Third Way is a Washington, D.C.-based public policy think tank founded in 2005. The think tank develops policy ideas, conducts public opinion research and hosts issue briefings. The organization has four policy divisions: Economics, National Security, Clean Energy, and Social Policy & Politics. Third Way develops and advocates for policies that it says represent the "vital center".
Third Way was honored as "2013 North American Think Tank of the Year" by Prospect, a British monthly current affairs magazine, for its "original, influential, and rigorous work on the most pressing challenges facing people, governments, and businesses". In 2012, the first year that Prospect issued a prize for North America, the award went to The Carnegie Endowment. The judges commended Third Way for "making a real impact on debate in the center ground of American politics".
Third Way is a think tank answering America's challenges with modern ideas aimed at the center. Third Way’s work has had a significant impact the nation’s policy and political debates, which are often defined by the rigid or outdated orthodoxies of both the left and right. They offer policy and political solutions that discard the false choices presented by both sides. They foster the most effective and emergent approaches to major problems – ones that can attract the plurality of citizens who represent the political center and whose support is critical to winning the war of ideas.
The think tank includes many Republican donors and Democratic officials.
