches to policy making. We apply this same principle to the way we operate and how we build our teams: with a focus on diversity and inclusion. We are all unique but belong to the same team.
Serious(ly)
We’re serious about our work, but don’t take ourselves too seriously. We believe in the intellectual rigor, free inquiry and honesty, that is required to achieve our mission, but having fun doing it is equally as important.
One Team
We all work together and work with humility. We strive to cultivate trust and transparency at all levels, between ourselves as individuals and as an organization, with our stakeholders, and in our work. We demonstrate respect and openness in our actions at all times. We are all unique but belong to the same team.
Sabrina Schaeffer, Vice President, Public Affairs (Bio.)
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We consistently offer pragmatic, real solutions that foster American innovation, bolster competition, and safeguard individual liberty—all with the understanding that life in a democratic society sometimes requires compromises that don’t necessarily represent first, best solutions.
