Free societies require more than sound institutional arrangements—they depend on the character and virtue of the people who inhabit them. This funding call explores how character development creates the human foundations necessary for flourishing free societies. While the Individual Freedom and Free Markets (IFFM) funding area focuses on classical liberal institutions, economic arrangements, and policy frameworks, Character and Free Societies examines the personal capacities and social relationships and structures that enable individuals to thrive within those institutions and make them work. In 2026, we are focused on the following two subthemes: 

1. Agency-Based Character Development for Free Societies. This subtheme focuses on educational models and interventions that develop the character capacities essential for participation in free societies. In many contexts, education systems inadvertently train “job seekers” rather than “value creators,” undermining the growth of agency and entrepreneurial potential. We seek projects that prioritize personal agency, dignity-centered entrepreneurial virtues, exemplar models, and business as value-creating for communities rather than as value-extracting. 

2. Institutions, Incentives, and Virtue: How Structures Shape Character. This subtheme explores the bidirectional relationship between institutions and character: institutions create incentive structures that shape behavior and character, but institutions themselves must be designed, reformed, and sustained by people of character. Without well-designed institutions that incentivize virtue, character development alone is insufficient. Institutions depend on leaders with the character, foresight, and moral clarity to recognize what needs to change and how to change it.  We seek projects that prioritize virtuous institutional incentives, the role of virtue-oriented mindsets in organizational change, how legal frameworks (e.g., regulatory environments and laws) shape character and vice versa, and how successful virtue-centered reforms can be translated across different cultural and economic contexts.  

Formative experiences take place in structured, developmentally salient contexts in which individuals practice judgment, self‑regulation, cooperation, and responsibility in ways that can produce durable changes in character. These experiences—often characterized by challenge, feedback, shared norms, and meaningful relationships—play a critical role in shaping moral, performance, and civic virtues over time. In 2026, we are focused on the following two subthemes: 

1. Character in Sports. Sports are among the most widespread and influential formative environments for youth, combining goal pursuit, teamwork, competition, feedback, and adult mentorship. Recent research highlights both the promise of sport for character development and the conditions under which that promise is realized or undermined. We seek projects that: specify the mechanisms, practices, and norms that shape virtue development in athletic contexts; advance research on how sports participation influences character, including work that disentangles the roles of coaching practices, team culture, competitive structure, and peer norms; and that develop and rigorously assess program models that intentionally integrate character formation into coaching, training, and league design. 

2. Designing for Growth. Young people grow in powerful ways when they step beyond the familiar worlds of home and school. For many, these experiences include sleep-away camps, outdoor challenges, service programs, or expeditions. In these new environments, youth must navigate greater independence—making choices, managing relationships, and increasing responsibility, within a shared community. Looking beyond traditional recreational or entertainment-focused experiences, we are interested in supporting programs that intentionally design for growth. What are the key elements of these programs? How do they balance novelty and challenge with support? Which features lead to enduring changes in character? Please note: proposals for general camp operations or routine program expansion are outside of the scope of this call and will not be considered for support.