The CEO of the Cato Institute, Peter Goettler, visited me on July 27th. We had a delightful dinner at my home, he stayed the evening, and we continued our conversation the next morning. He is super bright, very successful, and a good and benevolent man.
I asked him how Cato was doing in terms of revenue and its strategic initiatives, which, having been on the Board of and involved with Cato, I was familiar with. (I resigned prior to the pandemic).
I expected him to tell me that the pandemic had had a negative impact upon Cato, its revenues, and its activities, but I was delighted to hear that the opposite is true. Cato’s revenues are soaring, and have been since Peter took over after John Allison about four years ago. Revenues have set a record each of the past two years and are now approaching $50 million. Furthermore, the strategic initiatives that Peter outlined four years ago have been or currently are being achieved, despite the pandemic. This is one of the reasons revenues have increased so much. Another reason is a growing sense of urgency among Cato’s supporters in the face of massive government intervention and spending.
Because conferences and in-person meetings are major activities for Cato, I expected Peter to tell me that the pandemic had negatively impacted his operations. Not only did the pandemic not have a negative impact, but Peter and Cato rose to the challenge and have now developed sophisticated and effective online conferences and other online activities. This is an impressive success story.
Cato does serious and substantial work inculcating reason into the political processes in Washington, which is no small accomplishment. They are effective, and I am proud to be a supporter.
Carl B. Barney
August 2, 2022