It’s hard to believe, but February 2015 marks the 25th anniversary of the John Locke Foundation. The doors officially opened Feb. 19, 1990.

Initially in those early days, the Locke Foundation consisted of John Hood, Marilyn Avila, and me. I served as president for the first five years and now am a senior fellow.

The man who saw the need for a free-market, research-based organization for North Carolina was Art Pope. It was a “big idea” that Art had thought out carefully.

He had chosen John Locke for the name of the foundation because of Locke’s philosophy of limited government and his influence on Jefferson and the U.S. Constitution, among other things. Art inherently understood the impact that a free-market organization would have on the lives of North Carolinians. He knew ideas had consequences, but they must be backed up by facts.

Art always understood that good research was the key to promoting free markets and limited government in the Tar Heel state. He and his father — the late John W. Pope — provided the seed money, the counsel, and the encouragement that let the idea grow.

In the early days it was sometimes hard to get traction. Some dismissed us as “right wing” and many times others would call and ask to speak to John Locke himself — and with regret we had to inform them that John Locke had passed some time ago, but they were certainly welcome to talk with me or John Hood.

As you can imagine, at that time raising money in North Carolina for a center-right organization was not easy. Many giving foundations were polite but not helpful, and others, frankly, were dismissive. We always made payroll, but at times it was close. Art and Mr. Pope would help if we had a cash flow problem, but we were encouraged to get other like-minded souls to provide grants.

In the early stages, individuals like Bob Luddy were very helpful in providing support and guidance on the board. Jim Trotter and David Stover were as well.

After about two years in, we began to make an impact. Carolina Journal was getting out the door largely because of John Hood’s writing and editing as well as his ability to pick first-rate writers and columnists. And in 1992, John had an idea to critique “Hillarycare” in a report we called “Dangerous Medicine: A Critical Analysis of the Clinton Healthcare Program.” We had help from a staffer at the Cato Institute who drafted the report and it was thoroughly fact-checked and an edited by John.

“Dangerous Medicine” was distributed to every member of Congress who dealt with health care and likewise to many state legislators. We also sent the report to other free-market think tanks that used some or all of the report in their publications.

Long story short: We promptly were audited by the Clinton IRS.

This was unheard of for an organization that was barely two years old and had an operating budget of less than $200,000. (The result: The John Locke Foundation was given a complete clean bill of health in the IRS review.) We later learned we were not the only group that had come under the gaze of the Clinton IRS. When we were audited, we sensed we were on the map and that e had struck a nerve with the Left.

As the John Locke Foundation grew, we initiated a speakers program and along the way were able to entice scores of consequential national figures to come and speak at the foundation.

I could go on, but suffice to say I am extremely proud of the work and the quality of reputation the John Locke Foundation has earned over the last 25 years. In short, in the view of many people, the John Locke Foundation has become the “gold standard” for state think tanks.

John and Art Pope’s “big idea” has come to fruition and congratulations are in order to the Pope family for having the vision to start this venture and to continue to support individual freedom and free markets in North Carolina.

Marc Rotterman (@oldschooolmarc) is a senior fellow at the John Locke Foundation.