Securing the support of this trio allowed Fisher to raise funds and incorporate Atlas. The objective of the new organization was to push for and help the seeding, staffing, and coaching of neoliberal think tanks across the world to “influence public sentiment” and in the process “make legislation possible.” Initially located in San Francisco, Atlas started small with a budget of $150,000. Early donors were the Sarah (Mellon) Scaife Foundation, Fisher’s second wife Dorian, and private philanthropists from the US and Canada. The budget was stable at around $2 million from 1995 to 2005. From that point, it increased rapidly—reaching over $15 million in 2016.

Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, loc. 543