Outlet profile

American Council of Trustees and Alumni (Opinion)

U.S. center-right / conservative higher-education advocacy

Owned byIndependent nonprofit (501(c)(3)) based in Washington, D.C. It has no parent company or owner. It is run by a board and by President Michael Poliakoff.

FundingPrivate donations from foundations and individuals, mostly conservative and libertarian-leaning. Past funders include the Diana Davis Spencer Foundation, DonorsTrust, Donors Capital Fund, the Bradley Foundation and Koch-linked foundations. It says it takes no government funding. Its annual budget is reported at about $8 million.

On the administrationmixed

Background

ACTA was founded in 1995 by Lynne Cheney and Senator Joe Lieberman, along with others. Its stated aim is to promote academic freedom, rigorous standards, and stronger trustee oversight of colleges. Its best-known work includes the 'What Will They Learn?' core-curriculum rankings and reports on civic and historical literacy. Critics, including the AAUP, say it is a conservative advocacy group that pushes trustees to intervene in campus governance. It was reportedly listed on the advisory board for the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025. Michael Poliakoff has been president since 2015. Its funding records show money from long-standing conservative philanthropies, with reported income of over $35 million between 1998 and 2023. In 2025 and 2026 it supported accountability and reform at universities but said it preferred that the administration use leverage to enforce existing codes of conduct rather than impose its own values. Its 2026 work emphasized restoring American history and government course requirements and commenting on accreditation changes.

Sources

Profile compiled 2026-10-31; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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