About Us

Accomplishments

• The Commonwealth Foundation pioneered educational choice in Pennsylvania, from introducing and growing scholarship opportunities to strengthening charter schools. Since 2020, the foundation’s advocacy efforts have helped triple the commonwealth’s tax-credit scholarship programs, helping 101,000 students find better schools. Also, the scholarship programs championed by the Commonwealth Foundation created the legislative blueprint that shaped the newly created Federal Scholarship Tax Credit.
• As the state’s top watchdog, the Commonwealth Foundation protects Pennsylvanians from government overreach, wasteful spending, excessive taxation, and punitive regulations. In recent years, the foundation has successfully blocked $33 billion in tax increases, helped rebuild the Rainy Day Fund, supported cutting the nation’s second-highest corporate tax rate, and successfully implemented a first-in-the-nation constitutional amendment that limits future governors’ emergency powers.
• While educating lawmakers, the Commonwealth Foundation works diligently behind the scenes to advance monumental legislation. Some of the organization’s most-consequential victories include advancing pension reform that saved taxpayers $20 billion over 30 years, enacting a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill that reduced statewide recidivism, and stopping an unconstitutional energy tax that would have increased electricity costs for households and businesses.
• As a trusted source of information for lawmakers, the Commonwealth Foundation continues to drive transformative reforms in Pennsylvania. The foundation has been recognized as a national thought leader, with awards from the State Policy Network, Atlas Network, and other notable organizations. The foundation continues to be Pennsylvania’s most effective free-market think tank and a national model for state-based policy leadership.