Commonwealth Foundation

Commonwealth Foundation
Basic facts
Location:	Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Type:	501(c)(3)
Top official:	Andrew Lewis, President and Chief Executive Officer
Founder(s):	Alex G. McKenna, T. William Boxx, and Don Eberly
Year founded:	1988
Website:	Official website

The Commonwealth Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Pennsylvania. It is a research and polling organization that describes itself as "the go-to source of free-market ideas and policy solutions in Pennsylvania and...a trusted source of information for lawmakers."

Background

Alex G. McKenna, T. William Boxx, and Don Eberly founded the Commonwealth Foundation in 1988. McKenna was a businessman and the co-founder of Kennametal, Inc., a manufacturer of metal-cutting tools. Boxx was a nonprofit executive and McKenna's son-in-law. Eberly was a government official with experience in the executive and legislative branches who would later serve in civilian roles in Iraq and Afghanistan and found the National Fatherhood Initiative.

As of September 2025, the Commonwealth Foundation described its mission as "helping Pennsylvania write the next chapter in America’s story. We transform free-market ideas into public policies, empowering all Pennsylvanians to thrive."

Leadership

As of September 2025, the following individuals held positions of leadership at the Commonwealth Foundation:

• Andrew Lewis, president and chief executive officer
• Nathan Benefield, chief policy officer
• Megan Martin, chief operating officer and general counsel
• Mark Wilson, chief financial officer
• Stephen Bloom, vice president
• Elizabeth Stelle, vice president of policy
• Erik Telford, senior vice president of public affairs

As of September 2025, the following individuals sat on the Commonwealth Foundation's board of directors:

• George Coates, chairman
• Gerard Alexander
• Tom Beach
• Montgomery Brown
• Emily Cox
• Bruce Kern
• Brittney Paul
• Sally Simkiss
• Bill Sordoni

Work and activities

Legislative and policy work

The Commonwealth Foundation lists its key policy accomplishments as of September 2025 as:

“

The Commonwealth Foundation’s ongoing work to expand school choice has greatly strengthened the charter school movement and grown tax credit scholarship programs. Most recently, the Foundation has achieved a $275-million increase in the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) Scholarship over the last two years, providing options for an estimated 65,000 students and families. Commonwealth Foundation has led the fight to protect Pennsylvanians from government overreach and excessive taxation. In recent years, the foundation has successfully blocked $33 billion in tax increases, allowing Pennsylvania to rebuild its rainy day fund and reduce business taxes; and successfully implemented a constitutional amendment – the first of its kind in any state - limiting a governor’s emergency powers. Commonwealth Foundation educated lawmakers to help advance a monumental pension reform bill that was the largest-ever shift of taxpayer liability in Pennsylvania history. The Foundation further added to its record of accomplishment in leading the charge on enacting bipartisan criminal justice reform. The Commonwealth Foundation has become the go-to source of free-market ideas and policy solutions in Pennsylvania and is a trusted source of information for lawmakers. The Foundation has been recognized as a national leader with awards from organizations such as the Heritage Foundation, State Policy Network, and Atlas Network. Its policy innovation has provided the blueprint for other states to follow.

”

The Commonwealth Foundation produces analyses of policy relevant to Pennsylvania. As of September 2025, the organization published research on the following ten issue areas:

• Criminal Justice Reform: Pennsylvania’s Justice Reinvestment Initiatives of 2012 and 2019 successfully reduced the state’s prison population while maintaining community safety. But our work is far from over. With a state recidivism rate of 41 percent, now is the time for reforms that promote reintegration into society and enable the criminal justice system to focus its resources where it counts. Pennsylvania can continue to lead the nation in powerful criminal justice reforms that preserve public safety, save taxpayer resources, and promote true rehabilitation.
• Education: Pennsylvania’s future is in the hands of the next generation. Parents and students—not activist agendas—should drive the Commonwealth’s education policy. While policymakers have been entrusted with ensuring the next generation receives a quality education, parents should be empowered to choose the quality education that meets their unique child’s needs. Charter schools and tax credit scholarships are integral pieces of school choice, but more reforms are needed to make educational choice a reality for all Pennsylvania students.
• Energy: The Commonwealth Foundation promotes market-driven solutions for energy policy that will benefit all Pennsylvanians. These policies must prioritize reliability, affordability, fairness, competition, and innovation, paving the way for Pennsylvania to embrace all its energy resources and unlock its full economic potential.
• Government Accountability: The state government is ultimately held accountable to the people through the electoral process—but that should not be the only line of defense against government overreach or waste. Taxpayers deserve a transparent government that works for them. Reforms are needed to reduce corruption and limit the scope of government to its constitutional authority. Additionally, reforms that ensure a transparent budgeting process, a fair electoral process, and a streamlined regulatory process should be pursued to increase the government’s integrity.
• Health Care: Under Obamacare, Pennsylvania families have been forced to pay more for health care, and more than 800,000 Pennsylvania adults have received taxpayer-funded health coverage through a broken Medicaid system. Without Congressional action, states are unable to carry the full burden of Obamacare on their own. However, state policymakers can focus their own reform efforts on giving patients more control over health care and restoring Medicaid as a safety-net program. Access to health care should be measured, not by the number of those with insurance, but by the ability of individuals to independently secure the affordable, reliable care they deserve.
• Public Union Democracy: Compulsory public unions threaten individual worker rights and cost taxpayers billions. Reforms to the Pennsylvania Public Employee Relations Act are needed to restore and protect workers’ rights. No one—including government employees—should be blocked from leaving a union. To increase government integrity and accountability, policies should be adopted that ensure all special interests groups, including government unions, interact with the state government on a level playing field.
• Regulation: Pennsylvania’s notoriously high level of regulation is a burden on our state economy. To make the Keystone State a competitive place to live, work, or grow a business, reforms are needed to rein in the regulatory process. Taxpayers deserve a streamlined regulatory process that scrutinizes proposed regulations to ensure frivolous reforms do not overburden the state economy and do not prevent job-seekers from accessing employment.
• State Budget: Pennsylvania’s complex state budget has enabled policymakers to keep taxpayers in the dark when it comes to state spending. Year after year, some elected officials use budget gimmicks to both make the budget appear balanced and to secure their own agendas. Pennsylvanians deserve reforms that bring true transparency to the budgeting process. We must limit spending growth to a sustainable rate, ensuring the state government—like hardworking taxpayers—live within its means.
• Taxes & Economy: High taxes make for a slow-growing economy. And communities feel the pinch of high taxes as more and more native Pennsylvanians leave the Keystone State to prosper elsewhere. To remain economically competitive, Pennsylvania must lower state taxes and ensure businesses have the opportunity to succeed. Lower taxes will incentivize more individuals to call Pennsylvania their home, ultimately spurring our statewide economy forward.
• Welfare: The continued growth in public welfare spending is unsustainable. The federal government is responsible for much of the welfare system, but states can adopt reforms that preserve welfare resources for the most vulnerable. By enacting reforms that promote work and independence, Pennsylvania can right-size state welfare spending and help more Pennsylvanians get back on their feet. Taxpayers deserve a welfare system that compliments a strong economy.

Notable endorsements

See also: Ballotpedia: Our approach to covering endorsements

This section displays endorsements this organization made in elections within Ballotpedia's coverage scope.

Notable ballot measure endorsements by Commonwealth Foundation

Measure	Position	Outcome
Pennsylvania Question 1, Legislative Resolution to Extend or Terminate Emergency Declaration Amendment (May 2021)  source	Support	Approved
Pennsylvania Question 2, Emergency Declarations Amendment (May 2021)  source	Support	Approved

Finances

The following is a breakdown of the Commonwealth Foundation's revenues and expenses from 2001 to 2023. The information comes from ProPublica

Commonwealth Foundation financial data 2001-2023

Year	Revenue	Expenses
2001	$0.3 million	$0.4 million
2002	$0.4 million	$0.4 million
2003	$0.4 million	$0.4 million
2004	$0.4 million	$0.4 million
2005	$0.7 million	$0.5 million
2006	$0.5 million	$0.6 million
2007	$0.9 million	$0.8 million
2008	$0.9 million	$1.0 million
2009	$1.0 million	$1.1 million
2010	$1.4 million	$1.2 million
2011	$2.0 million	$1.7 million
2012	$1.6 million	$1.6 million
2013	$2.8 million	$2.7 million
2014	$3.9 million	$3.8 million
2015	$2.1 million	$2.7 million
2016	$3.7 million	$3.5 million
2017	$3.5 million	$3.0 million
2018	$4.9 million	$3.6 million
2019	$5.7 million	$4.3 million
2020	$5.6 million	$5.5 million
2021	$7.3 million	$7.3 million
2022	$8.5 million	$8.2 million
2023	$9.6 million	$9.0 million

See also

• What is an influencer?

External links

• Commonwealth Foundation
• Commonwealth Foundation on X
• Commonwealth Foundation on Facebook
• Commonwealth Foundation on LinkedIn
• Commonwealth Foundation on Instagram