Meet Richard Lorenc of Foundation for Economic Education in Buckhead

Today we’d like to introduce you to Richard Lorenc.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Richard. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My dad was born in Communist Poland in 1954. He and his family immigrated to the United States in 1962, nearly 14 years after they applied originally for an exit visa (the government there had to permit people to leave). My family’s story is one of the reasons I was taught from a young age to appreciate the core ideas of a free society–free speech, free association, free markets, and the rule of law. And this is why my entire career–my calling, really–has been to communicate and advance these ideas among Americans so blessed by freedom that we take it for granted. This is what we do at FEE; we teach people the basic ideas and principles that permit individuals to pursue their own happiness and the institutions that allow us to succeed by serving others well. Since joining FEE in 2013 as the Director of Programs & Alumni Relations, I took the role of Chief Operating Officer in January 2015, allowing me to help guide the entire organization toward making these often unpopular or unintuitive ideas credible to Millennials and Gen Z.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
There are challenges and obstacles every step of the way. I’ve found my deepest challenge is communicating well and clearly with colleagues. It’s impossible to articulate fully either a feeling or a vision for what is possible. I find this challenge particularly rewarding in the creative process, for example, when working with our Director of Media to brainstorm a new online video series or podcast. There are no wrong ideas in the creative process, which makes it a lot easier to speak extemporaneously.

Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
FEE was founded in New York in 1946 following the devastation of World War II and the prevailing feeling that the heavy degree of government intervention in the economy was necessary not only during wartime, but also during times of relative peace. At the time, FEE was the only organization in the United States dedicated to challenging the widely-held opinion that a relatively few government officials could effectively plan the economy. FEE, and others, argued that controlling an economy would lead inevitably to censorship, persecution, and a general stifling of creativity and innovation. In short, our economic lives are such a big part of our total lives, so if you accept government control of the economy, you will have government control of every other dimension of human life. Today, there are many other groups that are active in actual policymaking, so our focus since 2008 has been to open young people’s minds to the possibilities of making the world better away from the ballot box. Our basic message is: You don’t have to win elections to make a positive difference in the world. We do this today both by reaching millions of people monthly online (through articles, eBooks, courses, and media), as well as in seminars that allow thousands of students annually to interact with instructors and each other around these ideas. There is no other organization in the United States that seeks to open students’ minds to the idea that your life is your own and it’s up to you to realize your vision for the world.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Success for an educational organization like ours is in the long term. Given that we’re a non-profit organization only compounds this problem as we don’t have economic signals such as profit to tell us when or if we’re creating value for others. So we take the long view that we’ll be successful when we are able to integrate the ideas of what we call the “freedom philosophy” into mainstream though. For us, this doesn’t so much mean electing thorough-thinking people to public office (thought that would be nice), but rather hearing in popular TV shows, for example, that if you really want to improve the lives of the poor and disadvantaged that you need to first look at yourself and how you can use your talents and skills valuably.

That’s the long view. In the short run, we measure what we can, including social media reach, website views, and lives we touch at our events. It’s crude, but it’s the best way we can justify our existence when we work in the realm of ideas.

Contact Info:

• Address: 1819 Peachtree Rd. NE
  Suite 300
  Atlanta, GA 30309
• Website: fee.org
• Phone: 4045549980
• Email: rlorenc@fee.org
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/feeonline
• Facebook: http://facebook.com/feeonline
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/feeonline
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/user/feeseminars

Image Credit:
Creative Sources Photography, Inc.
FEE

Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.