Atlas established the Fisher Venture Grants program in January 2008 to recognize and assist think tanks that represent "great investments" for the future. Grantees are younger institutes with a track record that suggests a strong potential for improving the climate of ideas among their target audience.

Alejandro A. Chafuen, Atlas's President & CEO remarked, "Independent think tanks can play a crucial role to ensure that public policy debates are not dominated by government insiders. The Cathay Institute in China is playing an important role by educating people about the virtues of limiting government, so that individual initiative and free enterprise can flourish."

The Fisher Venture Grant program honors the memory of Atlas's late founders, Sir Antony Fisher and his wife Dorian. The couple established the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, because they believed that investments in emerging think tanks could be extremely cost-effective, especially when complimented with mentoring to further improve those think tanks' prospects for long-term success.

For this reason, Atlas structured the Dorian and Antony Fisher Venture Grants program to provide funding to think tanks over a three-year term, during which time Atlas will be in frequent contact to help develop plans and to monitor performance. Half of the grant is structured as a "matching program," providing strong incentives for think tanks to attract new local supporters for their important work.