Where Ideas Meet Action

Launching the Whetstone Freedom Fund

The Whetstone Freedom Fund (WFF) is a grant-giving initiative of the Institute of Economic Affairs that empowers classical liberal organisations to spread the core principles of a free society across the world. By giving micro-grants, the WFF supports our partners to amplify these vital ideas across borders and language barriers.

The WFF was founded as a tribute to the vision and legacy of Linda Whetstone, a tireless advocate for freedom, who passed away in 2021. Linda’s passing left a void for the countless partners who had relied on her dedication, guidance, and support. In the wake of her loss, we — the team at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) and the Network for a Free Society’s (NFS) Board Members — pledge to continue her vital work. Over the last three years, we have focused on ensuring that Linda’s network of partners continued to receive the support they needed without interruption.

This period of transition involved learning and adaptating as we refined new strategies and modernised the operational model Linda and NFS had developed. Through trial and error, we honed an approach that would sustain Linda’s vision and establish a foundation to secure her legacy. These efforts culminated in the creation of the Whetstone Freedom Fund — a modern initiative, based at the Institute of Economic Affairs, dedicated to spreading the principles of liberty worldwide.

About Linda Whetstone

Linda Whetstone dedicated her life to expanding freedom, particularly in the most challenging of places. Her insatiable passion for the global liberty movement was born at the Fisher family kitchen table, where she learned so much from her father, Sir Antony, founder of the Institute of Economic Affairs and Atlas Network.

Linda left a permanent imprint on the global liberty movement, serving on the boards of Atlas Network, the Institute of Economic Affairs, and the Initiative for African Trade & Prosperity. She also served as president of the Mont Pelerin Society from 2020-2021.

While serving in the leadership of these organisations, Linda was always directly involved in their work. She built countless relationships with fledgling organisations across the world, particularly in areas where the ideas of freedom were toughest to sell, all while helping to build their capacity with advice, literature, and fundraising. Her unique combination of forthrightness, firmness, and kindness engendered loyalty, gratitude, and admiration from all of her partners.

Where she encountered obstacles to spreading ideas, Linda sought innovation. One prominent example was the creation of Ideas for a Free Society, a CD containing 100 core texts, which has been translated into eight languages and seen more than 200,000 copies distributed across Africa and Asia.

She also cultivated the concept of short primers, which concisely summarise the core ideas of liberal thought for new audiences. Primarily written by the Adam Smith Institute’s Eamonn Butler, there are now 15 primers, translated over 60 times. Linda co-authored one such book, Islamic Foundations of a Free Society, which has been translated into six languages.

Linda is irreplaceable, but here at the WFF, we are dedicated to honouring her legacy and continuing her vital work to spread the ideas of a free society to every corner of the world.

Grantee Stories…

Centre for Development and Enterprises

Democratic Republic of Congo

Spreading the ideals of freedom is no easy task in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where political instability, violence, and poverty are ever-present obstacles. Despite these challenges, Espoir Bindu and his CDE-DRC team have delivered fantastic results.

With the support of a $3,000 micro-grant from WFF, they led a successful outreach campaign based on the French translation of the IEA’s An Introduction to Entrepreneurship. They engaged over 1,500 students at events across five universities in the DRC, secured 800 online downloads of the book, and achieved more than 50,000 impressions on content related to the book’s ideas on social media.

Find out more about CDE-DRC here.

Libertank

Columbia

Despite the election of a socialist to its presidency and the ongoing political repression in neighbouring Venezuela, the flame of liberty is burning bright in Colombia thanks to the work of our partners at Libertank.

Since supporting them with a $4,000 grant in November 2023, the team has translated An Introduction to Capitalism into Spanish and introduced hundreds of student to its core ideas at four key Libertank events, Universidad El Cato, LíderLab Barranquilla, LíderLab Cali, and the Pola y Libertad book launch. The team aims to continue this momentum at future events and is looking into launching an outreach campaign based on an online version of the translation.

Find out more about Libertank here.

Alternate Solutions Institute

Pakistan

Pakistan is one of the countries where the basic principles of individual liberty are yet to take hold in culture or politics. Political instability and geographical remoteness make teaching these ideas incredibly difficult.

But the Alternate Solutions Institute is making important progress despite those obstacles. In June 2024, we awarded a $3,500 grant to Alternate Solutions Institute to support its 16th annual residential course in Khanaspur, Pakistan. This workshop was an intensive four-day course aiming to cultivate a deeper understanding of individual liberty, economic freedom, and democratic principles among 35 young participants.

We are encouraged by how efficiently ASI executed this project, which provides yet more evidence of a very promising future for Pakistan’s freedom movement.

Find out more about ASI here.